In cinema as on television, post-apocalyptic fiction has long been confined to a science fiction subclass, often caricatured with zombies, bunkers and survivors in rags. But in recent years, the genre has clearly reinvented: more sophisticated, more intimate, more anchored in our contemporary anxieties.
Rarely reassuring, these works project us into collapsed worlds to better question our present, between social dystopia, existential thriller and psychological drama. From major epidemics to climatic crises, including the AIs that have become crazy, these series have at least one thing in common: they demonstrate that the end of the world makes a sacred decor to tell human stories! Here is our selection of the best post-apocalyptic series to look quietly at home … while waiting for the great collapse!
The history of the TV series is punctuated by masterpieces that have marked their time. But at the other end of the spectrum, there is another category, just as fascinating: that of spectacular flops … Read more
The Last of Us
Impossible not to open this selection by this phenomenon signed HBO, adapted from the cult video game. Far from being a simple horrific survival, The Last of Us shines with its emotional depth. Each episode is an intimate fable on mourning, parentage, survival instinct.
The relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) transcends the post-pandemic framework to reach a rare accuracy. To see absolutely, even if we do not know the game.
Station Eleven
We stay on HBO (where it was broadcast for the first time), but with a work that has significantly been talked about … while it really earns to be known. Adapted from Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, this post-pandemic mini-series is now available on Prime Video.
Real poetic fresco on resilience, far from the usual chaos, She explores the afterwards with gentleness and melancholy, following a troop of itinerant actors in a world emptied of her technology. Lied aesthetics, fragmented narration and deep reflection on art and collective memory: Station Eleven is a separate work, often underestimated.
The 100
Often perceived as a series for teens, the 100 (The 100 in VO, Original) has evolved to become a dark and complex SF epic. Young people sent to devastated land, hostile tribes, heartbreaking moral choices …
The whole takes on the appearance of Shakespearian tragedy over the seasons, until questioning human nature itself. Unequal length, but rich in strong moments.
Snowpiercer
Adapted from Bong Joon-Ho’s film, itself from a French comic strip, this series offers a post-closed closed do.. Beyond its original SF concept, Snowpiercer head on social inequalities, class struggle and authoritarian aberrations.
The result: an imperfect series (canceled at the end of season 4) but highly political, served by Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs.
3%
Coming from Brazil and broadcast on Netflix, 3% imagines a post-frightening company divided between an island elite and a mass of downgrades. Each year, a handful of young people attempts to cross the “process” test to join the other bank.
-Minimalist and intense, the series seduced by its narrative tension and its words on the misguided meritocracy. This well -constructed dystopia proves that modest budgets can give birth to beautiful ideas. 3% is also one of these rare creations which have been able to raise their level over time, up to an unexpected but very coherent outcome, which allows to complete all the narrative arches at the end of season 4.
Black Summer
Spin-off of Z Nation, this Zombie series adopts an ultra-realistic and sensory approach. Nervous camera, almost real action, total absence of pathos: Black Summer is brutal, visceral, almost anxiety -provoking. What differentiates it from the majority of zombie fictions is its clinical coldness and its rejection of dramatic conventions. No messianic hero here, only human beings faced with the raw survival instinct.
Netflix unfortunately announced the cancellation of the series in 2023 after only two small seasons. To the disarray of fans who are many to hope for his return!
The Rain
Danish series with icy aesthetics, The Rain imagines a world ravaged by deadly rain. Two brothers and sisters seek to survive in a devastated Scandinavia. The tone oscillates between northern melancholy and adolescent suspense, with a sound and visual atmosphere which greatly contributes to immersion.
Despite its faults (unequal rhythm, sometimes stereotypical characters), the series seduces by its unique atmosphere, its natural decorations and its ability to evoke solitude and wandering. After three seasons, The Rain ended and there is today an honest and original proposal, which is still too little known.
Tribes of Europa
Little known but promising, this post-Blackout German series available on Netflix immerses us in a future tribal where Europe is fragmented between rival factions.
A sort of Germany Mad Max crossed with Hunger Games, Tribes of Europa puts as much on dystopian folklore as on an ambitious world construction. If the story sometimes lacks subtlety and the game of young actors is uneven, the series impresses with its very neat artistic direction and its desire to create a coherent universe. Hopefully that a sequel allows him to exploit his potential more.
Silo
Finally, we could not complete the loop without quoting this adaptation of the novels of Hugh Howey. Because you have to be clear: Silo is one of the best recent surprises of the post-apocalyptic genre.
In an indefinite future, humanity lives confined in an immense underground silo, without contact with the outside, which is described as deadly. But very quickly, the foundations of this claustrophobic company vacillate. Worn by Rebecca Ferguson and an impressive artistic direction, the series mixes paranoid thriller, social reflection and meticulous suspense.
Each episode distills its share of mysteries, and the whole shines with its narrative intelligence and its permanent tension. An immediate reference of the genre that saw its season 2 surpass the first in quality. Suffice to say that season 3 hoped for 2026 is already eagerly awaited!
The post-apocalyptic series are no longer content to stack the clichés of the genre. They become fictional laboratories where society is explored, emotions, survival, but also reconstruction. If some bet on the show, others choose intimism or even satire. What connects them all? The conviction that telling the collapse is also talking about what deserves to be saved.
And if some do not appear in this selection (like The Walking Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale or even the ambitious Flashforward), it is less out of oblivion than by will to highlight titles perhaps less exposed, but just as powerful. The genre, it does not seem to die out.
