10 Best TV Shows Like Fallout You Need To Watch

Amazon Prime Video's TV show, "Fallout," is based on the video game franchise of the same name. Given Hollywood's tricky history of successfully adapting popular games, "Fallout" should be commended for doing it right. The first season, powered by the producing duo of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who also developed the series, establishes a unique world full of interesting individuals all fighting to survive in the post-apocalypse of 2296.

Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) resides in one of the United States' fallout bunkers, Vault 33, but goes out into the unforgiving wasteland to find her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), who has been taken by a band of raiders led by Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). Maximus (Aaron Moten) is a Brotherhood of Steel aspirant who is promoted to the rank of squire to the Knight Titus and sets out across the wasteland with him. And there's Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), who was an actor in 2077 when the nuclear apocalypse hit, the radiation of which transforms him into the Ghoul and leads him to a new career: bounty hunter.

The series isn't explicitly based on one of the video games in the "Fallout" series, which has led to several big differences between the two incarnations of the franchise, but the story nonetheless remains true to the "Fallout" universe. Because of that, it's become a critical and commercial success, racking up plenty of award nominations. The following 10 shows are similar to "Fallout" in that, for the most part, they all take place in the wake of an apocalypse. But each offers something a bit different, whether that be a zombie virus affecting the population or babies who are born as animal/human hybrids. Here they are, in no particular order.

"The Last of Us" is another show that has bucked the odds to become as beloved a television production as is the video game it's based on, except unlike "Fallout," "The Last of Us" has zombies who are infected with a fungus. The series, which premiered on HBO in 2023, is written by Craig Mazin and the writer of the video game, Neil Druckmann.

"The Last of Us" revolves around Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), as the former takes the latter across the United States in the wake of a global pandemic of the mutated Cordyceps infection, a fungal contagion that takes out everyone in its wake and turns them into zombies. Joel is a middle-aged survivor of the infection living in the Boston quarantine zone when the teenaged Ellie arrives. That's when Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of the Fireflies, a rebel group that resists the Federal Disaster Response Agency, or FEDRA, asks Joel and his partner, Tess (Anna Torv), to smuggle Ellie to a federal building in Massachusetts in exchange for a working truck. Ellie, who claims to be immune to the infection, becomes like a daughter to Joel, and he goes to extreme lengths to protect her during their journey.

"The Last of Us" was a precursor to "Fallout," which premiered a year later in 2024, because it was the first live-action video game adaptation to receive consideration for major awards. What's more, it won many of them, including Emmys for guest stars Nick Offerman and Storm Reid and a win for Pedro Pascal at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. "The Last of Us" returns for its second season in 2025.

"Station Eleven" and "Fallout" both tackle the time right before the apocalypse, as well as a time years in the future, after the apocalypse has brought civilization to its knees. But whereas "Fallout" has a fantastical setting and over 200 years between its two timelines, "Station Eleven" is more grounded, with a modest 20 years separating its timelines. That doesn't make it any less powerful, though.

A meditation on everything from the healing power of art to the complications of people's relationships, "Station Eleven" opens with the introduction to its apocalypse. But instead of "Fallout's" nuclear destruction, the people in "Station Eleven" suffered from a fast-moving flu pandemic that took out almost everyone across the globe. Kirsten was a little girl (Matilda Lawler) when the flu hit, but she was taken care of by Jeevan (Himesh Patel) and survived. Twenty years later, Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) is the star of the Traveling Symphony, a band of actors and musicians who perform Shakespeare as they roam from town to town. Along the way, they encounter a cult leader called the Prophet (Daniel Zovatto), who knows a lot about a graphic novel that Kirsten thought she had the only copy of.

"Station Eleven," a limited series, is told in such a purposeful way that you get both more and less information than you need at any given time, but the premise is never less than intriguing. It's no wonder that the show has a 98% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for a raft of awards, including several Emmys.

Like "Fallout," the animated show "Arcane" is based on a video game. Also like "Fallout," the series is based around a divide between the haves and the have-nots. In "Fallout," that divide is between the sealed-off Vault-dwellers and those that live in the fallout of a devastated Los Angeles. However, in "Arcane," the divide is perhaps even more extreme as the plot of the story doesn't happen on Earth at all. Instead, it centers on the conflict between the rich city of Piltover and its oppressed underbelly, Zaun.

The action centers around Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), two sisters from Zaun that had a falling out when Jinx was young. Now grown up, Jinx works for Silco (Jason Spisak), a Zaunite crime lord, and doesn't trust her sister when they meet again as adults. All this is set against the backdrop of the escalating war between Piltover and Zaun and the discovery of Hextech, technology based on arcane magic that revolutionizes Piltover.

