Excited for ‘Squid Game’ season 3? 5 dystopian TV shows to binge-watch to get you in the mood

Directed by Ben Stiller, Severance revolves around the lives of a group of people who have agreed to ‘sever’ the connection between their work and personal lives in their brains. Each person who has been ‘severed’ has essentially split themselves into two people, and once they enter their workplace, all knowledge of their lives outside of work is erased, and vice-versa when they leave work. The show was first released in 2022 and released its second season this year. If you’re looking for a show that doesn’t seem too far-fetched on the scale of dystopian content then Severance is a great place to begin.

Available to stream on Apple TV+

After two kids go missing in a small German town, the town’s dark past is exposed alongside the overlapping relationships of the four families searching for the children. The show explores the town’s past across three generations of deceit through time-travel. As the episodes progress, the families discover things about each other and uncover their connections to the town’s shady history. The German thriller has a cult following online and viewers often say the series has such an intricate plot that each rewatch of the show reveals more nuances.

Available to stream on Netflix

Not dissimilar to Black Mirror, American Horror Story features a new theme each season, with the same actors playing new roles. The eighth season out of twelve so far, AHS: Apocalypse begins at the end of the world, where LA’s richest rush to an exclusive bunker they’ve paid entry to. Alongside them are two regular people who have been selected as the perfect two candidates for humanity’s survival. Starring Evan Peters, the series follows the twists and turns of living in a bunker as the last humans on earth, when the cause of it all, the Antichrist, arrives at their doorstep and tells them there’s a better bunker. Emma Roberts and Billy Porter offer fantastic comedic timing and make what would be a chilling watch a highly bingeable series.

Available to stream on Disney+

Released in 2019, this ten-episode series was renewed for a second season shortly after its release but eventually got dropped by Netflix in 2020 after Covid impacted its production. The show tells the story of a group of teenagers who return home to their New England town after a school trip to find that all the adults in their lives have disappeared. The group must learn to survive as a community without any of their parents, they must choose leaders and form alliances. As you can imagine, the fight for leadership in an adultless world is a riveting watch and despite being cancelled, the show gained a large following online and fans often urge for its return in online posts.

Available to stream on Netflix

Based on Maragaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on the lives of women living in a patriarchal society without power or agency. Handmaid Offred is one of many fertile women forced to bear children for an elite couple due to a declining birth rate. In a world where women have no rights or freedom, they must choose to be complicit or rebel against the dictatorship. The original novel by Atwood was a commentary on political events lending itself as a cautionary tale of sorts, perhaps one that viewers ought to take a second look at in the form of this gripping dystopian TV series.

Available to stream on Max

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