10 TV Series Like Severance (and Where to Stream Them)
When Dan Erickson’s magnificent TV series Severance first debuted on Apple TV+ in 2022, it quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the streamers’ most successful projects. Beloved by fans and critics alike, Severance takes on the question of work-life balance and dials it up to 11. Set in and around the mysterious biotech corporation Lumon Industries, the series focuses on employees who have undergone the “severance” procedure, in which the their consciousness is severed in two; one half comes online at work (the ‘Innie’) while the other (the ‘Outie’) activates only after leaving the office.
Severance is directed and produced by Ben Stiller and stars Adam Scott as Mark, one of the severed employees who runs a team made up of the dapper Irving (John Turturro), the competitive Dylan (Zach Cherry), and the rebellious Helly (Britt Lower). The first season begins with Helly’s entry onto the team, when her insistence at being freed sparks a growing suspicion about the nature of their work and the entire severance program. Meanwhile, the lives of their ‘Outies’ start to complete the picture of why anyone would want to sever their consciousness in the first place, while also revealing how interconnected the outside world and Lumon really are.
The second season of Severance is now underway (Episode 1 premiered on January 17, 2025), with new episodes airing weekly on Apple TV+. While no series is quite like Severance, there are a few compelling shows that can make the wait between episodes feel shorter. Check out these 10 TV shows like Severance, and find out where you can stream them from within the United Kingdom below!
Mr Robot
Creator, writer, and director Sam Esmail’s immersive award-winning conspiracy-drama Mr Robot ran for four seasons between 2015 and 2019. The series stars Academy Award-winner Rami Malik in his breakout role as Elliot Alderson, a socially anxious and clinically depressed cybersecurity expert whose life is turned inside out when he is recruited by a hacktivist group set on destroying E Corp, an enormous, evil conglomerate. Like Severance, Mr Robot explores questions about the role corporations can and should play in our lives, as well as deeper themes of identity and the coping mechanisms we develop in the face of suffering and loss.
Counterpart
The series created by Justin Marks ran for two seasons between 2017 and 2019, and stars JK Simmons as a mild-mannered bureaucrat working in the Office of Interchange in Berlin. His quiet life is upended when it is revealed to him that deep in the basement of the office lies a portal between parallel worlds, where his counterpart is a capable deadly agent in a Cold War that continues to silently rage. The way in which Counterpart slowly zooms out over the seasons, incrementally revealing the true extent of the conspiracy shaping everyone’s lives is very similar in feel to Severance.
Station Eleven
Based on Emily St John Mandel’s novel of the same name, Station Eleven is a 2021 miniseries that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Some twenty years after most of the population is killed by a deadly pandemic, the survivors struggle to create a new world and keep hope alive — even as a dangerous cult leader attempts to gain the upper hand. Like Severance, Station Eleven emphasises the importance of human connection, showing that in a world of division and suspicion encouraged by corporate greed or the struggle to survive, we need each other more than ever.
Westworld
This American dystopian sci-fi drama from HBO galloped onto screens in 2016 and captivated audiences around the world. Although the series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy lasted four seasons, the first season is widely considered to be the best, with the others progressively losing steam. The first season of Westworld is set within the confines of a massive Wild West-themed amusement park in which completely lifelike android ‘hosts’ cater to the guests living out their wildest fantasies. Like Severance, Westworld delves heavily into questions of identity, what it means to be conscious — or even human — and the role of technology in facilitating or destroying humanity.
Maniac
This Netflix miniseries was created by Patrick Somerville in 2018 and is a loose adaptation of a 2015 Norwegian series of the same name. The series stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill as two strangers who sign up for an experimental trial for a drug that is supposed to cure all mental illness. Although they already live in a real world with grotesque societal problems, they go through the stages of the trail confronting their own coping strategies and deepest fears. Like Severance, Maniac explores the desperation of individuals to both be and not be human in a hostile world. By severing themselves or searching for medical cures to suffering, they find their way back to themselves and each other through imperfect and messy human connection.
Devs
This 2020 miniseries written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina) shares many similarities with Severance, although the overall tone is even darker. The series takes place in and around Amaya, a quantum company run by a grieving CEO, Forest (Nick Offerman). After the mysterious death of her boyfriend on his first day in the Devs department, Lily Chan, a software engineer, starts investigating what happened, leading her to uncover the true nature of the company and its motives. Devs and Severance both explore questions of free will and self-determination in a highly technological corporate setting run by humans who are themselves deeply wounded.
Homecoming
This 2018 Amazon series was created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg, who originally released it as a scripted podcast series of the same name. The first season is directed by Sam Esmail (Mr Robot), and stars Julia Roberts as Heidi Bergman, a waitress who used to be a therapist at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center. The centre’s purpose was to treat veterans with PTSD so that they could return to their civilian lives, but Heidi can barely remember her time there. However, after an auditor starts asking questions, her memories start returning — and she begins to suspect the facility had a far darker purpose than she thought. Like Severance, Homecoming features a plot in which a corporation purports to have a ‘cure’ for an ailment whose aims, as they are uncovered, appear to be far more sinister than advertised.
Utopia
This two-season British dystopian thriller created by Dennis Kelly aired between 2013 and 2014, and follows a group of fans of the graphic novel The Utopia Experiments, which they believe predicts disasters such as pandemics before they happen. When one of the group gets their hands on an unpublished edition, they find themselves being hunted down by a shadowy organisation known as The Network. Similar to Severance, Utopia plunges into a mysterious conspiracy that only grows wider and more complex as the members of the group open their eyes to see its full expanse.
The Leftovers
This three-season HBO drama is created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, based on Perrotta’s novel of the same name. The award-winning series stars Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon as two people coming together in the wake of an event known as the Sudden Departure, in which 2% of the world’s population suddenly disappeared without a trace. In the aftermath of the Sudden Departure, those left try to cope with their grief as they grasp for an explanation for what happened and why. Like Severance, The Leftovers deals heavily with themes of grief in the aftermath of immeasurable loss.
The Consultant
The Consultant is a 2023 one-season Amazon thriller adapted by Tony Basgallop from author Bentley Little's novel of the same name. The series stars the magnificent Christoph Waltz as Regus Patoff, the bizarre consultant who appears overnight to reorganise mobile gaming company CompWare after the murder of its CEO. Two employees grow suspicious of Patoff and his motives, and they begin investigating him, even as they try to climb the corporate ladder. Like Severance, much of The Consultant takes place within the confines of an office — although in this series the baddie isn’t a faceless corporate entity, but an actual real sociopath.
Honourable mentions
The series listed above are some of the best options if you’re looking for TV shows like Severance. But these other honourable mentions also make for equally compelling watching, so make sure you check them out!
Where to watch TV shows like Severance streaming online
Find out how (and where) to stream TV shows like Severance online by scrolling down to the list below. The films are all available to stream online across a variety of platforms in the United Kingdom, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, ITVX and more!
