Movies like Emperor (2020)
The best movies like Emperor (2020) are Emancipation (2022), Harriet (2019) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). If Emperor hooked you with its history and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated12 Years a Slave (2013)7.9/10 from 12,350 votes
- NewestYoung Washington (2026)Released 2026
Emancipation (2022)
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarriet (2019)
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like this12 Years a Slave (2013)
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJudas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panthers on the orders of FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton ascends—falling for a fellow revolutionary en route—a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Woman King (2022)
The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen, and General Nanisca as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLincoln (2012)
The revealing story of the 16th US President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFree State of Jones (2016)
In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman Walks Ahead (2018)
Based on a true story, this riveting western follows a headstrong New York widow as she journeys west to meet Sioux chief Sitting Bull, facing off with an army officer intent on war with Native Americans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGlory (1989)
Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreedom's Path (2023)
A Union soldier flees from battle and is rescued unexpectedly by free Black man Kitch and his friends. Risking everything, Kitch takes William deep into the woods to the safety of his adopted home. It's here that William discovers Kitch is a part of secret community of freed slaves, who run a portion of the Underground Railroad. When a ruthless and desperate slave catcher discovers the underground network, he conspires to bring it burning down to the ground.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Amistad (1997)
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams also becomes an ally.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSelma (2014)
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Birth of a Nation (2016)
Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Conspirator (2011)
Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Butler (2013)
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best of Enemies (2019)
Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina during the racially-charged summer of 1971. The incredible events that unfolded would change Durham and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShirley (2024)
Shirley Chisholm makes a trailblazing run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYoung Washington (2026)
Before he led a nation, George Washington was a young soldier thrown into a global conflict. With alliances crumbling and war closing in, he must choose who to trust and confront the leader he's becoming.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMalcolm X (1992)
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRustin (2023)
Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSon of the South (2021)
In civil rights era Montgomery, Alabama, Klansman's grandson Bob Zellner must choose which side of history to be on during the Movement. Defying his family and white Southern norms, he fought against social injustice, repression and violence to change the world around him
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHotel Rwanda (2004)
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetroit (2017)
A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest citizens' uprisings in the history of the United States.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 24th (2020)
The incredibly powerful and timely true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Field of Lost Shoes (2015)
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last of the Mohicans (1992)
In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOutlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Alamo (2004)
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisGods and Generals (2003)
Follows the personal and professional life of Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Emperor?
The closest matches to Emperor are Emancipation (2022), Harriet (2019) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Emperor?
People who watched Emperor most often go on to Emancipation (2022), Harriet (2019) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).
What is the highest-rated movie like Emperor?
12 Years a Slave (2013), rated 7.9/10 by 12,350 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Emperor?
Young Washington (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Emperor?
Yes: Emancipation (2022), Harriet (2019) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).
How are movies similar to Emperor chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Emperor, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.