There are dozens of post-apocalyptic TV shows and movies out there, so here’s your guide to some of the best. While some are popular, we’ve also picked a couple of niche ones that you possibly haven’t heard of but are definitely worth a watch! Most of them are available to watch on Netflix or Prime Video.
Black Mirror – Metalhead (2017)
Black Mirror is a popular dystopian anthology series on Netflix, and the episode Metalhead is a spine-tingling post-apocalyptic horror. On an arid future wasteland, a group of humans encounter an A.I. robot-dog and see their numbers dwindle as it hunts and kills them one-by-one.
Metalhead is among the most horrifying Black Mirror episodes. It warns of how cold-bloodedly brutal A.I. technology could become—as opposed to the humanity of the episode’s victims who quickly fall into terror and despair. Given that killer drones and robodogs are now a reality, Metalhead’s message is chillingly relevant today.
See (2019–2022)
The TV series See is on Apple TV+ and tells a unique post-apocalyptic tale: all humans of the future have lost their eyesight to a destructive virus and had to learn new ways to forage, fight, and hunt. Everything changes for one tribe, however, when two babies are born with the ability to see (which is now widely considered to be evil). The plot centres around this family’s dramatic battles to protect its sighted children against raging warlords and rival tribes.
Featuring battles where blind humans listen for pin-drop sounds and can sense the energy of hostiles around them, See is an entertaining watch for its unusual fight scenes alone. Enhancing the series’ appeal is the casting of Jason Momoa in the lead role, as head of the Alkenny tribe. Momoa plays a powerful warrior perfectly while also acting as a loyal, caring patriarch, bringing surprising emotional depth to the show.
Love, Death + Robots – Three Robots (2019 & 2022)
The sci-fi anthology series Love, Death + Robots is on Netflix and features various episodes set in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic worlds. Most notably, Three Robots and its sequel are about three robots exploring a desolate Earth, learning how humans tried (and failed) to survive after an eco-apocalypse of their own creation. The robots learn, for instance, that a surviving colony of starving humans ended up inter-fighting and wiping itself out…
With its allusions to human-caused destruction, Three Robots and its sequel are very relevant to the real world. The robots learn of how the last humans created their own deaths through selfishness, greed, and incompetent handling of resources. Disheartening parallels can certainly be drawn to real-life human behaviour—but a twist at the end of the second episode gives the story excellent and much-needed comic relief.
The Hunger Games (2012–2023)
There are five Hunger Games movies, some of which are streaming on Netflix, and the first two are the best-rated on IMDb. Based on a set of books, the films narrate a post-apocalyptic America in which two youngsters from every district are forced to compete in televised life-or-death games each year. Competitors fight to kill until one winner remains, and the reluctant winner that the films follow—Katniss—strives to defend her loved ones and her values in face of the tyrannical overlord, President Snow.
Admittedly, the Hunger Games is aimed at young adults and has some associated tropes, including a teen romance and a P.G. feel. Yet it’s arguably this watchability that makes the franchise (and its overall message) so popular. As many viewers have pointed out, the rampant competition in the deadly games isn’t dissimilar to today’s dog-eat-dog individualism, and the films will make you wonder if such battles for survival might become reality someday.
Fallout (2024)
Fallout is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and is about our Earth after a nuclear disaster where lawlessness reigns above ground, while the rich live in sheltered vaults below. After an attack on her vault involving the capture of her father, Lucy resolves to go above ground and find him. She thus discovers the brutal reality of the world above—which includes the likes of human-eating sea monsters, organ-harvesting robot doctors, and two rival characters in search of a scientist who’ll each become pivotal to her journey…
The aesthetics alone make Fallout stand out. The above-ground wasteland is like a cabinet of curiosities, with scrap metal being a valuable resource. Below ground, the vault-dwellers live in cookie-cutter rooms with bright décor and corny posters in a retro-futuristic style. And it’s not just the sets that are creative: the violent battles that unfold on Lucy’s quest are full of absurdly funny gore that you won’t have seen in this genre before.
Keen for more? Check out our full review of the TV series Fallout!
…And that’s your roundup of some of the best, most thought-provoking post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows.
