The Alienist is an American period crime drama–thriller television series based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Caleb Carr. The ten-episode limited series[1][2] first aired on TNT as a sneak peek on January 21, 2018, before its official premiere on January 22, 2018, airing until March 26, 2018.[3] The series stars Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning as an ad hoc team assembled in mid-1890s New York City to investigate a serial killer who is murdering street children. The series incorporates fact with fiction by including the characters that are historical figures, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who held the post of police commissioner from 1895 to 1897.[4] On August 16, 2018, TNT ordered a sequel series based upon the 1997 follow-up novel The Angel of Darkness.[5] The second season, titled The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, premiered on July 19, 2020,[6] and aired through August 9, 2020.

The first season is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped New York City. Newly appointed police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychiatrist, and John Moore, a newspaper illustrator, to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard, Roosevelt’s headstrong secretary, as well as twin brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, both detective sergeants in the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

The team finds opposition within the NYPD, primarily from Captain Connor and the recently retired Chief Byrnes, both of whom are more committed to protecting the reputations of New York’s high society than they are to finding the perpetrators of the crimes; as well as from the working poor and lower class citizens who distrust them for being outsiders.

In the second season, set a year later, Sara has opened a private detective agency. She, Kreizler, and Moore – now a New York Times reporter – team up to find the Spanish consul’s kidnapped infant daughter. Their investigation puts them on a path of another elusive killer, while showcasing institutional corruption, income inequality, yellow journalism, and the role of women in 1890s society.