There was a time in the mid-to-late 2000s when it seemed like Taylor Kitsch was everywhere, as if it were every major Hollywood studio’s goal to make him the next big movie star. He showed up in everything from teen horror movies like The Covenant, a small role in the John Tucker Must Die cast, played fan-favorite Marvel character Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and led an action-packed thriller based on the board game Battleship.
These days, Kitsch is not necessarily opening blockbusters. Yet, as his frequent collaborator Peter Berg will vouch for, he has grown into an actor you can depend on to give a grounded, adept, and riveting performance, as seen in the very impressive filmography he has created for himself. Let’s go over these highlights in our guide for how to watch the best Taylor Kitsch movies and TV shows.
American Primeval (2025)
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Better Gilpin
What it's about: The dawn of the American West, as seen from various viewpoints.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch TV shows: From creator Mark L. Smith and director Peter Berg, the new Netflix TV show American Primeval is an intriguing, six-part look at a revolutionary time in American history through a gritty, brutal lens.
How to watch American Primeval
Painkiller (2023)
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Taylor Kitsch
What it's about: Under the direction of Richard Sackler, Purdue Pharmaceuticals develops and distributes a powerful pain medication called Oxycontin, which proves to have a highly addictive, fatal, and devastating effect on millions of people.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch TV shows: From director and executive producer Peter Berg (who has a personal connection to Oxycontin), Painkiller is a fictionalized, six-episode Netflix original limited series dramatizing Purdue’s contribution to the opioid epidemic as told from multiple perspectives.
How to watch Painkiller
Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton
What it's about: A dedicated head coach contends with his own personal struggles while leading his top-ranking high school football team – the pride of his Texas town – to greatness.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch TV shows: Years before working together on Painkiller, Taylor Kitsch collaborated with executive producer Peter Berg as part of the Friday Night Lights cast (in the role of Dillon Panthers’ fullback/running back Tim Riggins) in this hit series based on a movie of the same name that Berg also directed in 2004.
How to watch Friday Night Lights
Lone Survivor (2013)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster
What it's about: A Navy SEAL and his crew set out to capture a wanted Taliban leader dead or alive, only to come at odds with multiple armed adversaries in a harrowing fight for their lives in 2005 Afghanistan.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Kitsch plays real-life, deceased United States Navy SEAL officer Michael Murphy in Lone Survivor – a film that features a brutal depiction of war based on the tragic experience of Marcus Luttrell, who lost the rest of his unit during Operation Red Wings.
How to watch Lone Survivor
Snakes On A Plane (2006)
Director: David R. Ellis
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Nathan Phillips, Byron Lawson
What it's about: An FBI agent accompanies a murder witness on a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles where he is meant to testify against a notorious gangster – unaware that said criminal has orchestrated an attack on their plane by releasing a swarm of venomous snakes on the passengers.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Taylor Kitsch appears in the deliciously campy, cult-favorite horror-comedy Snakes on a Plane as a man who, along with his girlfriend (played by Samantha McLeod), falls prey to slithering enemies while 30,000 feet above ground.
How to watch Snakes on a Plane
John Carter (2012)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins
What it's about: A former Civil War veteran is mysteriously transported to a distant planet where he is forced to compete in barbaric challenges and comes to the aid of a desperate royal figure.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Taylor Kitsch’s first major leading role was the title hero from Disney’s John Carter – an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “A Princess of Mars,” which was a critical and commercial failure upon release but is seen as an underrated epic by many today.
How to watch John Carter
The Grand Seduction (2013)
Director: Don McKellar
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch
What it's about: To secure a contract to establish a factory in his struggling fishing village, an elder resident enlists fellow citizens to help convince a young, unwitting physician to take up a permanent residence in the town.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Following a run of disappointing big-budget projects, Taylor Kitsch put his attention toward smaller-scale films, such as The Grand Seduction – a funny and charming English-language update of the French-Canadian satire, La Grande Séduction.
How to watch The Grand Seduction
- Stream The Grand Seduction on Tubi
- Stream The Grand Seduction on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy The Grand Seduction on Amazon
- Buy The Grand Seduction on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Normal Heart (2014)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Taylor Kitsch
What it's about: A group of gay activists ally with medical practitioners to raise awareness of the New York AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Taylor Kitsch plays Bruce Niles, a fictional character inspired by real-life gay rights activist Paul Graham Popham, in HBO's Emmy-winning adaptation of Larry Kramer’s Tony-winning, semi-autobiographical play, The Normal Heart.
How to watch The Normal Heart
- Stream The Normal Heart on Max
- Rent or buy The Normal Heart on Amazon
- Buy The Normal Heart on Blu-ray on Amazon
Only The Brave (2017)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Josh Brolin, Miles Teller
What it's about: A firefighter crew is put to the ultimate test when a historic forest fire threatens to burn their to town the ground in 2013 Arizona.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Taylor Kitsch plays real-life firefighter Christopher MacKenzie in Only the Brave — a thrilling and inspiring account of the development and sacrificial heroism of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
How to watch Only the Brave
- Stream Only the Brave on Starz
- Rent or buy Only the Brave on Amazon
- Buy Only the Brave on Blu-ray on Amazon
Waco (2018)
Starring: Michael Shannon, Taylor Kitsch
What it's about: A fanatical religious group violently resists ATF suspicions, causing the FBI to initiate a 51-day siege on the cult’s Texas compound in 1993.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch TV shows: Taylor Kitsch gives one of his most acclaimed performances as leader of the Branch-Davidians, David Koresh, in Drew and John Erick Dowdle’s shocking, six-episode true crime limited series, Waco, which would later spawn a follow-up series called Waco: The Aftermath in 2023.
How to watch Waco
21 Bridges (2019)
Director: Brian Kirk
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James
What it's about: A disgraced New York detective goes to desperate measures to capture a pair of notorious criminals by sealing off every exit from Manhattan.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Taylor Kitsch would turn up the dark to take on another villainous role in 21 Bridges – a high-concept action thriller also produced by Boseman, alongside his Avengers: Infinity and Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
How to watch 21 Bridges
The Defeated (2020)
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Logan Marshall-Green
What it's about: An American cop establishes a much-needed law enforcement unit in post-World War II Berlin, where he must also contend with a ruthless gangster.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch TV shows: Taylor Kitsch makes up for his bad behavior in 21 Bridges by playing someone on the right of the law as the lead of The Defeated – an intriguing historical limited series original produced for German television before being acquired by Netflix.
How to watch The Defeated
The Terminal List (2022)
Starring: Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch
What it's about: After surviving a deadly ambush, a traumatized former Navy SEAL begins to suspect he is targeted by a conspiracy that threatens him and his loved ones.
Why it is one of the best Taylor Kitsch movies: Nearly a decade after playing a Navy SEAL in Lone Survivor, Taylor Kitsch plays yet another named Ben Edwards, who will reportedly be the focus of a prequel spin-off to The Terminal List – Amazon Prime’s hit action TV show based on a series of novels by Jack Carr.
How to watch The Terminal List
If you still cannot get enough of Taylor Kitsch after this binge, keep an eye out for his upcoming projects. He told Variety in 2018 that he is developing a movie of his own that would be his feature-length debut as a writer and director.
