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| Shows Like Crew Girl to Watch Next |
If Crew Girl has you hooked on competitive sport, elite-school politics, complicated friendships and teenagers trying to survive while everyone around them seems determined to make life harder, there is plenty to watch next. The Netflix drama, arriving on 10 September 2026, follows Teagan Tao as she attempts to rebuild her rowing ambitions after her family’s public downfall, only to discover that Easton Prep has no girls’ crew team.
Her solution is gloriously chaotic: take the coxswain seat in the boys’ varsity boat and convince a deeply sceptical group of rowers that she belongs there. Add a wealthy captain, a local rival, class tensions and a rather inconvenient love triangle, and you have a formula practically designed to keep viewers clicking “next episode”.
Shows Like CREW GIRL
1. Friday Night Lights (2006)
Friday Night Lights is one of the strongest choices for fans of Crew Girl because sport is not simply decoration around the teenagers’ lives. Set around a high-school American football team in Texas, the series explores pressure, family expectations, friendship, romance and the enormous social importance attached to winning.
Like Teagan, its young characters have ambitions that extend far beyond the playing field, while coaches, parents and classmates constantly add another layer of pressure. The rowing boats are replaced by football pitches, but the emotional machinery is remarkably similar.
2. All American (2018)
All American follows a talented young football player whose move into a wealthy Beverly Hills school throws him into an unfamiliar social world. That makes it a particularly good match for Crew Girl, where Teagan also finds herself navigating the divide between privileged students and people outside Easton Prep’s polished bubble.
Both shows mix competitive sport with romance, friendship, family problems and questions about belonging. If watching talented teenagers discover that having ability does not magically make life easier sounds appealing, this one should be high on the list.
3. Make It or Break It (2009)
Make It or Break It heads into the fiercely competitive world of elite gymnastics, following young athletes chasing major ambitions while dealing with friendship drama, rivalries and romantic complications. Its biggest connection to Crew Girl is the pressure placed on young women competing in environments where every mistake can feel enormous.
Teagan’s determination to stay involved with rowing despite the barriers around her fits neatly alongside the gymnasts’ refusal to let setbacks derail their goals. Naturally, there is also plenty of interpersonal chaos because apparently teenagers cannot simply train and go home.
4. Dare Me (2019)
Dare Me centres on competitive cheerleading and the complicated relationships between teenagers within a demanding school environment. It is darker and more psychologically intense than Crew Girl, but the similarities are clear: competitive sport, teenage ambition, shifting loyalties and a team dynamic where personal relationships can become just as important as performance. The series also understands how quickly a supposedly united squad can become a battlefield of egos. If the team politics in Easton Prep appeal to you, Dare Me has plenty of that uncomfortable energy.
5. One Tree Hill (2003)
One Tree Hill combines high-school basketball with friendship, family conflict, romance and social differences, making it an obvious recommendation for viewers who enjoy the broader coming-of-age side of Crew Girl. Its central characters come from very different backgrounds and frequently find themselves competing both on the court and in their personal lives.
The sports element gradually shares space with bigger emotional storylines, much like Teagan’s rowing ambitions sit alongside her family’s problems and increasingly complicated relationships. It is older, but the teenage drama formula still works surprisingly well.
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022)
The Summer I Turned Pretty is less focused on sport, but it shares Crew Girl’s coming-of-age heart, complicated romance and affluent social setting. The story follows Belly as she spends another summer around two brothers who have been part of her life for years, only for those relationships to become considerably more complicated. The connection is particularly strong if the love triangle is what grabbed you rather than the rowing itself. There are fewer boats and more beaches, but emotional confusion remains very much on the schedule.
7. My Life with the Walter Boys (2023)
My Life with the Walter Boys follows Jackie, a teenager forced to adjust to a completely different life after moving from Manhattan to rural Colorado. That transition echoes Teagan’s attempt to rebuild her life after her family’s troubles force her into a new environment.
Both series place young women in unfamiliar social circles while mixing school life, family complications, friendship and romance. The settings are very different, but the feeling of starting over while everyone else already seems to know the rules makes this an easy recommendation for Crew Girl viewers.
8. The O.C. (2003)
The O.C. brings wealthy teenagers, outsiders, family problems and romantic complications together in one glossy California setting. Ryan arrives in Orange County and suddenly finds himself surrounded by privileged classmates whose problems are considerably more complicated than their expensive houses suggest.
