The waiting is over. Season 2 of "Severance" is finally here after a three-year wait, and while our outie brains are enjoying all the new twists and turns, we got our innie workforce to comb through all the best shows in the same vein as "Severance" that are worth adding to your watchlist.
We found plenty of mind-bending sci-fi shows across the best streaming services to check out once you've finished your business with Lumon HQ. And they all come with an almost zero chance of re-severing. Our picks range from well-known cult classics like "Black Mirror" to lesser-known gems that will leave you questioning your understanding of reality as their stories unravel.
So without further ado, let's dive on in to the best shows to watch for "Severance" fans.
'Black Mirror' (Netflix)
![Black Mirror | Trailer [HD] | Netflix - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/V0XOApF5nLU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Netflix's haunting anthology about technology running amok is packed with mind-bending scenarios and satirical themes that fans of "Severance" are sure to enjoy. Think of "Black Mirror" as a 21st-century take on "The Twilight Zone," with each episode tapping into a different element of the collective unease about our modern world.
"Black Mirror" blends sci-fi elements with real-world problems, and that relevance (which only seems to get more uncanny as the years go by) is what makes its stories so disturbing. Whether that's imagining a world so obsessed with online clout that daily behaviors are tied to a social credit score or a watching nightmare scenario where an augmented reality horror game bleeds into real life, as in two of my favorite episodes ("Nosedive" and "Playtest," respectively). And with "Black Mirror" season 7 set to come out later this year, there's never been a better time to dive into this Emmy-winning series.
Watch it now on Netflix
'Devs' (Hulu)
Director Alex Garland’s mind-bending miniseries "Devs" flew under many viewers' radar, but it's a must-watch for "Severance" fans. The show stars Sonoya Mizuna as Lily Chan, a software engineer at Amaya, a fictional Silicon Valley tech company, whose boyfriend dies under shady circumstances on his first day at the office's secretive development division.
"Devs" shares a lot of similarities with "Severance" in the philosophical questions it raises about technology, and the more Lily tries to get to the bottom of what happened, the more you'll notice parallels to Mark's grief over his wife. My biggest criticism of "Devs" is its slower pacing, but the psychological depths the show explores, not to mention the stellar cast, smooths over those wrinkles well enough in my opinion. Nick Offerman is unsurprisingly terrific as Amaya’s CEO Forest, as are the duo of Stewart (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Lyndon (Cailee Spaeny), who both work on the “Devs” team at Amaya that the show takes its name from.
Watch it now on Hulu
'Maniac' (Netflix)
If you're looking for another show about ordinary people undergoing mysterious procedures that tinker with their brain chemistry, "Maniac" is the perfect follow-up. From "True Detective" showrunner Cary Joji Fukunaga, it's black comedy meets high-concept sci-fi that manages to feel grounded despite its dense set-up. Emma Stone and Jonah Hill play against type starring as two troubled strangers who share family trauma and an inability to go on in their daily lives. They cross paths after signing up for a pharmaceutical trial for a new drug intended to eradicate all unnecessary human pain and suffering, but it quickly becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.
The unlikely duo goes on a trippy odyssey through multiple fantasy universes – not to mention their own slightly warped version of our world – as they attempt to come to terms with trauma from their past. The series mixes drama, dark comedy, and mind-bending moments, often leaving you wondering, “What did I just watch?” It's hard to explain without spoiling some of the best twists, but know that "Maniac" is a surreal, raw, and surprisingly hopeful limited series that'll keep you hooked until the very end.
Watch it now on Netflix
'Silo' (Apple TV Plus)
Like "Severance," "Silo" tops our list of the best Apple TV Plus shows to watch. It's a dystopian, post-apocalyptic drama based on The Wool Trilogy — a series of self-published short stories and novels by best-selling author Hugh Howey — that follows the inhabitants of the Silo, a 144-story subterranean city that houses the last remnants of humanity on a ruined Earth.
Overseeing the community is an authoritarian regime that orders citizens to adhere to a strict rulebook or else risk exile to the toxic world outside. Naturally, it's only a matter of time before one of the Silo's inhabitants starts asking too many questions. Enter Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson), an engineer who unexpectedly becomes the new sheriff in town. As she adjusts to her new role, she begins to unravel the mystery of what's really going on in the Silo — and whether the outside world truly is the barren wasteland they've always been led to believe.
Watch it now on Apple TV Plus
'The Rig' (Prime Video)
From "Line of Duty" director John Strickland comes "The Rig," a supernatural eco-thriller set on a remote oil rig off the coast of Scotland. When a mysterious mist envelops the rig, cutting the crew off from the outside world and bringing strange supernatural forces, terror and paranoia begin to set in. Fractured relationships between the crew members, led by Emily Hampshire ("Schitt's Creek") as Rose Mason and Iain Glen ("Game of Thrones") as Magnus MacMillan, break down further, but the true terror begins only once the mist has cleared.
Over time it becomes clear that the crew is dealing with forces beyond their imagination, and if they want to survive, they're pushed to their limits and forced to ask questions about who they can really trust. "The Rig" recently returned with more spine-tingling horrors in season 2, which sees the surviving crew members trapped at a secret offshore facility in the unforgiving Arctic Circle following a devastating tsunami.
Watch it now on Prime Video
'Dark' (Netflix)
![Dark | Teaser [HD] | Netflix - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ESEUoa-mz2c/maxresdefault.jpg)
Widely regarded as one of the best international sci-fi series for its consistently shocking twists and turns, "Dark" is definitely one to add to your watchlist for more "Severance" vibes. Set in the fictional German village of Winden where several children have suddenly gone missing, "Dark" follows several dysfunctional characters as they investigate the mysterious disappearances. The truths they uncover are even more disturbing, revealing a time-travel conspiracy that spans multiple generations.
Over its three-season run, the intertwined families, brought together by tragedy, strive to reunite with their loved ones while ultimately battling for the fate of their town. It's one of the most intricate and detailed time travel sci-fi tales we've ever seen, a puzzle box drama where every piece has its place, and that can make "Dark" a bit exhausting to follow at times. But stick with it, and you won't be disappointed by how it ties its branching storylines together in the end.
Watch it now on Netflix
'Dark Matter' (Apple TV Plus)
Ready for more mind-bending twists and turns? Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Blake Crouch, who also directs the show, "Dark Matter" asks the familiar question: What if things had ended up differently? Joel Edgerton stars as Jason Dessen, a physicist and family man whose life is forever altered after a strange assault.
When he comes to, he learns that he's in an alternate reality where life is subtly different from the one he's used to. Things quickly spiral as Jason navigates through a maze of different realities trying to find a way back to his true family. Along the way, he faces his greatest adversary yet: alternate versions of himself, and these doppelgangers all seem to share a similar goal. This gripping, often devastating thriller will leave you questioning everything long after the credits roll.
Watch it now on Apple TV Plus
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