12 TV Shows Like “Silo” That You Should Watch in the Future.
In the Apple TV series Silo, Rebecca Ferguson plays Juliet Nichols, an engineer who becomes embroiled in a case involving the local sheriff (David Oyelowo)—a typical detective procedural, except all the characters inhabit a massive 144-level bunker, protecting the remaining 10,000 people from a supposedly poisoned world above. Despite its clever, dystopian atmosphere, the series is gripping, and it has been renewed for a final fourth season, surpassing the three-book series by Hugh Howey on which it’s based.
The third season is expected in 2026. In the meantime, you can watch other series that combine dystopian plots with existential mysteries. Watch Silo on Apple TV.
Snowpiercer (2020–2024)
While Snowpiercer initially seems like a needless sequel to Bong Joon-ho’s allegorical post-apocalyptic film, it eventually takes on a life of its own, evolving into a clever sci-fi melodrama that recognizes that at the end of the world, there are no heroes and few true villains, only people doing their best to survive. In a frozen future (2026, to be precise), humanity survives on an extremely long train traveling around the world. If it stops, the power will go out, and everyone (literally everyone) will die. Those who arrived rich live in relative luxury at the front, while the poor live on scraps (or worse) at the back. Daveed Diggs plays former detective Andre Layton, a “tail” assigned by Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill, the train’s engineer and head of hospitality, to solve a series of murders. The ensuing uprising places them on opposite sides of a brutal conflict, as each realizes they are mere pawns of the elite—just as they always were. Watch Snowpiercer on AMC+ or buy episodes on Prime Video .
Station Eleven (2021–2022)
The miniseries based on Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling novel hits at either the perfect or the worst possible time: the story of the world 20 years after a devastating flu pandemic hits HBO in the midst of COVID-19—and don’t all our current apocalyptic dramas owe at least partly to this waking nightmare? The adaptation develops on two tracks. In the past, Kirsten Raymonde is a young stage actress whose performance in a production of King Lear is interrupted by the emergence of a virus with a 99% fatality rate. We also meet Kirsten 20 years later, still an actress, but in a world that has changed greatly. The series unfolds slowly, gaining momentum only after a couple of episodes, but ultimately it convincingly proves the power of art, even (or especially) in moments when survival is at stake. Watch Station Eleven on HBO Max .
Pluribus (2025 – )
The show’s tone isn’t quite right: Pluribus leans toward black comedy, but as far as post-apocalyptic detective stories go, the sci-fi dystopia from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is far from the worst. Although I say “dystopia,” the world of Pluribus is good for almost everyone except the main character. Rhea Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, a fantasy romance novelist and general grump who becomes one of only 13 people on the planet immune to “The Joining”—an alien virus that transforms the rest of humanity into a peaceful, cheerful, and eternally content hive mind. Carol refuses to accept her misery in the face of her loss of identity, instead fighting to return humanity to its admittedly horrific ways. Gripping, heartbreaking, and strangely funny, the series explores important questions about what it means to be human and the lengths we’re willing to go to for change. Watch Pluribus on Apple TV+ .
Black Knight (2023)
Decades after a comet impact wiped out most of Earth’s population and left a barely breathable atmosphere, survivors in Seoul live in extreme segregation. QR codes tattooed on their arms determine access to resources, including air, as supplemental oxygen is essential for survival. Severing the arm of someone with a better code is considered an acceptable way to advance in the military. All of this is controlled by a megacorporation, which builds an underground shelter for survivors of its choosing and distributes oxygen through couriers who have achieved legendary status. One such courier, known only as 5-8 (Kim Woo-bin), also runs a clandestine operation to provide aid to Seoul’s most needy residents, which soon brings him into conflict with the powers that be.Watch “Black Knight” on Netflix.
Wayward Pines (2015–2016)
Speaking of high-concept sci-fi, let’s transport yourself to Wayward Pines, a place you’ll never want to leave. Based on a trilogy of novels by Blake Crouch, this film follows secret agent Matt Dillon as he investigates the disappearances of two of his colleagues in the town of Wayward Pines, Idaho. Things go awry almost immediately, and after waking up from a car accident, he discovers that one of the agents (Carla Gugino), his ex-girlfriend, has settled into this seemingly idyllic town—and is 12 years older than she was when he saw her just weeks ago. Even more dramatic, the local sheriff (Terrence Howard) enforces a strict “no one ever leaves” policy, under penalty of execution. As in Silo , the mysteries mount. Watch Wayward Pines on Hulu .
