Must-Binge Hidden Gem: Tom Hardy’s Forgotten 2017 Thriller Taboo

5 days ago 12

Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant who also covers Movies and Music. He's published over 2500 articles at SR, including weekly binge guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions.

Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston.

If you love Tom Hardy in modern streaming hits like Paramount's MobLand and Netflix's Havoc, then you need to binge his forgotten 8-part thriller series that is quietly available now on Prime Video.

Despite its release in 2017, this highly binge-worthy psychological thriller still holds up to this day, nearly a decade later. Among his critically acclaimed performances in TV series like Peaky Blinders, this overlooked hidden gem offers some of Hardy's career best.

Tom Hardy's 2017 period drama series Taboo is a forgotten hidden gem that is available to binge now on Prime Video. While Taboo is available to watch in full on Prime Video – with ads – the series is also available to binge on Peacock as well.

Taboo has a case for being Hardy's best-ever performance in a television series. In it, he plays adventurer James Keziah Delaney, who returns to London during the War of 1812 to take the reins of his father's shipping empire.

If you enjoyed recent period drama series like House of Guinness and Death by Lightning, consider Taboo must-watch material. The series is a certified fan-favorite, earning a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 91% and an IMDb rating of 8.3.

What's more, Hardy co-created the series along with Steven Knight, the legendary creator of Peaky Blinders and House of Guinness. If you missed this gripping thriller series the first time it was around, or haven't seen it since its 2017 release, it could be the perfect show for you to binge this week on Prime Video or Peacock.

9 Years After Release, Taboo Is Still Worth Binge-Watching

Even with so many new streaming releases this week, Taboo remains a top binge-watching option, some 9 years after it premiered on BBC One and FX. This is especially true considering there's been recent confirmation that Taboo season 2 is officially in the works and could arrive later this year.

Taboo is also one of Hardy's most personal projects that he co-created with Knight, along with his father, the British author Chips Hardy. It was put on an indefinite hiatus due to Hardy's understandably loaded work schedule, but will buzz picking up that season 2 is on the way, now is a great time to experience why fans consider this series one of Hardy's all-time best.

That said, Taboo is far from being just a one-man show – he's joined by a fantastic ensemble including David Hayman (Macbeth), Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses), Oona Chaplin (Avatar: Fire & Ash), Stephen Graham (Adolescence), and Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), all of whom are considered some of the best working actors on the planet.

It may be getting old in 2026, but nothing about Taboo feels dated. It will forever be one of Tom Hardy's best TV series and is a fantastic choice to binge-watch if you're looking for a suspenseful and brilliantly acted modern classic.