 |
| Best Shows Like Minerva Academy. |
If Minerva Academy left you wanting another teen drama packed with strict rules, hidden secrets, family pressure and teenagers making spectacularly questionable decisions, there are plenty of shows to put next on the list. The 2026 Italian series stands out for placing its coming-of-age story inside a rigid military academy in Naples, where dawn ceremonies, fencing, tactical training and a ban on phones and civilian clothes create an unusually controlled world.
Ciro Minopoli’s Salvo enters the academy for a secret reason, investigating the disappearance of his best friend, while Vincenzo and Camilla bring their own family expectations and rebellious streaks into the mix. With mystery running underneath the school drama, Minerva Academy sits somewhere between a traditional teen series, a boarding-school thriller and a character-driven coming-of-age story. So, if that combination sounds like your sort of trouble, these 23 shows are worth watching next.
Shows Like Minerva Academy
1. Elite (2018)
Elite moves the action from a military academy to an exclusive Spanish private school, but the ingredients are surprisingly familiar. Wealth, family pressure, forbidden relationships, rivalries and a central mystery keep its students constantly tangled in trouble. Like Minerva Academy, it puts young characters inside a tightly controlled institution where secrets rarely stay buried. The uniforms are considerably more stylish, though, because apparently tactical warfare is optional when you have designer wardrobes.
2. The Boarding School (2007)
Spanish mystery drama The Boarding School follows students at a secluded elite school where strange events, personal secrets and a much bigger mystery gradually come together. Its isolated educational setting gives it a similar atmosphere to Minerva Academy, particularly the feeling that the institution itself is hiding something. Teen relationships and family histories are also deeply connected to the central mystery, making this a natural choice for viewers who enjoy school drama with a darker investigative edge.
3. Rebelde (2022)
Netflix's Rebelde follows students at an elite boarding school where friendships, romance, ambition and competition collide. It is less military and considerably more interested in music, but the pressure placed on teenagers by their families and surroundings feels familiar. Like Minerva Academy, the series creates a closed environment where rivalries become intense and personal secrets matter. Swap tactical exercises for band rehearsals and you get the general idea.
4. Control Z (2020)
Control Z centres on students at a Mexican high school after a mysterious hacker begins exposing their private secrets. The setting is modern rather than deliberately old-fashioned, but the storytelling shares Minerva Academy's interest in secrecy, suspicion and teenagers trying to work out whom they can trust. Both shows turn school life into an investigation, with personal relationships becoming increasingly complicated as hidden information starts coming out.
5. Grand Army (2020)
Grand Army follows students at a Brooklyn high school dealing with academic pressure, family expectations, friendships and difficult personal circumstances. It does not have Minerva Academy's military framework or mystery plot, but its focus on young people navigating institutional rules and adult expectations makes it a strong thematic match. The series is particularly interested in how teenagers respond when the systems around them demand more than they are prepared to give.
6. The Society (2019)
In The Society, a group of teenagers returns from a school trip to discover that everyone else in their town has mysteriously disappeared. Suddenly, they have to build their own society while dealing with leadership, rivalry, relationships and increasingly serious secrets. That combination of young people trapped inside an unfamiliar system makes it similar to Minerva Academy. Both stories ask what happens when teenagers are forced to operate within rules they did not create.
7. The Order (2019)
Netflix's The Order takes school drama into supernatural territory, following university students caught between secret societies, magic and dangerous mysteries. It is considerably more fantastical than Minerva Academy, but the underlying structure will feel familiar: young characters enter a highly controlled environment, discover that adults are hiding things and become involved in conflicts far larger than ordinary student problems. Naturally, there is also considerably more magic and considerably fewer fencing lessons.
8. The Irregulars (2021)
The Irregulars follows a group of teenagers investigating supernatural mysteries in Victorian London. Its characters operate under pressure while trying to uncover secrets connected to a much larger conspiracy. Like Minerva Academy, it combines a young ensemble with an investigation that gradually reveals deeper problems involving adults and institutions. The historical setting also gives both shows a slightly detached feeling from contemporary teen dramas.
9. Young Royals (2021)
Young Royals centres on Prince Wilhelm after he is sent to an elite boarding school in Sweden. Strict expectations, family pressure, forbidden romance and social hierarchies shape much of the story. While nobody is being trained for military operations, the controlled environment creates a similar tension to Minerva Academy. Both series explore young people trying to find their own identity while powerful adults have already decided what their lives should look like.
10. Maxton Hall – The World Between Us (2024)
Maxton Hall – The World Between Us follows students at an elite private school where class differences, ambition, family expectations and romance quickly become impossible to ignore.
Like Minerva Academy, it places teenagers in a restrictive environment where reputation matters and adult expectations heavily influence their choices. The central relationship brings plenty of friction, while the school itself becomes a pressure cooker for its characters. At least nobody needs to wake up for military drills.
11. The Politician (2019)
Netflix's The Politician turns school competition into something approaching a full-time political campaign. Payton Hobart is determined to become student-body president while navigating wealthy parents, ambitious classmates, betrayals and elaborate schemes.
Its characters are considerably more politically obsessed than the cadets of Minerva Academy, but the similarities are clear: competitive students, family expectations, institutional pressure and teenagers behaving as though every decision will determine the fate of civilisation.
