Top Five Strong Female Leads to Stream Right Now

Caption: The Queens Gambit piqued the public’s interest in chess

Whether you’ve had a testing day at work, a tricky situation at home, or you’re just in need of some inspiration to change things around, there’s rarely a better person to deliver it than a strong independent woman. Thankfully, there are literally hundreds of documentaries, television series, and films to stream that have strong female characters at the front and center. This is our pick of the very best strong women to stream right now.

Orange is the New Black

First up is an oldie but a goldie, it seems crazy to think that the first OITNB episode aired ten whole years ago, but it did! If you’ve not caught up with this eight-season behemoth of a series yet then this is your call to do so. The series lead is Piper Chapman, a mid-30s woman who seems to have her life all figured out, until her past comes back to haunt her. Piper is thrown into prison and has to learn to operate in this new world that she doesn’t quite know the rules of yet. What ensues is equal parts tear-jerking, hilarious, and jaw-dropping. This series has more than earned its stripes as one of the very best of the ’10s and will be a real treat for anyone who’s not binged it yet.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

We’ve already featured this brilliant series on our countdown of the best shows to stream on Amazon, but it’s so hilarious that we’re shouting it out again. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel tells the story of a housewife in the 1950s who has an idyllic life until she discovers that she has a real talent for stand-up comedy. The adventure this takes her on will definitely test the strength of her relationships and the home that she’s built, but it provides plenty of laughs along the way.

Poker Queens

Caption: The Poker Queens documentary sheds light on the competitive poker scene

The world of high-stakes poker is fast-paced and exciting, perfect for a television show, but the stakes are even higher when you’re one of the five percent of women that play in these sort of games. Poker Queens follows a handful of women who are playing at the top of their game with the aim of winning the top prize at the World Series of Poker. If you’re feeling inspired by the Poker Queens then trying out your skills at one of the best online casinos is much more advised than diving straight into a high-stakes poker tournament.

The Queens Gambit

This limited series was so well-received that it became the most-watched scripted miniseries in Netflix history and it did it within a month of its release. It tells the story of Beth Harmon, an orphan who discovers she has an incredible talent for chess. She battles through a whole lot of personal issues, does it all in an incredible wardrobe and makes enormous strides in her quest to become the greatest chess player in the whole world. This series was so inspiring that it was reported that interest in chess through Google searches spiked to an all time high in the weeks after its release.

The Unforgivable

Our final pick is a Sandra Bullock triumph, in which she plays a woman who has been released from prison and needs to readjust to her old life. Having spent a seriously long time inside, the world seems to have moved on without Sandra, with iPhones, online dating, and social media sites being things that she has almost no comprehension of. Of course, having committed a violent crime, social media is fairly low down on the list of her worries. Watching her cope with this new version of the world is a stark reminder that everything can be conquered, no matter how hard it might seem.