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The Last of Us is based on the acclaimed video game of the same name, but unlike many video game adaptations, it achieved critical acclaim as a prestige HBO series. The streaming series takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting where a virus has wiped out almost everyone, creating an army of violent zombies. Joel (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with escorting Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the dangerous country with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. Along the way, they meet allies and enemies and battle lots of dangerous monsters.
The Last of Us season 2 arrived in 2025, and while the new season gave fans more horror from this world, some other great shows can be enjoyed while waiting for more tales from this apocalyptic series. The Last of Us is not just a zombie outbreak show. It also deals with the loss of humanity and impossible choices people are forced to make. Along with its post-apocalyptic horror and intense atmosphere, other shows hit these elements, offering thrills and chills. Any fans of The Last Us will want to check out these excellent alternate options.
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The Mist (2017)
A Dense Fog Brings Dangerous Monsters To A Small Town
- Release Date
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2017 – 2017-00-00
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Morgan Spector
Kevin Copeland
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Alexandra Ordolis
Shelley DeWitt
The movie version of The Mist and its infamous ending are more widely known, but the television adaptation is also worth watching. A mysterious mist settles over Bridgeville, Maine in this fascinating sci-fi horror series based on Stephen King’s 1980 novella. Trapped in town by an ominous vapor and the horrific monsters that reside within it, survivors are forced to not only protect themselves from the unknown but from the dangers of the people that are stuck there with them.
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Deadly creatures, crumbling society, and untrustworthy survivors are all topics familiar to any fan of The Last Of Us. There is also a significant parallel between the two shows: humans are just as dangerous, if not more so, than the monsters themselves. With The Mist, it is a religious fanatic who believes that a sacrifice needs to be made to appease God to call off the monsters. Unfortunately, the series only aired for one season before it was canceled, leaving many unanswered questions.
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Snowpiercer (2020-2022)
The Survivors Of A New Ice Age Onboard A Self-Sustaining Train
This thrilling post-apocalyptic drama has thrived across multiple media forms. The original story came from the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige. It was then adapted into a film by the future Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite). Finally, it was made into a television series of the same name. Seven years after Earth becomes a frozen wasteland too cold for human life, the remaining survivors’ only hope is to stay aboard a perpetually moving train that continuously travels the globe.
In Snowpiercer, the survivors live on a train divided into social classes, with the wealthy at the front, where they have everything they want, the middle class in the central section, where they have a little less, and the poor in the rear, where they have almost nothing. This eventually causes an uprising on the enclosed train. Unlike the movie, the characters find hope in the real world by the end. Much like The Last Of Us, the inhabitants are in survival mode, starving, turning on each other, and heavily watched by classist authorities.
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The Walking Dead (2011-2022)
The Most Successful Zombie Apocalypse TV Series
8/10
- Release Date
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2010 – 2022
- Showrunner
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Frank Darabont, Angela Kang, Scott M. Gimple, Glen Mazzara
One of the most-watched cable network series of its time, The Walking Dead follows a diverse ensemble of characters as they struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world. Based on a popular comic series by Robert Kirkman, the survivors worry about fighting off other groups of people just as often as they worry about the undead. Exploring themes of found family, survival, and the search for a cure, fans of The Last Of Us should give this popular AMC series a try.
As fans learn in The Last of Us season 2, even some “bad guys” aren’t that bad in the end, because everyone has a reason they are fighting in the apocalyptic landscape. That is another trait shared with The Walking Dead, especially concerning characters like Negan from TWD and Abby from The Last of Us. The main Walking Dead series ended with 11 seasons and 177 episodes. The story has continued with several spinoffs, following characters like Rick, Michonne, Carol, Daryl, Maggie, and Negan.
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The 100 (2014-2020)
Teens In An Apocalyptic Future WIth A Ravaged Earth
Loosely based on a young adult novel series written by Kass Morgan, The 100 is set in a universe where Earth has become uninhabitable due to nuclear Armageddon. The remnants of humanity escaped to space in a station known only as “The Ark,” and remain there for decades. Nearly a century later, the decision is made to send a group of one hundred juvenile delinquents back to the desolate Earth to determine if it’s possible for humans ever to return. When they arrive, they learn that not all humans died after Armageddon.
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The series ended in mid-2020 after a commendable seven-season run and an appropriate 100 episodes. While The Last of Us started with Joel fighting to protect Ellie, it now follows Ellie on her own, with her friends and a new antagonist named Abby, also a young woman living in a dangerous world. Both The 100 and The Last of Us feature young people in a world full of monsters and deadly dangers, showing how they react and fight for survival in this environment.