That class contrast makes the series relevant to Crew Girl, where Teagan encounters Easton Prep’s affluent world while also remaining connected to a less privileged local community. There is no rowing obsession here, but there is enough teenage chaos to fill several boats.
9. All Rise (2019)
All Rise is not a sports drama, but its emphasis on ambitious young people, pressure and navigating professional expectations makes it an interesting alternative once you have exhausted the more obvious school-sport choices.
The series follows people working within the Los Angeles legal system, with personal relationships and professional rivalries constantly colliding. It lacks Crew Girl’s high-school setting, yet viewers interested in characters fighting to prove themselves in competitive environments may find plenty to enjoy. Think less rowing shell, more courtroom pressure.
10. Never Have I Ever (2020)
Never Have I Ever focuses on Devi Vishwakumar as she attempts to navigate school, friendships, family expectations and romance while trying to figure out who she wants to become. Like Crew Girl, it understands that teenage life can feel like several full-time jobs happening simultaneously.
Devi’s ambitions and personal complications often collide in spectacularly awkward fashion, while Teagan is dealing with her own family baggage and social upheaval. The tone is lighter and funnier, but both shows put ambitious young women at the centre of messy coming-of-age stories.
11. Heartbreak High (2022)
Heartbreak High returns to the high-school drama formula with a contemporary Australian setting and a large ensemble of students dealing with friendships, relationships, identity and social pressures. It shares Crew Girl’s focus on young people trying to establish themselves while navigating a school environment full of shifting alliances.
The series is much more ensemble-driven, whereas Teagan remains firmly at the centre of her story. Still, if the school politics and romantic complications are what keep you watching Crew Girl, Heartbreak High has enough chaos to keep the timetable very busy.
12. Elite (2018)
Elite places students from very different social backgrounds inside an exclusive private school, making its class divide particularly relevant to Crew Girl. The Spanish drama revolves around wealthy students, scholarship pupils, friendships, rivalries and complicated relationships, creating an environment where social status can be almost as powerful as talent.
Crew Girl is far more focused on sport and coming-of-age development, but the contrast between privileged students and outsiders is a major point of overlap. If Easton Prep’s polished exterior interests you, Elite takes that concept and turns the social pressure up considerably.
13. The Vampire Diaries (2009)
The Vampire Diaries may sound like an odd recommendation for a rowing drama, and frankly, the rowing team would probably have several questions. Yet its core is still built around teenagers, friendship, romance, rivalry and a small community where everyone's personal business somehow becomes everybody else's problem.
Crew Girl viewers who are primarily invested in the love triangle and interpersonal drama may enjoy the same addictive relationship-driven structure here. The supernatural element is obviously a major departure, but the emotional complications are familiar territory.
14. Ginny & Georgia (2021)
Ginny & Georgia follows a teenage girl and her mother as they start over in a new town, with school life, friendships, romance and family complications quickly becoming entangled. That mother-daughter dynamic gives it a particularly useful connection to Crew Girl, where Teagan and Ella Tao are both dealing with the consequences of a dramatic change in their lives. The series spends more time on family relationships and personal identity than sport, but its coming-of-age story has the same underlying idea: starting fresh does not mean leaving your problems behind.
15. Spinning Out (2020)
Spinning Out is one of the closest recommendations if the athletic side of Crew Girl is what interests you most. The series follows competitive figure skaters operating under intense performance pressure while dealing with relationships and personal struggles.
Like Teagan, its athletes are defined by ambition and the determination to remain in a demanding sport despite obstacles. The environment is different, but both stories understand the obsession required to compete seriously. Replace rowing shells with ice skates and you get a surprisingly natural transition.
16. The Wilds (2020)
The Wilds takes a group of teenage girls and puts them in an extreme situation where cooperation becomes essential. While it is obviously much more survival-focused than Crew Girl, the series shares an interest in female leadership, group dynamics and young women discovering their strengths under pressure.
Teagan Tao has to earn authority among a boys’ crew, while The Wilds examines what happens when a group of girls must negotiate leadership and trust among themselves. It is a much stranger ride, but the character dynamics are worth the detour.
17. Cruel Summer (2021)
Cruel Summer is built around teenage relationships, shifting perspectives and the social fallout surrounding a dramatic event. Its structure is far more mysterious than Crew Girl, but both shows explore how quickly reputations can change and how difficult it can be for young people to control the stories others tell about them.
Teagan begins her new life carrying the consequences of her father’s scandal, while Cruel Summer repeatedly examines the impact of public perception. It is another good choice if the social drama interests you more than the sporting action.
