12 Best Shows Like From

"From" is part of that special brand of TV series that caters to a very specific kind of viewer: The folks who love nothing more than theorizing over a mindbending puzzle box built around a complicated iceberg of lore and in-depth worldbuilding. A trippy, genre-defying supernatural and psychological horror series about a town situated in a bizarre pocket of reality where monsters come out at night and no one can leave, "From" presents a world where the lines between dreams, storytelling, and reality seem irrevocably blurred. 

As Sheriff Boyd (Harold Perrineau) struggles to keep the good people of Fromville alive, they are hit with a steady torrent of mysterious, horrifying, and often downright bizarre developments like reality-altering cicadas, the root cellar from hell, a possessed Polaroid camera, and trees containing notoriously unreliable portals. Even if clues can be found lurking in the background for fans clever enough to mine the series for its hidden secrets, each potential answer only seems to lead to more mysteries — and we love every second of it. 

The subject of seemingly endless analysis on YouTube, Facebook, and Discord, the series has inspired the creation of many online fan communities who feel the vacancy between the end of one "From" season and the next. Fortunately, there are tons of great shows out there to fill the void in the meantime.

Inspired by a particularly dark time in creator Dan Erickson's professional life, "Severance" is an artful work of speculative fiction that imagines a world where a controversial procedure allows individuals to separate their work and home consciousnesses and memories. From the perspective of the "outie" — the primary consciousness of the individual that chooses severance — it seems like a dream to never have to clock in, bring home the stresses of the work day, or deal with workplace drama. But for every outie, there's an "innie" who never gets to leave the office and has no autonomy over the life they live, effectively enslaved on the severance floor of Lumon Industries. In such a world, innies have an almost childlike understanding of their reality right down to the corporo-theocratic indoctrination that mythologizes the Lumon founder. 

Far more than just a dystopian workplace drama, "Severance" follows the ever-expanding lives and experiences of grieving former academic Mark S. (Adam Scott) and his work team of macrodata refiners as they begin to poke and prod at their highly controlled (and gaslit) reality. Through their explorations, a wider mystery begins to unfold — one that's full of baby goats, sadomasochisic waffle parties, potentially global implications, and many unaswered questions. 

Much more than a mere survival series about a teen girls' sports team involved in a plane crash set in the mid-to-late-90s, "Yellowjackets" is more like "Lord of the Flies" reimagined as a darkly comedic psychological horror series. Set across two distinct timelines with separate cast members portraying the girls as teens and adults, the series portrays the teens' lives during the 19-month period following a disastrous plane crash deep in the Canadian wilderness, and in the present day as they fail to disentangle themselves from the lasting confusion, shame, and trauma of an experience that devolved into ritualized cannabalism. 

The outstanding teen and adult ensemble casts are aided by the addition of Gen-X and Millennial icons Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, and Lauren Ambrose. The 1990s timeline chronicles their time in the wilderness and the events leading up to the teens' adoption of a novel pagan faith and increasingly violent tendencies, while the present day deals with their general collective failure to play by the rules of a polite and sane society. Whether the supernatural forces behind the girls' eventual descent into madness even exist at all seems, at least for now, open to interpretation.

Adapted from author Hugh Howey's self-published novel series that began with the 2011 short story "Wool," "Silo" is an imaginative dystopian and post-apocalyptic series that imagines a world where society lives underground in the wake of an apparently large-scale disaster, "Fallout" style. But instead of the sprawling shelters in the game series, the "Silo" survivors live in massive 144-story underground silos where they've existed in highly structured societies for an indeterminate amount of time — so long that the first silo we're introduced to experienced a devastating failed uprising 140 years ago. And like all good highly structured dystopian societies, the last thing they need is people asking critical questions that begin with who, what, where, and when.

The series follows engineer Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) as she does exactly that, ultimately getting herself expelled to the certain doom that the silo's administrators believe awaits for her on the other side of the silo door. Fans of dystopia will love the show's aesthetically haunting subterranean brutalist worldbuilding and the sense of fading optimism and alienation evoked as Nichols attempts to find meaning in a world she can't quite understand. 

