Mackenzie Davis stars as Kirsten Raymonde in ‘Station Eleven’.
TV + Movies

The Best TV Show About The End Of The World (Period)

"We’re gonna need new words. For the last person we met before and the first person we met after."

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I love movies and television shows about the end of the world. So much so that I cataloged over 70 of the best “societal collapse” films over on Creepy Catalog. I am uniquely qualified to rank these stories and in this article, I will explain why Station Eleven is the very best in this microgenre.

Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic miniseries about the lives of the characters immediately before, during, and twenty years after a flu pandemic wipes out most of the human population. Much of the series takes place two decades after societal collapse, when the world has been remade by survivors. A group of civilizations around Lake Michigan are connected by a path called the Wheel. A nomadic group of thespians known as the Traveling Symphony continually traverse the Wheel, bringing theater to the communities. It is based on a novel of the same name.

A devastating scene from Station Eleven shows the effects of a mass casualty crisis on the families of victims.

Station Eleven is a high-quality, emotionally engrossing and intellectually fascinating glimpse into what life may be like for survivors of an end of the world scenario.

What sets Station Eleven apart from other end of the world shows is that it focuses on more than just bare survival. A group of actors seem like an unlikely focus for a post-apocalyptic series, but through the Traveling Symphony we get to see how important celebrations and the arts are to human survival. It’s not enough to rebuild communities where people are able to survive day to day, these communities need something to look forward to and a way to connect with each other on a deeper level.

There are also some great moments of humor in Station Eleven. For instance, in one scene a man auditions for the Traveling Symphony. Rather than the expected monologue from Shakespeare, the man acts out Bill Pullman’s iconic speech from the blockbuster hit Independence Day (1996). It’s fun to think about what moments from pop culture would survive in 20 years if the modern world suddenly ended tomorrow.

The drama in Station Eleven comes from the mystery behind the comic for which the show is named. Main character Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) believes she owns the only copy of the Station Eleven comic when parts of the book are quoted to her by a nefarious man she meets on the road. The man turns out to be a cult leader who is stealing children from the communities.

Station Eleven is currently streaming on Max.