Forget Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness, 7-Part Military Thriller Is Officially One Of 2026's Biggest Hits

Published Nov 2, 2026, 10:18 AM EST

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

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Lioness is one of the biggest TV shows in the world, but the Taylor Sheridan series is not the only military thriller series to make it into a coveted 2026 TV show chart, and the other show to do so is quite underrated. Sheridan has built a TV empire that extends beyond his popular Yellowstone Western franchise. In the thriller department, Sheridan has been a part of shows like Jeremy Renner's Mayor of Kingstown, which is set to end with its upcoming fifth season, and the Sylvester Stallone-led Tulsa King, which is becoming a shared universe through spin-off Frisco King.

In parallel to those, Sheridan has also created the spy thriller series Lioness, which follows a CIA team where female operatives work undercover in strategic positions across the globe. Lioness is one of the most-watched TV shows on streaming in 2026, but so is another military thriller series, SEAL Team. The show ran for seven seasons, being led by fan-favorite TV star David Boreanaz, who has appeared in successful shows like the supernatural hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-off Angel, the long-running police procedural Bones, and more. Years after it ended, SEAL Team continues to impress as a streaming powerhouse.

David Boreanaz's SEAL Team Is Officially One Of 2026's Biggest Shows

Nielsen has released its streaming numbers for the most popular TV shows of September 2026. Prime Video's Reacher franchise is up high on the list, with Alan Ritchson's Reacher being the most-watched series on streaming in September with 4.6 billion minutes viewed, while Prime Video's Reacher spin-off, Neagley, occupies the 3rd spot with 3.3 billion minutes. Between then is Apple TV's returning sports comedy series, Ted Lasso, which posted 3.6 billion minutes for the month. Both Lioness and SEAL Team are part of that coveted chart, with Sheridan's spy thriller tied for 3rd with 3.3 billion minutes, and SEAL Team at 7th with 2.2 billion minutes.

Position	TV Show	Streaming Service	Minutes Viewed (Billions)
1	Reacher	Prime Video	4.6B
2	Ted Lasso	Apple TV	3.6B
3	Neagley	Prime Video	3.3B
3	Lioness	Paramount+	3.3B
5	Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story	Netflix	3.1B
6	The Gentlemen	Netflix	2.8B
7	SEAL Team	Paramount+/ Netflix	2.2B
8	Beauty in Black	Netflix	1.9B
9	Outer Banks	Netflix	1.7B
10	Silo	Apple TV	1.4B

Lioness reached those numbers solely on Paramount+, while Boreanaz's SEAL Team did so on Netflix and Paramount+, according to Nielsen. While Sheridan's military thriller series continues to impress with each new season, SEAL Team's feat might be even more impressive, given that the final season of the Boreanaz series was released back in 2024, and SEAL Team was watched more than Netflix's Outer Banks, which released its final season on August 20, and Apple TV's Silo, the sci-fi series starring Rebecca Ferguson that saw season 3 come to an end on September 4. SEAL Team is still a streaming hit years later.

Boreanaz Has Another Potential Hit On The Horizon

Boreanaz can follow the 2026 streaming success of SEAL Team with a huge new series he stars in 2027. That would be NBC's reboot of The Rockford Files. The original 1974 detective series starred James Garner as Jim Rockford, a PI in Los Angeles dealing with a wide array of cases. Boreanaz will take over the title role when the new version of The Rockford Files arrives on NBC and Peacock in January 2027. Based on the actor's successful track record on TV and SEAL Team's strong 2026 streaming performance, The Rockford Files could repeat that on Peacock next year.