7 Harrowing TV Dramas To Watch Before ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2

The Last of Us’s second season is nearly here, bringing with it the predictably grim misadventures of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s grizzled lead protagonists.

Set in a terrifying near future where a mysterious illness has upended civilization, The Last of Us acts as a visionary adaptation of Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game series. A harrowing survival drama on the one hand and a profound meditation on grief, trauma, and morality on the other, The Last of Us has rightfully become one of the most talked-about TV series in recent memory, earning universal acclaim for its main story, agreeable performances, and careful recreation of its gaming counterpart.

As viewers anxiously await the release of The Last of Us Season 2, we decided to put together a list of TV series that bear a striking resemblance to HBO’s latest post-apocalyptic TV series. From George Romero-style zombie thrillers to crowd-pleasing adaptations of notable video game franchises, here are some of the best TV series we recommend watching before The Last of Us’s return on April 13.

The Leftovers

If The Last of Us teaches us anything, it’s that learning to adapt to a depressing near future is every bit as challenging as braving the wasteland itself. Grappling with the unfathomable loss of their loved ones, these survivors are forced to cobble together a new version of their everyday lives, one punctuated by constant hardship, tragedy, and the sadness inevitably tied to grief. Exploring these relatable themes in a cinematic and nuanced manner, The Leftovers offers a similarly stark portrayal of a dystopian future, focusing on several characters struggling to move on from the sudden disappearance of 2% of the world’s population. Prioritizing characters and story over its high-concept premise, The Leftovers is a binge-worthy HBO drama impossible to stop once you’ve hit play.

Chernobyl

Before he was busy adapting the nightmarish world of The Last of Us for the small screen, showrunner Craig Mazin turned his attention to recreating the infamous Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Often cited as the worst nuclear-related incident in global history, Chernobyl displays the inherent dangers surrounding nuclear power, as well as the industrious efforts of first responders to contain and control the resulting fallout. A first-rate biographical drama underscoring the heroism of various scientists, firefighters, miners, and volunteers in trying to combat the disaster, Chernobyl wonderfully displays Mazin’s ability to recreate a singular setting populated by a cast of nuanced characters – something that became even more apparent with The Last of Us’s opening season.

Sweet Tooth

Who says video games have to be the sole source of inspiration for post-apocalyptic TV series? With Netflix’s three-season long Sweet Tooth, the streaming service recreates the magical realist world of Jeff Lemire’s comic book series, following a wide range of colorful characters trying to pick up the pieces of their lives in the wake of a disastrous global pandemic. With animal-human hybrids seemingly set to replace the remnants of humanity, Sweet Tooth focuses on the immediate aftermath sprung about from the end of the world, shining a light on the characters’ overarching hostility to those outside their species, as well as those simply trying to connect with one another, regardless of their physical appearance.

Station Eleven

Civilized society is seldom the only thing that collapses upon the sudden end of the world. Additionally, the average person witnesses their moral reasoning slowly start to splinter as they adjust to their new form of living, as evidenced by every example of post-apocalyptic media from Mad Max and The Last of Us to 28 Weeks Later and Station Eleven. With the latter, HBO delivers another incredible dystopian outing – one every bit as somber and morose as its later video game-based successor. Based on Emily St. John Mandel’s acclaimed novel, Station Eleven traces a traveling theater group as they venture through the wasteland of tomorrow. Like The Last of Us, Station Eleven zeroes in on the fragile interpersonal relationships that characterize most post-apocalyptic TV series, emphasizing the idea that every person you encounter on your travels could mean the difference between life or death.

Fallout

Aside from their post-apocalyptic settings and the fact both series were based on successful video games, The Last of Us and Fallout might not seem to have much in common. But at the end of the day, both shows succeed as extraordinarily gripping (albeit tonally contrasting) adaptations of their respective video game counterparts. With Fallout, Prime Video’s showrunners meticulously capture the look and spirit of Bethesda’s iconic series, paying homage to its gaming source material with plenty of nods and references to the Fallout universe’s underlying settings, factions, creatures, and characters.

The Walking Dead

One of the most widely talked-about shows of the 2010s, The Walking Dead universe might have been grossly watered-down with its recent spin-offs and sequel series, but at the end of the day, it remains a permanent fixture within AMC’s television canon. Transposing the zombie narrative to mainstream TV, The Walking Dead meticulously brought the world of Robert Kirkman’s lengthy comic book series to life in the course of its 11 seasons. From foraging for limited supplies to establishing temporary safe haven and withstanding grueling weather, ravenous undead hordes, and rival survivors, The Walking Dead adequately portrays the horrors of a zombie apocalypse, right down to the sudden deaths of beloved fan-favorite characters.

Black Summer

Set in the zombie-plagued world of Z Nation, Black Summer traces a mother’s attempts to track down her missing child, leading her to interact with a variety of equally desperate survivors salvaging what they can in the ruins of their apocalyptic future. Expanding the framework of Z Nation in new and unexpected ways, Black Summer also excels as its own self-contained narrative, complete with an expansive cast of characters every bit as memorable as those displayed in Z Nation, The Walking Dead, or The Last of Us. Though a mere two seasons in length, Black Summer delivers an unforgettable zombie story praised by viewers and critics the world over, with horror legend Stephen King even saying, “Just when you think there’s no more scare left in zombies, [Black Summer] comes along. Existential hell in the suburbs, stripped to the bone.” If such positive remarks from the King of Horror isn’t high praise, we don’t know what is.