Best Historical Dramas on Netflix 2026
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Our pick of the best Historical Dramas on Netflix right now, ranked by audience rating out of the 100 titles in category code 71591. Tap any title for full details and where to watch.
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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Rated 9.3/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1994, 2h 22m. Framed for murder, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison and gradually forms a close bond with older inmate Red.
2. The Godfather (1972)
Rated 9.2/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1972, 2h 57m. When an organized-crime family patriarch barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son steps in to take care of the would-be killers.
3. Schindler's List (1993)
Rated 8.9/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1993, 3h 15m. Oskar Schindler becomes an unlikely humanitarian, spending his entire fortune to help save 1,100 Jews from Auschwitz during World War II.
4. The Green Mile (1999)
Rated 8.6/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1999, 3h 08m. When a prison guard discovers that a death row inmate possesses mysterious powers, he tries desperately to prevent the condemned man's execution.
5. Gladiator (2000)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2000, 2h 34m. Tapped for the throne after the death of the emperor, a Roman general instead finds himself condemned to die by the late ruler's power-hungry son.
6. Harishchandrachi Factory (2009)
Rated 8.4/10 on IMDb, from 2009, 1h 38m. Against a backdrop of burgeoning social unrest, a neophyte filmmaker makes history in 1913 as the director of India's first feature-length film.
7. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Rated 8.2/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2007, 2h 38m. An ambitious prospector strikes it rich and turns a simple village into a boomtown, stoking the ire of a charismatic young preacher.
8. Downfall (2004)
Rated 8.2/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2004, 2h 35m. This portrayal of Adolf Hitler's final days is based on the memoirs of Traudl Junge, the young secretary who was with him until his death.
9. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Rated 8.1/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2002, 2h 21m. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put cunning con man Frank Abagnale Jr.
10. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Rated 8.1/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2013, 2h 14m. A freeborn black man is abducted from New York and sold into slavery in this historical drama based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup.