‘Severance’ is done for now — here’s what to watch next
‘Severance’ is done for now — here’s what to watch next
If you love eerie mysteries and corporate dystopias, these picks are for you.
Apple TV+’s “Severance” has been one of my favorite shows since the day it dropped, and Season 2 has done nothing to curb my obsession. The eerie corporate world, the slow-burn mystery, the unsettling humor - it all just works. And now, with the Season 2 finale out in the world, I already know I’m gonna be left desperate for something to fill the void.
Luckily, there are plenty of other big-budget sci-fi thrillers that bring the same mix of corporate dystopia, paranoia, and high-concept storytelling. Whether you want more sinister workplace intrigue, mind-bending sci-fi, or a world where you just know something’s off, these four shows will scratch that “Severance” itch.
Severance
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
Loved ‘Severance’? Watch: ‘Westworld’
If we’re talking about first seasons that are as good as any show, any season, then in my opinion, “Westworld” is right up there. When “Westworld” dropped, I had the same love affair with it that I have with “Severance” right now, and while later seasons may have dropped the ball, that first one is etched in my memory.
The HBO sci-fi thriller is packed with mystery, existential dread, and corporate secrecy - aka, all the things that make “Severance” so addicting. Instead of a creepy office, though, “Westworld” throws you into a futuristic theme park where rich guests live out their wildest fantasies with lifelike AI hosts. Of course, things spiral very quickly when those hosts start questioning their reality. Just like “Severance,” “Westworld” makes you second-guess everything you think you know, slowly peeling back the layers of a massive, unsettling conspiracy.
But where “Severance” thrives on eerie restraint - its world built on stark hallways, coded language, and suppressed emotions – “Westworld” is big, cinematic, and constantly shifting. It jumps between timelines, perspectives, and even realities, demanding you pay attention as it unravels its mysteries.
While “Severance” keeps its horror contained to a single company, “Westworld” blows the doors wide open, exploring power, free will, and what happens when humans play god. If you love the slow-burn puzzle box storytelling of “Severance” but want something even more ambitious (and action-packed), “Westworld” is the perfect next watch.
Westworld
A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.
Check out ‘Black Mirror’
If “Severance” left you questioning the future of work, technology, and, well, your entire existence, then “Black Mirror” is basically required viewing. While they drop new seasons painfully sporadically, I’ve never watched an ep that disappointed.
This anthology series dives into the dark side of tech, corporate control, and surveillance in a way that feels eerily close to reality. Much like “Severance,” it’s all about unsettling worlds where people are trapped - sometimes by their jobs, sometimes by their own minds, and sometimes by forces way beyond their control.
Several episodes feel like they could take place just down the hall from Lumon Industries. Take “White Christmas”, which explores digital consciousness and the ethics of trapping a copy of someone’s mind in a virtual assistant - essentially creating a “Severance”-style work-life split but with no escape. Then there’s “Nosedive”, where a woman’s entire life is dictated by a social rating system, and of course, “USS Callister”, which flips the script by trapping digital versions of real people inside a sci-fi game, much like how Lumon’s workers are imprisoned inside their office selves.
Now, the most obvious difference between “Black Mirror” and “Severance” is its structure - each episode is a self-contained nightmare rather than a long-form mystery. But both shows thrive on the same unsettling ideas: what happens when technology and corporations push too far, and how much control we really have over our own lives. If you’re into the slow-burn dystopian horror “Severance” builds, then “Black Mirror” is a great – if darker – complement.
Black Mirror
Twisted tales run wild in this mind-bending anthology series that reveals humanity’s worst traits, greatest innovations and more.
Don’t miss ‘Silo’
If “Severance” had you hooked with its slow-burn mystery and eerie corporate control, “Silo” is going to scratch that same itch - just deeper underground. Set in a massive underground bunker where humanity has lived for generations, “Silo” follows engineer Juliette (played by Rebecca Ferguson, whose performance is the heart of this show) as she starts digging (literally and figuratively) into the secrets of the world above.
Much like “Severance,” it’s got a hyper-controlled environment, a rigid hierarchy, and a creeping sense that nobody is being told the full truth. Plus, the world-building in “Silo” is as good as anything on TV, from the set design to the wardrobe – it all works.
The biggest difference? While “Severance” locks its characters inside a sterile office with bizarre corporate rules, “Silo” traps its people in a grimy, decaying society where breaking the wrong rule can get you “sent outside” (which, spoiler alert, is a death sentence). Both shows are built around people questioning the systems they’ve always accepted, peeling back layers of lies, and realizing their entire existence is a carefully curated illusion. If you love a story where every revelation makes you rethink everything, “Silo” is a perfect follow-up.
Silo
In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.
One more: ‘Maniac’
If “Severance” had you hooked with its eerie corporate setting and mind-bending psychological twists, then “Maniac” is right up your alley. This visually stunning, head-trip of a show stars Jonah Hill and Emma Stone as two strangers who sign up for a mysterious pharmaceutical trial that promises to fix their problems - only for things to spiral into a bizarre, surreal journey through multiple realities. Like “Severance,” “Maniac” traps its characters in a cold, clinical environment where they’re just guinea pigs in a much larger experiment, with a shady corporation pulling the strings.
But while “Severance” builds its world around a rigid, structured workplace dystopia, “Maniac” is pure chaos. Each drug-induced “treatment” throws the characters into a different genre —one moment they’re in a 1940s noir mystery, and the next they’re in a Lord of the Rings-style fantasy adventure.
The core theme, though, remains the same: people desperately trying to break free from a system that doesn’t see them as anything more than data points. If you loved the deep dive into identity, memory, and corporate control of “Severance” but want something even weirder, “Maniac” is a must-watch.
Maniac
Two strangers are drawn to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial that will, they’re assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently. Things do not go as planned.
More to watch after finishing ‘Severance’
‘The Peripheral’ | Prime Video
The Peripheral
Stuck in a small Appalachian town, a young woman’s only escape from the daily grind is playing advanced video games. She is such a good player that a company sends her a new video game system to test…but it has a surprise in store. It unlocks all of her dreams of finding a purpose, romance, and glamour in what seems like a game…but it also puts her and her family in real danger.
‘Devs’ | Hulu
Devs
Young computer engineer Lily Chan investigates the secretive development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in San Francisco, which she believes is behind the murder of her boyfriend.
‘Counterpart’ | STARZ
Counterpart
Howard Silk is a lowly cog in a bureaucratic UN agency who is turning the last corner of a life filled with regret when he discovers the agency he works for is guarding a secret: a crossing to a parallel dimension.
‘Homecoming’ | Prime Video
Homecoming
Heidi Bergman is a caseworker at Homecoming, a Geist Group facility helping soldiers transition to civilian life. Years later she has started a new life, living with her mother and working as a waitress, when a Department of Defense auditor questions why she left the Homecoming facility. Heidi quickly realizes that there’s a whole other story behind the story she’s been telling herself.
‘Tales from the Loop’ | Prime Video
Tales from the Loop
The story of the town and people who live above “The Loop,” a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe – making things possible that were previously relegated only to science fiction.