11 Dystopian TV Series Like Silo (And Where to Stream Them)

The series is set in a dystopian future 2026 in which the planet has frozen over due to climate change, leaving the human survivors seeking refuge aboard a massive thousand-and-one-car train known as Snowpiercer. The humans are divided into strict classes by compartment, and they are all held under the watchful eye of the mysterious Wilford at the helm of the train.

Snowpiercer is similar to Silo in its exploration of a dystopian future in which humans live in closed quarters surrounded by an uninhabitable world. It also has the criminal elements of Silo, in which a detective investigates a series of murders in the first season against the backdrop of class warfare about to boil over.

This one-season series from 2014 takes place some 51 years into a space mission after a fictional President John F Kennedy — fearing the destruction of Earth during the Cold War — sends a ship to colonise a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri.  While on their way, a murder happens aboard the ship that sets off a series of events that get the team members questioning the true nature of their mission.

Like Silo, Ascension takes place in a closed setting with no access to the outside world. The series also starts out with a murder that causes those aboard the ship to start questioning what they are really doing there, and if their reality is in fact what they believe it to be.

In this dystopian sci-fi series from 2022, employees of Lumon Industries agree to “sever” their consciousness in a controversial procedure that makes them forget everything when they leave work and vice versa — dividing them into ‘Innie’ (at work) and ‘Outie’ (outside of work) personalities. But while one employee, Mark Scout, navigates an increasingly strange life at work, he discovers that his two lives in fact overlap.

Like Silo, Severance deals with a seemingly tightly controlled organisation that begins to show its weaknesses as time goes on. Both series feature a person in the middle whose suspicions about what is really going on start to grow, kicking off a series of revelatory escalating events.

In a distant dystopian future, the galaxy is ruled by a dynasty of clones of the emperor Cleon. Mathematician Hari Seldon and his protogee Gaal present the conclusion found through his theory of ‘psychohistory’ that the current empire will fail unless human knowledge and history is somehow preserved. The regime grudgingly allows him to establish a way to store this knowledge in a place called the Foundation, while keeping their suspicions about the true nature of his activities.

While Foundation is not quite as spatially constricted as Silo, the political intrigue and the slow falling apart of a despotic ruling system are themes that tie the two series closely together.

This Star Wars story takes place in a galaxy far, far away some five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope. The series focuses on Cassian Andor as he goes from a thief to becoming a top spy for the Rebel Alliance. Like Silo, the series takes place in a dystopian setting where under the surface a great unrest is brewing that one main character slowly uncovers as time goes on.

In the close confines of a small town in the United States, those who enter cannot leave due to the evil creatures who lurk in the surrounding woods and terrify the residents at night. The town’s sheriff and other residents spend their time trying to survive while desperately plotting a way to escape.

Like Silo, From takes place within the confines of a small space with limited resources. As time goes on, the residents start to discover the larger plot lurking under the surface.

Some twenty years after the outbreak of a deadly fungal pandemic, the world is plunged into a desperate struggle for survival. But when a young girl, Ellie, is discovered who appears to be immune to the disease, a smuggler named Joel is tasked with bringing her safely across the post-apocalyptic wasteland the US has become so she can help scientists develop a vaccine.

Like Silo, the Last of Us takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting where the surrounding environment is not only hostile but downright dangerous.

In a distant future, humans have successfully expanded beyond Earth to colonise the solar system. However, Earth’s political struggles continue to plague humanity — this time on a galaxy-wide scale. Caught in the mix in a key but mysterious role is a ship whose crew slowly uncover why they play such an important role in who wins in the struggle for power.

Like Silo, The Expanse takes place in closed quarters and deals with political intrigue and conspiracies that are slowly uncovered throughout the seasons.

This series produced by the creators of Westworld takes place in a future in which a brother and sister, Burton and Flynne, are hired to test a new virtual reality game. While in the game, Flynne discovers that the VR has become blurred with actual reality and uncovers a secret that puts both her and her entire family at risk.

Much of The Peripheral takes place in the confines of a VR game and parallels Silo in the way the main characters uncover a much larger plot set up by the creators that has far reaching implications for them and everyone else. 

Station Eleven takes place some twenty years after a deadly flu pandemic wipes out much of humanity, leaving the survivors to struggle to create a new order while holding on to what they lost. The series follows a group of survivors as they make their way through the post-apocalyptic world and try to rebuild a new society, even as a cult leader with sinister intentions tries to gain the upper hand.

Like Silo, Station Eleven takes place in a post-apocalyptic reality in which the survivors try to hold on to their humanity while establishing a new society.