Trying to find a show like Severance is a little frustrating because the bar is set too high. You need something clever enough to make you think, strange enough to make you pause the episode and assess, and good enough that you actually care about the people on screen. And suddenly, half the sci-fi shows out there start looking average.
Thankfully, the past few decades have seen the release of many strange and fascinating sci-fi TV shows. Some of the best examples came long before Apple TV existed, while a few newer ones have taken the genre in completely unexpected directions. I’ve picked eight series that can fill the Severance-shaped gap while we wait for Season 3.
‘Counterpart’ (2017 – 2019)
J.K. Simmons vs. Himself, and A Cold War Between Two Realities
Watch This If: You like your sci-fi with a healthy dose of paranoia. J.K. Simmons plays a mild-mannered UN bureaucrat who discovers that his agency has been hiding a portal to a parallel Earth for decades. Then he meets his other-world counterpart, who turns out to be sharper, colder, and more dangerous. Counterpart is a Le Carré-style spy thriller wearing a sci-fi coat, and Simmons perfectly plays two versions of the same man. The way I see it, it’s a preview of the identity-splitting plot device Severance would later run with. If you’re into espionage, an atmosphere-heavy plot, tight pacing, and a lead performance that deserves multiple trophies, Counterpart is your show.
Skip This If: You need a show that actually finished its story. Starz didn’t have the budget of Apple, so it canceled the series after two seasons on a real cliffhanger. There won’t be any closure.
‘Devs’ (2020)
Silicon Valley Gets An Existential Crisis
Watch This If: You want an office comedy replaced with existential dread. Devs is Alex Garland’s eight-episode limited series about a programmer who investigates her boyfriend’s mysterious death at a secretive tech company, only to find that the company’s true project is something else. The series is about technology, determinism, and free will. Garland directs every episode with the same eerie, meditative tone he brought to Ex Machina. Sonoya Mizuno gives the show its emotional center, while Nick Offerman plays a tech CEO.
Skip This If: You need constant action or a mystery that exists purely to give you answers. Devs explores the ideas underneath the mystery, and it can be heavy on dialogue. But if the philosophical side of Severance is what keeps you hooked season after season, this one will give you plenty to chew on.
‘The Expanse’ (2015 – 2022)
The Sci-Fi Equivalent Of Go Big Or Go Home
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Dominique Tipper in The Expanse Syfy/Prime Video
Watch This If: After watching Severance, you want another sci-fi world with its own logic and rules. The Expanse is obviously much bigger in scale, moving between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. There are also multiple political factions, military conflicts, and some wild science fiction concepts. However, its strongest asset is how grounded the characters remain while the story keeps getting bigger. The politics matter because the people matter. Six seasons and 62 episodes later, The Expanse is still one of those rare modern sci-fi shows that can give you blockbuster-level ideas without explaining everything with a PowerPoint. Overall, while the world of Severance remains claustrophobic, The Expanse goes in the opposite direction.
Skip This If: You’re looking for something that you can binge-watch in one weekend. This is a six-season commitment with a massive cast and a slow-burn political plot, and the first season takes its time finding its footing. Once it clicks, though, good luck escaping.
‘The Twilight Zone’ (1959 – 1964)
The Original Weird Little Nightmare
Watch This If: You want to understand how much of modern sci-fi has been influenced from one TV show. Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone aired for five seasons, and it basically influenced the sci-fi genre in a way that is still felt today, decades later. The black-and-white anthology series told a different standalone story every week, usually with a moral gut-punch waiting in the final scene. It’s fascinating how each episode can turn an ordinary situation into something strange, funny, tragic, confusing, or all four at once. Some stories are dated, but the best episodes of The Twilight Zone can still give Severance a run for its money.
Skip This If: Black-and-white and 1960s pacing are deal-breakers for you. Some episodes feel dated, and it can be difficult to keep going. On a happier note, this is an anthology, so you can jump around. I’ve tried that myself, and I can guarantee it’s the best way to watch The Twilight Zone.
‘Silo’ (2023 – Present)
An Entire Society That Doesn’t Know What’s Outside
Watch This If: You have been living underground yourself and haven’t watched this yet. Rebecca Ferguson is the main star of Silo, an Apple TV original series about 10,000 people living in a giant underground silo, forbidden from asking too many questions about what’s outside and why they can never leave. Silo is probably the closest match for Severance fans because it has the perfect combination of corporate control, buried secrets, dystopian rules, and a protagonist who refuses to sit quietly without any answers. Season 3 is now over, and it features a “Before Times” storyline explaining how humanity ended up underground in the first place. It’s the best season so far.
Skip This If: You’re uncertain about jumping into an unfinished story. Silo Season 4 will be the last, and it was shot back-to-back with Season 3, so there’s still one more chapter to go. Also, the writers of Silo are committed to making you wait, speculate, discuss, change your stance, feel smart for five minutes, and then prove you wrong. It’s also more dystopian than Severance, so don’t expect the same dry workplace absurdity.
‘Pluribus’ (2025 – Present)
Happiness Is Not A Social Construct; It’s A Problem
Watch This If: You want the latest follow-up to Severance. Created by Vince Gilligan, who made Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Pluribus takes a sci-fi question about humanity and gives it an unexpected twist. Rhea Seehorn plays Carol, one of only 13 people on Earth immune to a virus that turns the population into a single, blissfully content hive mind. I think that’s all you need to know before going in. The show is funny, disturbing, philosophical, and sometimes bizarre. It also gives Seehorn a completely different showcase from her work on Better Call Saul. Season 1 premiered in 2025. Pluribus Season 2 is currently in development.
Skip This If: You need to know when you can watch Season 2 before you start watching from the beginning. Gilligan said at the Emmy Awards in September 2026 that he’s still writing the second season. According to Variety, he said, “Season 2 is not technically all written… The first and second are written.” The first chapter is a delight to watch, but know that you may be settling in for another open-ended wait right alongside your Severance one.
‘The Prisoner’ (1967 – 1968)
A British Spy Wakes Up in a Village That Won’t Let Him Leave
Watch This If: In my opinion, The Prisoner is the OG corporate nightmare. It’s one of the TV shows that helped establish the weird, paranoid sci-fi TV format that Severance now plays with so well. Patrick McGoohan plays a secret agent who resigns, gets kidnapped, and wakes up in a strange coastal village where everyone goes by a number, not a name. No one will tell him why he’s really there. It’s part spy thriller, part fever dream. The central village becomes this one big metaphor for surveillance and conformity. The show only spans 17 episodes, but it packs an absurd amount into them. Plus, some ideas feel remarkably fresh even 60 years later.
Skip This If: You have zero tolerance for vintage television. The Prisoner looks and moves like a 1960s British series because, well, it is one. It’s also not interested in spoon-feeding its concepts and symbolism. If you need every weird thing to eventually make sense, this might make you want to resign from the Village.
‘Dark’ (2017 – 2020)
A German Time-Travel Mystery That Makes ‘Severance’ Look Simple
Watch This If: You want a sci-fi mystery that makes Severance look tame. Dark starts with a straightforward premise about a missing child and turns into a mystery about four interconnected families in a small German town as they get pulled into a decades-spanning puzzle. The genius is in how carefully it builds its mythology. Details that feel insignificant early on can become extremely important later, and the show juggles a startling number of character doubles with ease. It was Netflix’s first German-language original, and unlike some famously complicated shows that lose steam in Season 2, Dark knows where it’s going.
Skip This If: You want something you can half-watch while scrolling Instagram. Dark isn’t the show for that. It asks for your undivided attention, and once the family trees start multiplying, you will be grateful for every character chart the internet has ever created.