18. Friday Night Lights: The Movie (2004)
Friday Night Lights is technically a film rather than a series, but it deserves a place here because its combination of high-school sport, community expectations and teenage ambition is almost tailor-made for Crew Girl fans.
The story follows a Texas football team facing enormous expectations during a crucial season. The athletes are treated as local heroes, while their families and coaches feel the pressure alongside them. It offers the same basic reminder as Crew Girl: once teenagers become symbols of a team, winning can suddenly feel like everyone's business.
19. Young Royals (2021)
Young Royals follows Prince Wilhelm after he enters a prestigious boarding school, where he becomes caught between institutional expectations, friendship and romance. The elite-school environment provides an obvious connection to Easton Prep, while the series also explores the tension between personal choices and the expectations attached to social status.
Crew Girl is much more sports-driven, but viewers interested in wealthy-school politics and relationships crossing social boundaries should find plenty to enjoy. The uniforms are different, the problems are different, but the school corridors remain just as dangerous.
20. Rebelde (2022)
Rebelde follows students at an elite private school where music, friendships, rivalries and romance collide. Like Crew Girl, it places ambitious young people inside an institution where social status and talent constantly influence their relationships.
Its competitive element comes through music rather than rowing, but the idea of teenagers fighting for recognition within an established school hierarchy is remarkably similar. It also delivers the kind of ensemble drama where one disagreement can somehow become everybody's problem before lunchtime.
21. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2024)
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder centres on Pip, a determined student who becomes obsessed with investigating a case connected to her own town. While it moves away from sport, it shares Crew Girl's focus on a young woman refusing to accept the obvious answer and pushing against the expectations placed on her.
Both protagonists are persistent, intelligent and willing to challenge people with more influence than themselves. If Teagan's refusal to simply accept that Easton has no place for her is your favourite part of the story, Pip's determination should appeal.
22. Blood & Water (2020)
Blood & Water follows a teenager who transfers to an elite Cape Town school while trying to uncover answers about her family. The private-school setting, social divisions and complicated teenage relationships make it another solid match for Crew Girl.
Both series place young protagonists inside privileged educational environments where status matters and personal problems do not politely stay at home. The stories take very different routes, but the combination of elite-school drama and a determined young woman pushing into an unfamiliar world makes the connection easy to see.
23. The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021)
The Sex Lives of College Girls shifts the setting from high school to university, following four roommates from different backgrounds as they navigate friendships, relationships, academics and independence. It is much more comedic than Crew Girl, but the class differences and contrasting personalities create a similar ensemble dynamic.
The characters are older and have considerably more freedom, which naturally creates an entirely different sort of chaos. If what you really want after Crew Girl is another show about young people discovering themselves while making questionable decisions, this is a strong final stop.
Fans' reactions to Crew Girl are likely to vary depending on which part of the formula works best for them. Viewers drawn to the rowing competition and Teagan's determination may want something more heavily centred on sport, making shows such as Friday Night Lights, All American, Make It or Break It and Spinning Out the obvious follow-ups.
Those more interested in Easton Prep's wealthy-school environment, meanwhile, may get more mileage from Elite, Young Royals, The O.C. and Blood & Water. Then there are viewers who are really here for the romance, in which case the boat can practically sail itself towards The Summer I Turned Pretty or My Life with the Walter Boys. The appeal of Crew Girl is that it combines all these ingredients rather than relying on just one.
My personal take is that Crew Girl works because its premise gives the usual teen-drama formula a genuinely useful sporting engine. Teagan is not simply dropped into another school and handed a predictable romantic problem; she has an actual ambition that she refuses to abandon, even when the institution around her gives her very little encouragement.
That makes the rivalry with Josh and Cam more interesting because they are connected to the same competitive world but approach it from completely different positions. The class divide also gives the story more bite, while the family scandal prevents Teagan's fresh start from becoming too convenient. Is every love triangle ever invented necessary? Absolutely not. Will I still watch one unfold when there is a dysfunctional rowing team involved? Unfortunately, probably yes.
With 23 shows like Crew Girl covering sports dramas, elite-school stories, coming-of-age romances and messy teenage rivalries, there is no shortage of options once Teagan's first season reaches the finish line. The real question is which one deserves your next binge: the sports-heavy picks, the elite-school dramas or the romance-driven chaos? Tell us which show you would put at number one, and whether Crew Girl deserves a second season.