Pessimistic, weird, dystopian sci-fi dared to pose a question: What happens when everything gets out of track? These stories imagine worlds where governments control minds, corporations own lives, and survival is a daily battle. In case you are a fan of the shows that leave you wondering about humanity, morality, and technology, then get ready to watch 8 Best dystopian dark sci-fi web series, which should be on your list.
These 8 Best Dystopian Dark Sci-Fi Web Series Will Mess With Your Mind
Here are the 8 best dystopian dark sci-fi web series that you should never miss:
1. Handmaid’s Tale
Director: Various, including Reed Morano
Streaming On: Hulu
The Handmaid’s Tale is a terrifying theocracy. It is based upon the novel by Margaret Atwood of the same title and follows in the footsteps of a woman named Offred, who is reproductively enslaved when the U.S. is toppled and replaced by Gilead. Women cease to have free will and handmaids are used to give birth to children for successful men. The show is uncompromising, depressing, heavy and moving, with strong visual symbolism, with the reds of the robe of the handmaids contrasted to sterile and regimented settings.
2. Black Mirror
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Streaming On: Netflix
Black Mirror is not just a series, it’s a mirror held up to our digital future. Each episode is independent of the other and gets progressively more disturbing. The series speculates on the disfiguration of human behaviour and social norms by technology: social credit (Nosedive) and the implantation of memory (The Entire History of You).
It is well-known to manipulate the appearances of normal situations into black parables with such surprising conclusions. Could it be AI consciousness, digital afterlife, or even artificial relationships? Either way, the show makes you think Just because we can, should we?
3. The Last of Us
Directed by: Craig Mazin (Showrunner); multiple directors
Streaming On: Max (HBO)
Based on a popular video game of the same name, The Last of Us is not your ordinary zombie apocalypse. It is less loud, more emotional, and based on the relationship between a smuggler, Joel and a teenage girl, Ellie, who is immune to the Cordyceps infection that swept humanity off the face of the earth.
They ride through the devastated America, where they are faced by infected as well as human threats. The series is full of bloodshed, contrasting with spooky quiet and touching scenes. It is not about survival because people keep struggling to live in the world; it is what makes us live. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey make this world feel so raw in their performance.
4. Severance
Director: Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle
Streaming On: Apple TV+
Severance is one of the most creative ideas in recent memory. Workers of Lumon Industries have a procedure in which their memories are divided, and their working lives and personal lives are fully severed. One of you lives in the office only. The alternative, the exterior one. The play is creepy and smart.
Starting to notice odd things, a grieving worker, Mark, starts to question the real motives of Lumon. The impoverished, sterile, plain office atmospheres are marked in contrast to the emotional emptiness within the characters.
5. Silo
Directed by: Morten Tyldum
Streaming On: Apple TV+
Based on Hugh Howey’s Wool, Silo dives deep, literally and figuratively, into a future where humanity lives underground after the world above becomes toxic. Nobody is aware of what really went on outside. Humans are subject to strict regulations.
It is unacceptable to keep secrets. When Juliette, a small-time engineer is elevated to the position of a sheriff, she gets caught up in a plot that might bring down the level of well-maintained order. What begins as a mystery spirals into questions of power, manipulation, and whether the outside world is really as deadly as they claim.
6. Altered Carbon
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Streaming On: Netflix
Death is optional in Altered Carbon, with enough money. Consciousness of humans can be reloaded and transgressed into the new bodies named sleeves. The insanely wealthy live forever, and the poor ones are abandoned to rotting husks. In comes Takeshi Kovacs, once a soldier, who is revived to investigate the murder of a magnate. It is a sleek, violent and very philosophical show. What happens to identity when your body is disposable? How does immortality corrupt morality?
7. The Leftovers
Created by: Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta
Streaming On: Max (HBO)
Imagine 2% of the world’s population vanishing, no explanation, no trace. The Leftovers starts off right after this world is coping with this worldwide trauma. Characters grieve, question faith, join cults, and try to find meaning in a meaningless world. The show is also highly emotional with its heavy use of nonlinear narrative that reveals the spiritual and existential aspects of it in a way that no show has ever done before.
8. 3%
Directed by: César Charlone and Daina Giannecchini
Streaming On: Netflix
In 3%, society is divided: the elite live in a paradise called Offshore, while the rest suffer in poverty. At the age of 20, people can compete in an atrocious multi-stage examination, called the Process, to earn the chance to enter the 3%. Yet to become a success cannot be cheap. The Brazilian performance addresses meritocracy, social stratification and the appearance of choice. The characters are forced to betray, deceive and challenge their values.
Conclusion
Dystopian science fiction is not only about bleak futures, but also about putting the distorted mirror against the world we live in. Be it the technological horror, breakdown in society, corporate thought control, each of these series offers something deeper than thrills. To think, to feel and even wonder what sort of future we are drifting towards, they all confront us. Thus, in case you are willing to spend hours watching a series that, at once, these 8 best dystopian dark sci-fi web series will make you think over and keep you on the edge of your seat.
Amit Gupta is a 2015 graduate of RTU in Rajasthan, India. After working over a decade as an additional writer at News article, he decided to start his own news publication. He mainly focuses on entertainment, Movies, Web series articles and editorials. He likes to listen to music and play cricket in his free time. Follow On Facebook.
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