12. Class (2023)
Indian teen drama Class follows students at an elite school where wealthy families, social divisions, secrets and conflicts create a volatile environment. Like Minerva Academy, it uses the school as more than a backdrop, making the institution itself central to the characters' relationships and struggles. The contrast between privileged students and those from different backgrounds also echoes the class and family tensions running through many ensemble teen dramas.
13. Blood & Water (2020)
Blood & Water follows a teenager who becomes convinced that a student at an elite Cape Town school may be her abducted sister. That investigation draws her into a world of privilege, secrets and complicated relationships. Its mystery-driven structure makes it particularly suitable for Minerva Academy viewers. Both shows place a personal investigation inside an institutional setting where friendships and rivalries constantly complicate the search for answers.
14. Get Even (2020)
Get Even follows four British schoolgirls who secretly work together to expose bullying and wrongdoing at their private school. Their investigation brings them into conflict with classmates and the institution itself.
Like Minerva Academy, the series mixes teenage relationships with secrets and an underlying investigation. The difference is that these students are running a clandestine justice operation rather than learning military tactics, which is probably slightly easier to explain at parents' evening.
15. The A List (2018)
The A List begins as a teen summer-camp drama before turning into a much stranger mystery involving secrets, manipulation and psychological tension. Its isolated setting creates the same sense of teenagers being cut off from ordinary life that makes Minerva Academy distinctive. Both series gradually reveal that the environment surrounding their young characters is more complicated than it first appears, with adults and hidden motives playing important roles.
16. The Hardy Boys (2020)
The Hardy Boys follows teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy as they investigate mysteries connected to their family and hometown. It is more traditional detective drama than military-school story, but the investigative element makes it a strong companion to Minerva Academy. Salvo's decision to enter the academy while secretly investigating his friend's disappearance has a similar appeal: teenagers discovering that asking one innocent question can produce roughly 47 much worse questions.
17. The Unlisted (2019)
Australian series The Unlisted follows teenagers who discover a secret organisation conducting a mysterious programme involving young people. The protagonists become caught in a wider conspiracy while trying to understand whom they can trust. That combination of teenagers, institutional control and hidden agendas makes it especially relevant for viewers who enjoyed Minerva Academy's darker mystery elements.
18. Greenhouse Academy (2017)
Greenhouse Academy follows students at an elite boarding school where rival houses, family problems, romance and conspiracies gradually become intertwined. The school environment is highly structured, and several mysteries drive the wider story. Like Minerva Academy, it uses teenage rivalries as a gateway into larger secrets. The characters may spend less time marching and more time investigating, but the basic formula remains pleasingly chaotic.
19. Tower Prep (2010)
Tower Prep follows teenagers mysteriously sent to a strange boarding school where they discover that the institution has secrets of its own. The students are isolated from normal life and forced to navigate unfamiliar rules while searching for answers.
That setup makes it one of the more obvious choices for Minerva Academy viewers. Both shows turn an educational institution into a controlled environment where simply being a student is not quite as straightforward as it sounds.
20. House of Anubis (2011)
House of Anubis follows students at a British boarding school as they become involved in mysteries surrounding the building, its history and the people living inside it. The series combines friendships, romance, rivalries and secrets in a closed school environment. Like Minerva Academy, it understands that boarding schools are perfect places for mysterious things to happen because apparently giving teenagers bedrooms in one giant building is an invitation for everyone to investigate something.
21. Panic (2021)
Panic follows graduating teenagers in a small Texas town who take part in a dangerous annual competition. The characters are motivated by personal circumstances, financial pressure and the desire to escape their limited futures. That makes it thematically close to Minerva Academy's focus on teenagers confronting pressure and expectations. Both stories put young people into demanding environments where every decision can have serious consequences.
22. School Spirits (2023)
School Spirits follows a teenager investigating her own mysterious disappearance from the afterlife while trying to understand what happened to her. The school becomes the centre of the investigation, with students and adults holding pieces of information that may explain the mystery. Its supernatural premise separates it from Minerva Academy, but the combination of teenage drama, secrets and an investigation inside an educational setting makes the connection easy to see.
23. The Midnight Club (2022)
The Midnight Club brings teenagers together at a mysterious residential hospice where they tell frightening stories and form close friendships while investigating the strange history surrounding the institution.
Like Minerva Academy, it uses a confined environment to intensify relationships, secrets and mystery. The tone is much more supernatural, but viewers who enjoyed the feeling of young characters uncovering uncomfortable truths inside an unusual institution may find plenty to like here.
For me, the appeal of shows like Minerva Academy is not simply the teen-drama label. The interesting part is the collision between young people and institutions that expect obedience, loyalty and self-control. Add a disappearance, family pressure, forbidden relationships and a few adults carrying secrets of their own, and suddenly a school timetable looks suspiciously like a thriller plot.
The best matches here are the ones that understand that teenagers become far more interesting when they are trapped somewhere with rules they did not write. Elite, The Boarding School, Blood & Water, Greenhouse Academy and Tower Prep especially capture different pieces of that formula, while the others stretch it into romance, supernatural mystery or competition. If Minerva Academy worked for you because of its unusual academy setting, secret investigation or rebellious characters, there is plenty here to keep that obsession going. Which one would you put on first?