These are some of the absolute best TV shows and limited series available to watch exclusively on HBO Max this weekend, September 19-21, 2025.
Between gripping crime series, an overlooked coming-of-age tale, and an all-time legal drama, Screen Rant has got you covered with some of the most critically acclaimed and relevant series to watch on HBO Max right now.
Stay up to date with our top TV choices to stream this weekend on Prime Video, Hulu on Disney+, and Netflix, and catch up on some multi-season-length HBO Max shows to binge-watch throughout the month.
We Own This City
Fans of Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, The Bear) must check out his star role in the HBO cop drama miniseries We Own This City. The series is based on the celebrated 2021 book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption by Justin Fenton. It was developed for television by George Pelecanos and David Simon, who worked together on other acclaimed HBO series like The Deuce, Treme, and The Wire.
We Own This City stars Bernthal and Wayne Jenkins, the leader of the well-respected Gun Trace Task Force in 2015 Baltimore. He and his team are tasked with helping get guns and drugs off the streets, all while a criminal conspiracy is brewing within the corrupt police department. We Own This City also features great performances by Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners), Josh Charles (The Good Wife), David Corenswet (Superman), Jamie Hector (Bosch), and Don Harvey (Black Rabbit).
We Own This City received a strong critical reception when it was released in 2022, but did not garner any Emmy attention despite its notable creators and all-star cast. It received a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%. Collider gave it an A- grade, noting, “From the jump, We Own This City is about the underhandedness of saying something with a smile while pressing a knife into someone else’s back; it is about choices, dirty choices, and voluntary ones at that.”
While the two series aren’t connected, We Own This City is essentially a spiritual spinoff of the classic HBO series The Wire, which is widely considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made. Both deal with crime and corruption within the city of Baltimore, but The Wire is a fictional tale while We Own This City is based on a true story. Nevertheless, the social commentary and investigations into systemic forms of corruption exist at the core of both shows.
That said, if you love The Wire and consider it one of the best TV shows of all time and haven’t seen We Own This City, you have got to check it out this weekend. The miniseries is only 6 episodes long, with each episode running about an hour, which makes it incredibly easy to binge-watch in just a few sittings.
We Are Who We Are
We Are Who We Are is an overlooked coming-of-age miniseries directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, best known for his work on Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, Challengers, and other celebrated films.
We Are Who We Are consists of 8 episodes and was released in 2020. It features a strong ensemble cast, including Chloë Sevigny (Russian Doll), Jack Dylan Grazer (It), Alice Braga (Predators), and Kid Cudi (Entergalactic). Luca Guadagnino co-created the series along with Sean Conway (Ray Donovan), Paolo Giordano (The Solitude of Prime Numbers), and Francesca Manieri (Rose Island).
We Are Who We Are mostly follows the lives of two young American adults who live on a U.S. military base in Italy. As a coming-of-age drama, the series tackles the usual tropes such as identity formation, first romances, and deep friendships. Although they are very different series, We Are Who We Are belongs in the same category as HBO’s beloved teen drama, Euphoria.
We Are Who We Are, which was released in September 2020, earned a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, but mostly flew under the radar from a critical standpoint. Discussing Film gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, noting, “It definitely requires patience and may not be for those who are in constant need of action and drama, but those who have enjoyed Guadagnino’s filmography will revel in the presence of his poetic style.”
As the critic above noted, We Are Who We Are is essentially required viewing for fans of Guadagnino’s work, as he has emerged in recent years as one of the best filmmakers of our time. If you’re heavily anticipating the release of his upcoming movie After the Hunt in October, starring Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name), and Chloë Sevigny, then We Are Who We Are is the perfect series to binge-watch this weekend exclusively on HBO Max.
The Night Of
The Night Of was released on HBO in 2016, four years before HBO Max was even created. Regardless, it still remains to be one of the all-time greatest miniseries on the streaming platform. The limited series was co-created by Steven Zallian, the Emmy and Oscar-winning writer/director, known for Ripley, Moneyball, and American Gangster, and Richard Price of The Wire and The Color of Money acclaim.
Severance fans will surely recognize John Turturro in The Night Of, as well as Bill Camp of recent Presumed Innocent acclaim. The biggest star of the series, however, is Riz Ahmed, who won the Emmy for Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie for his role in The Night Of as protagonist Nasir “Naz” Khan. Ahmed’s victory was one of five Emmy Awards that The Night Of took home in 2017. The ensemble cast also includes Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire), Paul Sparks (House of Cards), and Amara Karan (The Darjeeling Limited).
The initial premise of The Night Of actually resembles that of Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent. The series begins with Naz partying with a woman and going home with her that night, only to wake up next to her murdered body. Naz is then charged with her murder as a psychological game begins to unfold, wrapped around this intriguing murder mystery. While the story is strong, many viewers agree that it’s the masterful storytelling that sets this acclaimed series apart from most.
The Night Of received an 8.4 rating on IMDb, along with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 94% among critics and 93% from audience members. It’s based on the acclaimed BBC series Criminal Justice, starring Ben Whishaw (Black Doves) and Pete Postlethwaite (Inception). Screen Rant’s review noted, “Because it takes the tropes of cop shows and runs them under a magnifying glass, examining them with excruciating precision, it feels exciting and different.”
At only eight episodes, most of them about an hour each, you can certainly binge-watch the entirety of The Night Of in just one weekend. It’s the type of show that builds its mystery plot with such tension and intrigue that you’ll watch to fly through the series to figure out who is truly behind the murder. Not only is the story unpredictable and well-crafted, but the performances are literally award-winning, and the cinematic atmosphere is dark, consuming, and completely riveting from start to finish.
Whether you’re looking for a profound crime drama like We Own This City, a moving coming-of-age tale like We Are Who We Are, or an all-time great legal thriller like The Night Of, you can’t go wrong with any of these acclaimed HBO Max series to start your weekend binge-watch off right.
