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The Handmaid's Tale poster

Shows that feel likeThe Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)

Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

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).

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If The Handmaid's Tale hit the spot, these will too

The Man in the High Castle poster
The Man in the High Castle
2015–2019 · 4 seasons · Prime Video
★ 7.9sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflixPrime Video

An America reorganised by an ideology and the people surviving inside it

The difference: Alt-history espionage, colder and more plot-driven

Explore what it would be like if the Allied Powers had lost WWII, and Japan and Germany ruled the United States. Based on Philip K. Dick's award-winning novel.

Star Trek: Picard poster
Star Trek: Picard
2020–2023 · 3 seasons · CBS All Access
★ 7.5sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventure · dramaParamount+

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

Set twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, we follow the now-retired Admiral Picard into the next chapter of his life.

Into the Badlands poster
Into the Badlands
2015–2019 · 3 seasons · AMC
★ 7.9action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasy

A brutal feudal order where the powerful own everyone below them

The difference: Martial-arts spectacle first — choreography and myth, not psychological dread

In a land controlled by feudal barons, a great warrior and a young boy embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment. A genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.

Silo poster
Silo
2023– · 4 seasons · Apple TV
★ 8.1sci-fi & fantasy · dramaApple TV+

A rigid system enforced by rules whose origin is deliberately hidden

The difference: Sombre sci-fi mystery, and far less personal

In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.

See poster
See
2019–2022 · 3 seasons · Apple TV
★ 7.6drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureApple TV+

A theocratic power structure that punishes anyone born different

The difference: Post-apocalyptic action fantasy — sword fights, and much less interiority

A virus has decimated humankind. Those who survived emerged blind. Centuries later when twins are born with the mythic ability to see, their father must protect his tribe against a threatened queen.

Fallout poster
Fallout
2024– · 2 seasons · Prime Video
★ 8.3action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasy · dramaPrime Video

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

The story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there's almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.

The Last Kingdom poster
The Last Kingdom
2015–2022 · 5 seasons · Netflix
★ 8.5action & adventure · drama · war & politicsNetflix

Both land stillness and momentum at once

The difference: Trades the ideas of The Handmaid's Tale for an angle of its own

A show of heroic deeds and epic battles with a thematic depth that embraces politics, religion, warfare, courage, love, loyalty and our universal search for identity. Combining real historical figures and events with fictional characters, it is the story of how a people combined their strength under one of the most iconic kings of history in order to reclaim their land for themselves and build a place they call home.

The Last Ship poster
The Last Ship
2014–2018 · 5 seasons · TNT
★ 7.4action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasyNetflix

Rebuilding the species treated as a mission with terrible costs

The difference: Military action with clear heroes — problem-solving, not enduring oppression

Their mission is simple: Find a cure. Stop the virus. Save the world. When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction.

The Witcher poster
The Witcher
2019– · 4 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.8sci-fi & fantasy · drama · action & adventureNetflix

A cruel world where the powerless get traded and destiny is imposed

The difference: Sprawling monster-hunting fantasy — episodic quests and a shifting timeline

Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster-hunter for hire, journeys toward his destiny in a turbulent world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.

Falling Skies poster
Falling Skies
2011–2015 · 5 seasons · TNT
★ 7.1action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflix

Ordinary people organising resistance under an occupying power

The difference: Alien-invasion adventure aimed wider — action beats over sustained dread

Falling Skies opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

Has Fallen poster
Has Fallen
2024– · 2 seasons · Canal+
★ 6.5action & adventure · war & politicsHulu

The same mix in both: scale, then bleakness

The difference: Leans harder into war & politics than The Handmaid's Tale does

A protection officer and an MI6 operative team up after a terrorist attack. They suspect a mole as they race to thwart a larger conspiracy threatening Paris.

SEAL Team poster
SEAL Team
2017–2024 · 7 seasons · CBS
★ 7.9action & adventure · drama · war & politicsNetflixParamount+

Contemplative drama in both cases

Military drama following the professional and personal lives of the most elite unit of Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high stakes missions our country can ask of them.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed series that share The Handmaid's Tale’s defining feeling.