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Being a fan of Apple TV+’s Severance requires patience. Hopefully the wait until season three is released won’t be as interminable as the three-year drought between seasons one and two, but you never know, so we gotta just hang in there.
There’s nothing quite like Severance. The series uses the head-spinning sci-fi premise of people having brain surgery to deal with their damn jobs to explore identity, corporate control, and the nature of humanity itself, while maintaining an unsettling vibe and managing to be darkly hilarious. That said, these five shows blend mind-bending concepts, workplace satire, and existential dread, and may just help you scratch that Severance itch while you wait for season 3 to drop.
Mr. Robot (2015-2019)
Mr. Robot follows the story of Elliot Alderson, a young cyber security expert with mental health problems who goes rogue to try to take down the mega corporation he works for. Like the re-integrated characters in Severance, Elliot isn’t always sure where reality ends and his delusions begin. Viewers aren’t, either. The two shows share thematic ground—a bleak view of late capitalism, the last embers of humanity being ground out by forces beyond anyone’s control—but Mr. Robot lacks the coldly removed vibe of Severance. It’s all told from the point-of-view of the main character, so it’s more intense and personal. You can stream Mr. Robot on Tubi.
Dark (2017 to 2020)
On the surface, German sci-fi drama Dark resembles Netflix’s Stranger Things more than Apple TV’s Severance—it’s partly about a group of teenagers who discover a weird lab on the outskirts of their town where something supernatural seems to be going on. But Dark is smart and interesting throughout its three seasons instead of falling off after season one. Like Severance, Dark features complex characters and an intricate plot where the fantastic element at its center is really a way to explore themes of loss, time, memory, and identity. And I really appreciate any show that doesn’t insult its viewers’ intelligence by over-explaining everything. You can stream Dark on Netflix.
The Prisoner (1967-1968)
If you’re the type who likes to explore the source of the thing you love, you have to watch The Prisoner. The title character is a British secret agent being held in a surreal prison for reasons he doesn’t understand. It’s hard to overstate how innovative and ahead of its time this show was when it aired in the late 1960s: It’s basically the blueprint for every mind-fuck TV show that followed, from Lost to the X-Files to Severance. While The Prisoner is obviously dated, there’s a charm to the old-school cheesiness. It’s a low-budget James Bond with sci-fi elements and serious ambitions—how could you not love it? You can stream The Prisoner on Prime, Tubi, Sling, and Plex.
Silo (2023-present)
Apple TV+’s other ambitious, original science fiction show tells the story of a civilization that has lived in a huge underground silo for so many generations, they’re not even sure why they’re down there anymore; they only know that returning to the surface means death. Or does it? The way Silo’s corrupt government tightly controls information has definite similarities to Lumon Industries’ petty authoritarianism. While Silo is, overall, a less nuanced show than Severance (it’s closer to exciting, YA fiction storytelling than Severance’s carefully plotted puzzle of a plot), if you need a sci-fi series fix, check out Silo. You can find Silo on Apple TV.
The Kingdom (1994)
Filmmaker/provocateur Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom is the only TV series I know of that balances comedy and surrealism as well as Severance. While The Kingdom‘s characters work in a Danish hospital built on a cursed burial ground instead of an evil cult’s corporate office, both shows feature a powerful institution corrupting its employees, and both are, on some level, absurdist, darkly hilarious workplace comedies. Severance has a weird cult, a brain operation, and a goat room; The Kingdom has patient-led seances, a ghostly ambulance, and a monster baby. You can stream The Kingdom on Mubi.