Paradise (2025 – )
In “Paradise,” “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman reunites with one of his stars, Sterling K. Brown, but on a completely different project. The film begins as a political thriller, set in a wealthy suburb where everything seems quite neat. It’s the home of Xavier Collins, a widower and Secret Service agent played by Brown. It would be even more impactful if the president he served (James Marsden) hadn’t been assassinated (much of the plot is revealed in flashbacks). Oh, and that cute little town? It turns out to be an underground bunker, more luxurious than the one in “The Silo,” but just as sinister. Watch “Paradise” on Hulu .
Rain (2018–2020)
Only these melancholy Danes could build an apocalypse around precipitation. In this three-season series, a rain-borne virus wipes out most of Scandinavia’s population. Six years later, siblings Simone and Rasmus emerge from their bunker and set out on a journey across the countryside, hoping to find safe haven and perhaps find their father. It turns out that one of them holds the key to destroying the virus and saving the world. The premise isn’t the most original ( The Last of Us was released five years ago), but the setting lends the series a unique atmosphere, and it builds to a climactic ending.Watch “Rain” on Netflix .
War of the Worlds (2019–2022)
The War of the Worlds franchise is constantly churning out new adaptations, and this is one of two competing series launched in 2019. There was a BBC miniseries that faithfully captured the historical period, and then this French co-production, a much looser adaptation set in the present day. Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern star as the estranged couple Bill and Helen, among the few survivors of an alien invasion that has left the world sparsely populated and humanity constantly under threat from mysterious invaders who aren’t finished with us yet. It’s a dark story of traumatized people keeping secrets and calculating who they’re willing to sacrifice to survive at the hands of their new overlords. Watch War of the Worlds on MGM+ or buy it on Prime Video .
Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009)
Moving from a subterranean dystopia to a space dystopia reveals that things haven’t changed much, except that the giant hunk of metal containing most of humanity’s surviving population is horizontal in space instead of vertically underground. The point is, humans will find a way to move their problems anywhere. Here, the trigger is the monotheistic Cylons, artificial intelligences once relegated to the role of laborers who evolve, rebel, and devise a plan to wipe out their former masters on twelve colony worlds. The few survivors, all that remains of humanity, escape on the titular ship, accompanied by a few others. Politics follows them: military leader Adama (Edward James Olmos) frequently clashes with Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the Secretary of Education who became president after the entire line of succession was destroyed. Despite the ridiculous title, this is one of the smartest series of the 2000s, taking the core idea of the original, somewhat naive ’70s series with utmost seriousness. Buy Battlestar Galactica on Prime Video .
Separation (2022 – )
Late-stage capitalism encourages “work-life balance” while simultaneously making it impossible and making us feel guilty. In the series “Breakdown,” biotech giant Lumon Industries offers a solution: they split your consciousness into a life at work and a life outside of it. For the main characters (including Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, and Britt Lower), their work- and home-based identities become so distant that they become completely different people. The series combines elements of office dark comedies with films like “Brazil” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” exploring the perils of contemporary American totalitarian capitalism and reminding us that technology often promises to improve our lives only to make them worse. Watch “Breakdown” on Apple TV+ .
Aftermath (2024–)
As in Silo , we encounter a significant portion of humanity forced to live underground for reasons that aren’t entirely compelling. In the video game-inspired world of Fallout , the aesthetics of the 1950s have persisted far longer than in our own world, so some of the plot similarities give way to a unique style. The backstory is somewhat complex, but the series itself doesn’t elaborate: the year is 2296, and Earth has been devastated two centuries earlier by a nuclear war between the United States and China. Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) emerges from the underground shelter where she’s lived her entire life to find her father, kidnapped by raiders. The above-ground wasteland is ruled by warring factions, each viewing the others as cults and believing they alone know the right path for humanity. In the midst of this conflict, the area is also overrun by ghouls, devourers, and other feral radiation monsters, and Lucy seems to be one of the only people left with any faith in humanity. Watch “Fallout” on Prime Video .
Under the Dome (2013–2015)
Not to be confused with The Simpsons Movie , this is a different story about an entire town trapped under a giant dome. The series, loosely adapted from Stephen King’s novel, follows a community cut off from the rest of the world—a sort of personal apocalypse. As resources dwindle, social structures begin to crumble, and the warring residents must figure out how to survive and, if they ever manage to escape, why they were trapped under that damned dome in the first place. Watch Under the Dome on Paramount+ .