The show has been praised for everything, from its voice acting to its worldbuilding to its animation, which features a uniquely beautiful watercolor-style approach. It's the only series on this list to have a perfect 100% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes for both of its two seasons. Not only that, it's received numerous awards, including making Emmy history for being the first streaming series to win the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

"The Last Man on Earth" has flashes of the type of apocalypse experienced in "Fallout," but with fewer people and way more humor. That's because it's a sitcom that was created by former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Will Forte and executive produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the minds behind "The LEGO Movie" and the "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" movies. After a deadly virus sweeps the globe in 2019, Phil Tandy Miller (Will Forte) believes he's the only person left on Earth. He puts out signs on billboards looking for others, but he doesn't see anyone else for a year.

Just when he's about to crash his truck and kill himself, he sees smoke coming from a nearby house. When he arrives there, he finds another survivor, a woman named Carol (Kristen Schaal). From there, Phil meets several others, including Melissa (January Jones), Todd (Mel Rodriguez), Erica (Cleopatra Coleman), and Gail (Mary Steenburgen), and he begins a rough personal journey of self-improvement. At the start, he's a liar and a cheater, and he's especially disrespectful of Carol, his "wife" of three weeks. But he starts to learn, albeit slowly, that he must become a better person if he wants to be a part of this little band of what may be the only people left on Earth.

"The Last Man on Earth" has a different vibe than a lot of the shows on this list. It often deals with the same mundane topics a lot of sitcoms deal with, such as Phil's compulsive lying and his desire to sleep with Melissa because she's hot. But it also explores how the apocalypse might have been a good thing for Phil, because he couldn't have become a better person without it.

"Silo" takes place well into the post-apocalypse; in fact, it's been 140 years since society's last uprising. For the majority of the first two seasons, that's the only point in time we know that can give us a clue to how long these people have been living as they do — specifically, in a silo that features 144 underground levels. The silo is sort of like the Vaults in "Fallout," and in both series, there are things that the people at the top are lying about. In "Fallout," it's that the Vaults were designed for psychological experiments. In "Silo," it's that the person who's truly in charge, Bernard (Tim Robbins), has been keeping key pieces of information from its residents, including virtually anything related to the past.

Thrust into this story is Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), an engineer who works in the silo's lowest levels. While she seems an unlikely candidate for a starring role in this saga, when Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) learns that Juliette's lover, George Wilkins (Ferdinand Kingsley), and the sheriff's wife, Allison (Rashida Jones), worked together on a secret project and George and Allison are both now dead, Juliette is the person Holston goes to when investigating George's death. She also becomes the person he identifies as his replacement for sheriff, even though she has no training for the job. As sheriff, Juliette starts to uncover a history of corruption, including what the silo's authorities have done to prevent rebellion.

"Silo" is a deliberately paced but action-packed series with many characters but enough markers that you can keep up with the swirling plot. The series has aired two seasons on Apple TV+, with Seasons 3 and 4 on the way.

"Twisted Metal" is another series adapted from a video game franchise, but the show didn't have that much to go on. The game is known for its demolition derby of vehicles, popular characters, and twisted sense of humor, but not much of a story — so the Peacock show's writers made one up. They positioned their narrative around John Doe (Anthony Mackie), a "milkman" who travels through a post-apocalyptic world delivering packages from walled town to walled town. He's tasked with retrieving a package from New Chicago to deliver to New San Francisco in exchange for becoming a citizen of the latter city. Along the way he meets Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz), whom he's initially antagonistic with but eventually allies with when they're confronted by Sweet Tooth (a masked Samoa Joe with Will Arnett's voice), a sadistic clown in Las Vegas.

The series isn't as successful as "Fallout" or "The Last of Us" in terms of award shows or critics' love, but for those who enjoy a good laugh and vehicular thrills, "Twisted Metal" is a high-octane adaptation. Given the "Twisted Metal" games were produced between 1995 and 2012 and don't have much plot, it's not totally surprising that the show's story differs from the games more than some other video-game shows, even though they do share the same sense of humor. However, it's possible the central contest the games focus on will be introduced next season. We'll have to wait and see.

The YA show "The 100" lasted seven seasons and took place entirely in the post-apocalypse. Throughout the series' run, there's no concern with what came before; in fact, no one remembers it. The show's story kicks off 97 years after a nuclear apocalypse devastated the Earth. The ones who survived went to live on the Ark, a space station that is now experiencing problems with its life support systems. Because of this, 100 juvenile delinquents are sent to the Earth's surface to see if it's habitable.

