Movies like The Operator
The best movies like The Operator are Chief of Station (2024), Kandahar (2023) and The Gray Man (2022). If The Operator hooked you with its action and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Operator
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSicario (2015)7.4/10 from 10,083 votes
- NewestZip Wire (2026)Released 2026
Chief of Station (2024)
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKandahar (2023)
After his mission is exposed, an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Gray Man (2022)
When a shadowy CIA agent uncovers damning agency secrets, he's hunted across the globe by a sociopathic rogue operative who's put a bounty on his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOff the Grid (2025)
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their biggest mistake of all – they weaponize the man they are trying to catch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Grounds (2025)
Desperate to find refuge for her children, Chloe Marvino runs away from her Mafia tied husband, and finds shelter in a cabin with a recluse drifter named Jake. But as her husband's henchmen draw closer to her, it turns out that Jake is the biggest enemy of them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrap House (2025)
An undercover DEA agent and his partner embark on a game of cat and mouse with an audacious, and surprising group of thieves – their own rebellious teenagers, who have begun robbing from a dangerous cartel, using their parents' tactics and top-secret intel to do it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe November Man (2014)
An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalone (1987)
Erstwhile C.I.A. assassin Richard Malone hopes for a tranquil retirement in the placid Pacific Northwest, but what he gets is a rumble with a right-wing extremist plotting a secret revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLights Out (2024)
A drifting ex-soldier turns underground fighter with the help of a just-released ex-con, pitting him against corrupt cops and hired killers now gunning for him and all those he cares about.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSection 8 (2022)
After avenging the murder of his family, a former soldier is sprung from prison and recruited by a shadowy government agency.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Ranger (2023)
A Texas Ranger is recruited by British Intelligence to track down a dangerous terrorist and stop him from attacking London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDangerous (2021)
A reformed sociopath heads to a remote island after the death of his brother. Soon after his arrival, the island falls under siege from a deadly gang of mercenaries, and when he discovers their role in his brother’s demise, he sets out on a relentless quest for vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanary Black (2024)
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisErased (2012)
A former agent of the CIA and his estranged daughter go on the run after his employers target them for assassination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing of Killers (2023)
Garan is a part of a group of international hitmen who are contracted to take out the most dangerous killer in the world, only to find out that they're the ones being hunted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnlocked (2017)
After failing to apprehend the terrorist behind a Paris attack that claimed dozens of lives, CIA agent Alice Racine is forced to live in London as a caseworker. Her mentor unexpectedly calls her back into action when the CIA discovers that another attack is imminent. Alice soon learns that the classified information she's uncovered has been compromised...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZip Wire (2026)
When her ground-breaking pharmaceutical discovery is stolen and partner murdered, researcher Amy must face her fear of heights to escape nefarious attackers, with the only path to salvation being a treacherous aerial runway. To outsmart the mysterious hostiles, she has to summon every ounce of courage to protect the world-changing scientific discovery — and herself — before it's too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounds of War (2024)
After a mission goes wrong, only one of a group of mercenaries is left alive to avenge his fallen brothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExit Protocol (2025)
An assassin whose specialty is killing other assassins trying to get out of the business decides to try to get out himself and must then team up with his former mark to escape the hired killers now gunning for them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Spy The Eternal City (2024)
JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConspiracy Theory (1997)
A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Defender (2004)
The global war on terror rages on. When a government official goes missing, Lance, a man with an impressive record of service to his country, finds himself protecting the man who embodies everything he has dedicated his life to fight against.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Line of Fire (1993)
Veteran Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan is a man haunted by his failure to save President Kennedy while serving protection detail in Dallas. Thirty years later, a man calling himself "Booth" threatens the life of the current President, forcing Horrigan to come back to protection detail to confront the ghosts from his past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAssassins (1995)
Assassin Robert Rath arrives at a funeral to kill a prominent mobster, only to witness a rival hired gun complete the job for him -- with grisly results. Horrified by the murder of innocent bystanders, Rath decides to take one last job and then return to civilian life. But finding his way out of the world of contract killing grows ever more dangerous as Rath falls for his female target and becomes a marked man himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sum of All Fears (2002)
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStraight Lies (TBA)
In 1990, a teenage girl falsely accused of drug use is held against her will and must escape a cult-like drug rehab backed by the US Government. Meanwhile, her covert CIA agent father becomes so entangled in political influence that he's unaware of the danger his daughter is in.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
The Amateur (2025)
After his life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder takes matters into his own hands when his supervisors refuse to take action.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbduction (2011)
For many years, Nathan Harper has had the uneasy feeling that life with his family isn't quite what it seems. As he draws closer to uncovering the truth, he is hunted by assassins, forcing him to flee with his neighbor, Karen, the only person he can trust.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Operator?
The closest matches to The Operator are Chief of Station (2024), Kandahar (2023) and The Gray Man (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Operator?
Start with Chief of Station (2024), the closest match to The Operator.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Operator?
Sicario (2015), rated 7.4/10 by 10,083 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Operator?
Zip Wire (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Operator?
Yes: Chief of Station (2024), Kandahar (2023) and The Gray Man (2022).
How are movies similar to The Operator chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Operator, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.