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The Last of Us poster

Shows that feel likeThe Last of Us (2023–)

Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival.

If you loved The Last of Us, the closest series we have are Shōgun (2024), Lioness (2023) and 12 Monkeys (2015). All three share The Last of Us' contemplative and bleak 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).

★ 8.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗2 seasons · HBOcreated by Neil Druckmanncontemplativebleak
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu
Stream it:HBO Max ↗

If The Last of Us hit the spot, these will too

Shōgun poster
Shōgun
2024– · 1 season · FX
★ 8.6drama · war & politicsHuluDisney+

A stranger led through hostile country, learning the rules to survive

The difference: Danger comes from politics and etiquette, not anything infected

In Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war, Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.

Lioness poster
Lioness
2023– · 3 seasons · Paramount+
★ 7.8drama · war & politicsParamount+

A hardened handler and a young recruit bound by a job that costs them

The difference: Present-day black ops with no lost world to mourn, just the mission

Cruz Manuelos, a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine, is recruited to join the CIA's Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program, is tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives.

12 Monkeys poster
12 Monkeys
2015–2018 · 4 seasons · Syfy
★ 7.7sci-fi & fantasy · dramaPrime Video

One person carrying the only chance humanity has left

The difference: Time-travel plotting, propulsive rather than mournful

The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.

Raised by Wolves poster
Raised by Wolves
2020–2022 · 2 seasons · HBO Max
★ 7.4sci-fi & fantasy · drama

The same preoccupation in both: life after the end

The difference: Sits closer to sci-fi & fantasy than The Last of Us does

After Earth is ravaged by a great religious war, an atheistic android architect sends two of his creations, Mother and Father, to start a peaceful, godless colony on the planet Kepler-22b. Their treacherous task is jeopardized by the arrival of the Mithraic, a deeply devout religious order of surviving humans.

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

Survival organised into a system, and the lie holding it together

The difference: Enclosed and procedural — nobody crosses a country

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.

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

A ruined America explored on foot, beautiful and lethal by turns

The difference: Retro-futurist black comedy where this is grief

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.

War of the Worlds poster
War of the Worlds
2019–2022 · 3 seasons · Canal+
★ 6.5sci-fi & fantasy · drama

People grieving their way across a country that has stopped working

The difference: European and cerebral, with no journey to organise it

When astronomers detect a transmission from another galaxy, it is definitive proof of intelligent extra-terrestrial life. The world’s population waits for further contact with bated breath. They do not have to wait long. Within days, mankind is all but wiped out by a devastating attack; pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world. As aliens hunt and kill those left alive, the survivors ask a burning question – who are these attackers and why are they hell-bent on our destruction?

The Rain poster
The Rain
2018–2020 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 6.3sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflix

Two young siblings crossing a poisoned country together

The difference: Scandinavian and small — the relationship never gets this good

After a brutal virus wipes out most of the population, two young siblings embark on a perilous search for safety. A Scandinavian thriller series.

Sweet Tooth poster
Sweet Tooth
2021–2024 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.7drama · sci-fi & fantasyNetflix

A hardened adult escorting an extraordinary child across ruined country

The difference: Storybook warmth and hope, not dread

On an epic adventure across a postapocalyptic world, a lovable boy who's part human and part deer searches for family and home with a gruff protector.

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

A cure, a long journey, and the cost of protecting it

The difference: Military procedural, adults only, mission-focused

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.

Snowpiercer poster
Snowpiercer
2020–2024 · 4 seasons · TNT
★ 6.9sci-fi & fantasy · dramaPrime VideoHulu

Both are built on the same subject: life after the end

More than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the remnants of humanity inhabit a gigantic, perpetually-moving train that circles the globe as class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out.

Vikings: Valhalla poster
Vikings: Valhalla
2022–2024 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.4action & adventure · drama · war & politicsNetflix

One thread runs through both: survival

In this sequel to "Vikings," a hundred years have passed and a new generation of legendary heroes arises to forge its own destiny — and make history.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed series that share The Last of Us’ defining feeling.