The juvenile delinquents of the Ark must learn about the people who have been inhabiting Earth for the time they've been in space, similar to how Lucy from "Fallout" has to learn about the people inhabiting the surface after escaping from her Vault. In "The 100," we learn that the people on Earth aren't all friendly, and they're all better equipped than the Ark's residents to survive. Throughout the show's seven seasons, the survivors—especially Clarke (Eliza Taylor)—go through pretty much everything you can think of. While the show started with irradiated deer and war between the 100 and the people on the ground (appropriately called the Grounders), it soon grew to include things like a powerful AI, cannibalism, and, in the final seasons, an escape to a new habitable world called Sanctum, where it explored the necessity of getting to know a new society.

"The 100" stepped into the "Bury your gays" controversy in its third season when it killed off a popular LGBTQ character, but the show is still a great example of a satisfying post-apocalyptic show featuring YA characters.

"The Leftovers" isn't about an apocalypse, per se. Instead of a nuclear holocaust, 2% of the world's population—about 140 million people—suddenly disappear on the same day at the same time. This has led to disruptions, small and large, in everyone's lives; cults have sprung up, people are looking for purpose, and many are trying to deal with how to continue living when their loved ones are no longer here. But while "Fallout" and "The Leftovers" are very different in many ways, one thing they do have in common is the odd actions that some people take in the wake of the instantaneous departures of so many. In "Fallout," this is shown in the way people, like the dwellers of Vault 4, behave, but in "The Leftovers," this is the crux of the whole show.

Created by "Lost"'s Damon Lindelof and the writer of the book, Tom Perotta, the series was broadcast on HBO between 2014 and 2017. Each of its three seasons has a distinct look and feel—the first season takes place three years after the Sudden Departure and is primarily set in the small town of Mapleton, New York; the second season takes place four years after the Sudden Departure and is primarily set in Jarden, Texas; and the third season takes place seven years after the Sudden Departure and is primarily set in Victoria, Australia—but everything feels of a piece. While the series is thematically rich, it's impossible to sum up what it's like to watch in a brief synopsis. Suffice it to say, it's a true work of art that is widely considered one of the best shows of all time, and it's easy to understand why.

"Paradise" is a new show. As of this writing, only four episodes have aired, but it has all the hallmarks of a seemingly beautiful civilization not being as peaceful as it seems, just like "Fallout." One difference is that while that show has vaults that mask the true horrors of what happened in the apocalypse, "Paradise" has a large, city-sized bunker underneath a mountain in Colorado.

The show, which was created and written by Dan Fogelman, the creator of "This Is Us," is set three years after an apocalypse that drove a select few underground. So far, we have more questions than answers, but this is what we know—or appear to know. The show is led by Sterling K. Brown as Agent Xavier Collins, the lead agent in President Cal Bradford's Secret Service detail who finds the president dead in his residence. However, Collins is just a pawn in a story that is driven by Samantha Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), a very rich woman whose son died when he was young, changing the dynamics of her relationship with her husband—and, possibly, everyone else.

"Paradise" has been met with acclaim by critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Right now, it's hard to say where everything on the show is going, but it'll be exciting to find out.

Like "Fallout," "Sweet Tooth" focuses on a society that collapses, but instead of nuclear war, this society falls due to the Sick, a virus that has killed most of the human population. Like "Fallout," "Sweet Tooth" has a quirkiness, but it's displayed in a different manner. In this show, some children have begun to be born as hybrids of humans and animals.

The action focuses on Gus (Christian Convery), a part-deer/part-human hybrid who lives in the wilderness of Yellowstone National Park with his father (Will Forte) when the show starts. Gus' father keeps the baby safe from prying eyes because many believe that hybrids, like Gus, are responsible for the virus. As a result, many either shun or hunt them. While Gus is safe for the first nine years of his life because of his father's actions, when his dad catches the sickness and dies, Gus ends up being hunted by poachers. However, a lone traveler (Nonso Anozie), who Gus dubs "Big Man" (Big Man refers to Gus as "Sweet Tooth" because he loves sweets), saves him. Gus then insists his new guardian bring him to Colorado, where, in theory at least, his mother lives.

"Sweet Tooth" is charming and whimsical while still being appropriately brutal for a show about the apocalypse. Plus, the timing of its release made its real-world connection to the COVID-19 pandemic seem prophetic.