
Shows that feel likeThe Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)
If you loved The Handmaid's Tale, the closest series we have are The Man in the High Castle (2015), Star Trek: Picard (2020) and Into the Badlands (2015). All three share The Handmaid's Tale's contemplative and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.
Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Last Ship (2014).
If The Handmaid's Tale hit the spot, these will too

An America reorganised by an ideology and the people surviving inside it
The difference: Alt-history espionage, colder and more plot-driven

An older order collapsing, and one person refusing to accept the new one
The difference: Space opera with warmth and reunion — hope stays on the table throughout

A brutal feudal order where the powerful own everyone below them
The difference: Martial-arts spectacle first — choreography and myth, not psychological dread

A rigid system enforced by rules whose origin is deliberately hidden
The difference: Sombre sci-fi mystery, and far less personal

A theocratic power structure that punishes anyone born different
The difference: Post-apocalyptic action fantasy — sword fights, and much less interiority

A world sorted into the sheltered and the discarded, and it is no accident
The difference: Playful and violent in a game-world way — irony where Gilead has terror

Both land stillness and momentum at once
The difference: Trades the ideas of The Handmaid's Tale for an angle of its own

Rebuilding the species treated as a mission with terrible costs
The difference: Military action with clear heroes — problem-solving, not enduring oppression

A cruel world where the powerless get traded and destiny is imposed
The difference: Sprawling monster-hunting fantasy — episodic quests and a shifting timeline

Ordinary people organising resistance under an occupying power
The difference: Alien-invasion adventure aimed wider — action beats over sustained dread

The same mix in both: scale, then bleakness
The difference: Leans harder into war & politics than The Handmaid's Tale does

Contemplative drama in both cases
In the mood for more contemplative?
all contemplative shows →The best-reviewed series that share The Handmaid's Tale’s defining feeling.









