You know that feeling when you finish a show and your brain just feels… bruised? Not in a bad way. More like you’ve been through a psychological wringer and you’re not quite sure what’s real anymore.
That’s the "We Were Liars" effect.
The Amazon Prime Video adaptation, which dropped in June 2025, leaned hard into the book’s atmospheric, "rich people are miserable" aesthetic. We watched Cadence Sinclair (Emily Alyn Lind) wander around Beechwood Island with a massive hole in her memory, only to have our hearts shattered by the finale. It was brutal. It was beautiful. And now, you probably want more.
Finding shows similar to We Were Liars isn't just about finding another teen drama. You’re looking for a very specific cocktail: one part "old money" secrets, one part unreliable narrator, and a heavy splash of "everything is actually on fire while we pretend to sip lemonade."
The Shows That Capture the Sinclair Vibe
If you want that high-society-gone-wrong feeling, you have to start with the big hitters. Some are classic, some are brand new for 2026, but they all share that DNA of deception.
Cruel Summer
This is the closest you’ll get to the non-linear, "what actually happened that summer" structure. Each season is an anthology, but the first one is the gold standard. It jumps between three different years in the 90s, tracking how one girl goes from awkward wallflower to the most hated person in America.
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It feels like a fever dream. The lighting changes, the characters’ hair gets progressively worse (or better, depending on the trauma level), and the "truth" is a moving target. Honestly, if you haven't seen this, start here. It’s got that same sense of a singular event that ripples through time and ruins everyone involved.
Sirens (2025)
Netflix’s Sirens is basically the dark, twisted cousin of We Were Liars. Starring Milly Alcock and Meghann Fahy, it deals with two sisters who are essentially orphans of a broken home. One of them, Simone, gets sucked into the orbit of a wealthy socialite named Kiki Kell (played by a terrifyingly chic Julianne Moore).
It’s about the gravity of wealth. How it pulls you in and crushes you. The show uses that same antiseptic, bright sunlight that We Were Liars uses to hide the rot. It’s only five episodes, so it’s a quick, painful weekend binge.
The Perfect Couple
This one landed on Netflix in late 2024 and it's pure Nantucket noir. A body washes up right before a high-society wedding. Suddenly, the Winbury family—who are even more insufferable than the Sinclairs—are under a microscope.
It’s got Nicole Kidman. It’s got secrets. It’s got a "murderer you’d never suspect" reveal that actually makes sense. While it’s more of a traditional whodunit than the psychological collapse of Cadence Sinclair, the "private island/lavish estate" setting will feel very familiar.
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Why We Can't Stop Watching "Rich People Trauma"
There’s a weird comfort in watching people who have everything lose it all because they can't tell the truth. We Were Liars works because it uses the Sinclair fortune as a cage. Harris Sinclair (played by David Morse in the show) uses his money to keep his daughters in a state of arrested development.
It's "Succession" for the YA crowd.
When you're looking for shows similar to We Were Liars, you’re often looking for that specific intersection of privilege and psychological horror.
One of Us Is Lying
Based on the Karen M. McManus book, this is The Breakfast Club but with a dead body and a lot of burner phones. It’s more "high school" than "private island," but it nails the group-secret dynamic. The "Liars" (Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat) have a bond forged in fire. The Bayview Four have a bond forged in a detention room murder.
Yellowjackets
Okay, this is much darker. It’s Lord of the Flies with a 90s soundtrack and cannibalism. But hear me out. Yellowjackets is the ultimate show about how a single traumatic event in your youth defines the rest of your life.
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The show split-screens between the plane crash in 1996 and the adult survivors in the present day. Just like Cadence trying to remember Summer Fifteen, the adult women in Yellowjackets are desperately trying to keep the truth of what they did in the woods from leaking out. It’s visceral, messy, and the mystery keeps you up at night.
The Under-the-Radar Picks
Sometimes you don't want the big Netflix hits. You want something a bit more atmospheric, maybe a bit more indie.
- The Wilds: This was canceled way too soon, but the first season is a masterpiece. A group of girls is stranded on an island after a plane crash. Except it's not an accident. It's a social experiment. The psychological manipulation is top-tier.
- Saint X: This Hulu series explores the disappearance of a young woman during a family vacation in the Caribbean. It’s told in multiple timelines and looks at how a single "perfect" vacation can ruin a family for decades.
- The Society: Netflix’s one-season wonder. All the adults in a wealthy town disappear, and the teens have to build their own civilization. It’s tense, political, and ends on a cliffhanger that still haunts my dreams.
Finding the Truth in the Fiction
What most people get wrong about We Were Liars is thinking it’s just a mystery. It’s not. It’s a tragedy about the weight of expectations. It’s about how we lie to ourselves to survive.
If you want to find more stories like this, look for the "unreliable narrator" tag. Shows like Sharp Objects (HBO) or The Undoing work because you can't trust the person telling you the story. You’re seeing the world through their trauma, and that makes the reveal so much more impactful.
Your Binge-Watch Checklist:
- Cruel Summer (For the timeline jumps)
- Sirens (For the coastal elite vibes)
- The Perfect Couple (For the "beach house" mystery)
- One of Us Is Lying (For the teen-secret group dynamic)
- Big Little Lies (For the adult version of the Sinclair sisters)
Honestly, if you’re still feeling the withdrawal from Beechwood Island, the best thing you can do is dive into The Waterfront (2025). It’s another Prime/Netflix-adjacent show that deals with generational power and family empires, though it trades the New England aesthetic for something a bit more rugged.
Don't expect these shows to be "happy." They aren't meant to be. They’re meant to make you look at your own family secrets and be glad yours aren't quite as deadly.
Next Steps for Your Binge-Watching Journey:
- Check Prime Video: Since you liked the adaptation, look for the "Family of Liars" prequel series rumors—there’s talk of a development deal for the second book.
- Cross-platform hunt: Head to Hulu for Cruel Summer and Saint X, as they have the best "summer mystery" algorithms right now.
- Read the sequel: If you haven't read Family of Liars yet, do it. It explains so much about why Harris Sinclair is the way he is.