6
Z Nation (2014-2018)
The SyFy Answer To The Walking Dead
It’s no surprise that there are a few zombie-related shows when comparing things to The Last of Us, given their similarity to the vicious, roaming Infected. The plot of Z Nation is not only a fun ride, but it’s surprisingly similar to The Last of Us. A black comedy rather than a drama, it is set years after an outbreak that signals the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. Only one person has ever survived infection. Traveling with a group from New York to California, he may be the only hope for a vaccine that could save the world.
This is similar to the plot of The Last of Us, where Ellie is immune to the virus, meaning she doesn’t turn into a monster. Everyone wants to either figure out why or kill her because they believe the apocalypse was meant to be. Unlike The Last of Us, which saw one man transport Ellie to safety, this series features a group of survivors led by a capable soldier. Z Nation ran from 2014 to 2018 on the SyFy channel and has a total of five seasons.
5
The Purge (2018-2019)
A Dystopian Future Where The Government Allows One Night Of Crime
The Last of Us shows that the government’s reaction to the breakdown of society turned out to be as deadly as the outbreak itself. The Federal Disaster Response Agency seized control of the U.S. government and established quarantine zones before declaring martial law and dissolving other governmental agencies. They then executed dissidents and only protected the large cities in the end. This is a little different from The Purge, which still has an operating government, but one that is corrupted.
In The Purge, eager to find a quick fix to steadily rising crime rates, an emerging government party called The New Founding Fathers of America mandated that once a year, all crimes – including murder – are legal. One of the few series on the list that isn’t post-apocalyptic, The Purge television show further explores the themes of The Purge movie franchise from multiple perspectives. The show ran for two seasons on the USA Network before it was canceled.
4
Attack On Titan (2013-2023)
Giant Monsters Ravage The Earth
One hundred years after humanity is taken over by an ancient predatory race of giant, man-eating creatures known as the Titans, a young man swears to rid the world of their reign of terror. Set in a dystopian world where survivors are struggling against extinction, forced to fight monsters, and hopes of defeating them may be found in a character’s blood, Attack On Titan is a perfect choice for The Last Of Us enthusiasts that prefer to watch anime to live-action television.
Of course, the main difference between The Last of Us and Attack on Titan, aside from the change from live-action to anime, is that the monsters in Attack on Titan are an invasive species, not humans who have been infected and transformed into monsters. The Titans are much more dangerous than many of the mutated humans in The Last of Us, but the hordes of them are difficult, if not impossible, to defeat in both shows.
3
12 Monkeys (2015-2018)
A Man Is Sent Back In Time To Prevent The Apocalypse
A time traveler from a post-apocalyptic future travels back in time to try to save the world in this television adaptation, which plunges audiences back into the world of the classic 1995 science fiction thriller. Hailing from a harrowing future in which a virus has left humanity on the brink of destruction, humankind only has one last shot at stopping it before it’s too late. Premiering on the SyFy channel in 2015, 12 Monkeys ran for four seasons before its climactic end.
Of course, the major difference between 12 Monkeys and The Last of Us is that the former is about a man trying to stop the spread of a plague that wipes out humanity, while the latter is about a plague that creates mutated monsters, so one is more sci-fi and the other more of a horror tale. However, they are both about finding a cure and fixing the world, often with powerful organizations or figures standing in the way.
2
The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020-2021)
The Walking Dead From A Young Adult’s POV
Fans who enjoy watching Ellie run around an apocalyptic United States, killing the infected, and proving her toughness despite her young age should give The Walking Dead: World Beyond a try. This action-packed drama follows a group of sheltered teenagers who must fight for their lives as they travel miles through infested cities and eerie ghost towns to save a father, and perhaps find a new family along the way. The series lasted for two seasons and introduced a cast of characters who were the first generation born after the apocalypse.
Of course, this is different from The Last of Us, since this group was not around when the apocalypse began, while Joel was there from the very beginning. However, both series feature teenagers fighting for their lives against infected, zombie-like characters, while also realizing that humans in the post-apocalyptic landscape are just as dangerous. Most would rather see these young adults die than learn the truth about the world in which they now live.
1
The Stand (2020)
A Virus Wipes Out Most Of Humanity
Another Stephen King adaptation, The Stand examines how people losing hope allows evil to take over. Set in a post-apocalyptic world ruined by a human-made plague that kills 99% of the population, the few immune survivors band together. Meanwhile, a dangerous, false messiah makes himself known, leading up to a war of biblical proportions. The survivors with evil and selfish desires in their hearts band with Randall Flagg, while the good-hearted people gather to battle Flagg’s forces in the upcoming war for humanity.
Based on Stephen King’s masterpiece, The Stand is a CBS miniseries starring big names such as James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgård, and Whoopi Goldberg. The novel was adapted into an ABC miniseries in the 1990s, starring names like Molly Ringwald, Gary Sinise, and Rob Lowe in leading roles. This second series lasted only one season, with nine episodes. Much like The Last of Us, this is a series about human survivors choosing good or evil as they fight to save their world.
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