7 Shows Like Cruel Summer to Watch Next

Cruel Summer has been another top-notch Freeform installment, and it also happens to be the network’s most-watched original series to date. Set in the ’90s during three different time frames, the show reveals details that led up to the abduction of high school sweetheart Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt) and raises questions about Jeanette Turner’s (Chiara Aurelia) role in all of it. In the beginning, Kate and Jeannette seem from opposite poles when it comes to popularity and personality. Yet, as the story unfolds, it seems like they are reflections of each other, making it even harder for viewers to know who to believe.

As the secrets and lies unfold and, once each of their memories are revealed in episode 10, we come to understand why both of them have reasons to fight in court and have their normal life back. Although we have seen this type of dynamic on-screen before, it is never too late to watch other shows with a similar feel, so we’ve put together a list of the best shows like Cruel Summer to watch while you wait for Season 2. If secrecy, suspense, and loads of drama is what you are aiming for, then the list below might be the perfect match coming out of this binge-worthy hit.

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Little Fires Everywhere

Watching this Hulu series after Cruel Summer will give you an instant sense of ‘déja vu’ and here is why: when Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) and her daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood) move to “Shaker Heights”, they rent an apartment owned by Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon), the picture-perfect mother. As the Warrens and the Richardsons intermingle, there is a surge of socio-economic clashes, discussions about race, and motherhood disputes.

Mia and Elena are two opposite sides of the same coin, just like Jeanette and Kate. Mia has a nomad-like lifestyle and can be considered by many as the liberal motherly figure, while Elena is all about following the rules and social norms. Their tense relationship shows that despite them having different points of view, both have their flaws and try to do what they see fit to secure the best for their families.

Another aspect that will remind you of Cruel Summer is the mother-daughter dynamic between Izzie (Megan Stott) and Elena. After Kate discovers her mother’s secret and confronts her about it, their close bond is broken, and they act very similarly to the two Little Fires Everywhere characters. You will understand this parallel once you see it.

Pretty Little Liars

Secrets and lies never run out in Pretty Little Liars. When four best friends are haunted by the sudden disappearance of their leader/best friend Alison (Sasha Pieterse), they try to investigate what happened to her. As they dig deep, they end up receiving anonymous text messages that threaten to expose some of their greatest secrets.

Pretty Little Liars was also a Freeform hit when it came out and the tone of the show is quite like Cruel Summer. Also centered in a girl gone missing, in many moments you might compare either Kate or Jeanette, with Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Hanna (Ashley Benson), Aria (Lucy Hale) or Emily (Shay Mitchell). Not to mention the flashbacks that happen all the time in both series, which are essential for viewers to draw clues to solve the mystery at hand.

Big Little Lies

The same sisterhood bond you see in Pretty Little Liars, you can spot in this next recommendation. Big Little Lies is another show about liars joining forces and it stars a bunch of A-list Hollywood names (Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Zoë Kravitz). When Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) and her son Ziggy (Ian Armitage) move to Monterey, they are overwhelmed by the small-town school moms and their tumultuous lives. However, a murder changes everything once all the clique members become suspects.

What was meant to be an HBO miniseries ended up with a second season in 2017. The “Monterey Five” were so complex, each in their own way, that nothing really was what it seemed. The greatest similarity here to Cruel Summer is the fact that appearances hide the deepest darkest details; just like Kate’s mother and friends try to maintain perfect lives outdoors so the women on Monterey try to project perfectly happy homes, while inside their homes we know that everything is somehow falling apart. Likewise, the shows share an interest in the exploitation and abuse of women, how social pressures turn potential allies against each other, and unfold their mystery through flashbacks that always seem to conceal just as much of the truth they reveal.

The Sinner

For those of you who still don’t know this fun fact, Jessica Biel is one of the producers behind Cruel Summer. She also produced and starred in the first season of the anthology crime series entitled The Sinner. Each season focuses on a rather intricate investigation made by Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman). The first season is centered on Cora Tannetti (Biel), a woman that murders a guy in cold blood at the beach and doesn’t know why she did it. As the details from her past come into the light, viewers are led from one wild reveal to the next, saving to the most bonkers plot twist for the end.

Like Cruel Summer, the presence of flashbacks within different time frames is essential to understand the way the main characters work, and why they choose to act a certain way. Sometimes the picture of a memory from the past says more about the future than any words can express.

Sharp Objects

Jeannette Turner and Kate Wallis undergo dark phases of their lives, which change the way they perceive the world and behave. The same happens with Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) in Sharp Objects. Adapting from the book of the same name by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, the HBO series follows a reporter just released from a psychiatric hospital (Adams), who goes back to her hometown to cover the murder of two girls. The more she investigates what happened with these girls, the more she uncovers they’re linked to childhood traumas with close ties to her current struggles.

Camille, in a sense, will remind you of Kate a year after her abduction when she adopts the emo-like appearance and becomes non-apologetic. Camille is a fascinating, often uncompromising character who isn’t the sweetheart ideal either, like Kate, she shared a fraught dynamic with her mother during her teenage years. Sharp Objects takes a darker and more adult approach, but both series uncover the truth of the present by turning to dark secrets in the past. But above all, like Cruel Summer, this series is a treat for people who enjoy psychological thrillers.

Panic

Time now for another recently released series! Prime Video’s new teen drama, Panic, is Hunger Games meet The Society. But what does this comparison have to do with Cruel Summer? Just wait, we will get there. In Panic, 47 high school graduates are summoned to a competition in which they will have to face various risky activities aimed to test their ability to control their own nerves. However, as the rules change, the competitors must re-evaluate how much are they willing to do to get the $50,000 prize.

Heather (Olivia Scott Welch), Dodge (Mike Faist), Ray (Ray Nicholson) and the rest of the Panic participants have to accomplish multiple dares, much like the Cruel Summer trio in 1993. During that summer, Jeanette and her best friends decide to defy their goodie-two-shoes reputation by stealing, going on a date, and invading Martin’s house (the latter led to a life-changing aftermath). And beyond the shared thread of teens pushing each other’s boundaries with higher and higher stakes, Panic is another show about how we exploit suffering for entertainment that challenges traditional tropes and preconceived notions of who the protagonists are.

Veronica Mars

To finish things up, here is a trip down memory lane. Before Kristen Bell voiced Gossip Girl or went to The Good Place, she was the leading lady of a mystery teen drama series called Veronica Mars. As the title character, her character navigates the high school dilemmas while she investigates unsolved cases in the town. Although every episode has a different mystery to uncover, Season 1 also follows Veronica through a longer investigation as tries to understand the murder of her best friend (and ex-boyfriend’s sister) Lily Kane (Amanda Seyfried). Her death turned everything upside down, including Veronic’s ex-communication from the “cool crowd” and her father being suspended from his sheriff position after he accused Jake Kane, Lily’s father, of involvement in the murder.

If this last bit didn’t ring a bell, here is a brain refresher. Jeanette’s life also changes immediately after Kate accuses her of knowing about the abduction. Her boyfriend Jamie Henson (Froy Gutierrez) breaks up with her, her parents get a divorce, her father is unable to find clients as a realtor, and she is instantly rejected by her peers. Were you able to see the connection between her and Veronica? The characters share something of a similar path, and like Cruel Summer, Veronica Mars is all about uncovering a horrific truth hiding in the suburban ideal, and it will keep you guessing with each new episode. The series original ran for three seasons in the early 2000s, and though it was cancelled too soon, it generated such a passionate fanbase that it became one of the first major Kickstarter successes, leading to the 2014 sequel movie, and even got a long-overdue (and very divisive) fourth season on Hulu in 2019.

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