A visually gorgeous time travel series and contender for the grimmest take on time travel ever conceived in television, "Dark" is a German sci-fi drama that doubles as a fairly bleak meditation on the inescapable nature of generational trauma. If you just happen upon it while browsing Netflix without looking too closely at the series description, it's easy to think you've stumbled onto a "Broadchurch"-style noir mystery at first, albeit one increasingly laced with narrative threads that don't quite make sense. 

The story follows accidental time traveler Jonas Kahnwald (Louis Hofmann) as he gets entwined in the time travel mystery defining the messy, dysfunctional family trees of Winden, Germany. Soon, the story begins to piece itself together, aided by Ben Frost's haunting score and a soundtrack that includes Agnes Obel, Apparat, and plenty of peppy 1980s tracks to remind us the producers aren't taking their story too seriously. Like the TV adaptation of "12 Monkeys," "Dark" is a challenging causality loop story that starts with one misplaced person who falls for the wrong gal and accidentally heralds an apocalypse in doing so. By the end of the series, the complicated time-travel knot spans several time periods and an alternate reality, weaving a tale so complex viewers could be forgiven for feeling the need to take notes. Once you've figured out the show's central mysteries, it's worth a rewatch to hunt for the numerous "Back the Future" references Redditors have found hidden throughout "Dark."

Developed by the brilliant duo responsible for "Dark," "1899" is multi-language puzzle box sci-fi series that captures the same dark, David Lynchian aesthetic as the time travel series while somehow managing to outdo it in terms of challenging cerebral storytelling. Like the earlier series, "1899" starts off feeling grounded in reality until the rug is slowly pulled out from under viewers, leaving them grasping for any sense of normalcy to cling to. Strange elements soon begin to seep into what begins as a straightforward period tale about immigrants abord the 1899 steamship Kerberos, with anachronistic technology and a disjointed sense of reality becoming increasingly prominent as the story progresses. 

"1899" is told mostly from the perspective of female doctor Maura (Emily Beecham) as she encounters elements that don't fit in the tangible world of the 1890s: Cryptic messages that say "sink ship," a slide puzzle remote control with the power to teleport, a green beetle that opens shafts leading from the ship to locations on dry land, and a metallic substance that seems to organically take over the ship. Although the popular series sadly failed to get renewed for a second season and leaves the series on a crazy cliffhanger, the Season 1 finale does offer a major reveal about the nature of Maura's reality. Even without the complete story, "1899" serves as a solid example of how good truly ambitious sci-fi can be. 

"Outer Range" is yet another great exampe of trippy, mindbending time travel sci-fi, this time set against a gorgeous sprawling Wyoming backdrop as a neo-Western science fiction tale. The series follows Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), rancher and patriarch of the Abbott family in a Hatfields and McCoys-style rivalry with his neighbors, the Tillersons, over an ongoing property line dispute. Shortly after a drifter named Autumn (Imogen Poots) shows up asking to camp on the Abbotts' land, Royal discovers a mysterious and seemingly bottomless perfectly round void of unknown origins on the outer range of his property. 

As the series progresses, the void is revealed to be a wormhole connecting various time periods with more than one of the show's central characters having passed through it at various points. By the end of the series' two-season run, many of the show's central mysteries are still left unsolved, athough judging by the brooding storytelling style and pacing, it's hard to imagine they would have been eventually. The chemistry between Josh Brolin and Lili Taylor as Royal's wife Cecelia and the atmospheric storytelling make this series worth the watch, even if it's up to the viewer to imagine an ending to this strange sci-fi western. 

Director Mike Flanagan has a long list of high-quality supernatural and psychological horror films in his filmography beginning with the 2011 film "Absentia." But it's his more recent work in television over the decade that has amassed Flanagan a cult following for his excellent crop of horror series integrating tropes from gothic horror literature, slow burn and often non-linear storytelling, character-driven narratives, and recurring ensemble casts. And all of it started with the 10-episode limited series adaptation of Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novel "The Haunting of Hill House."

Set in two timelines depicting the present day and flashbacks, the series deals with the now-adult children of the Crain family as they reunite with their long-estranged father Hugh (Timothy Hutton) in the wake of a tragedy that brings them back to Hill House, the sprawling country manor they once purchased to flip and fund their dream home. As the story recounts the seemingly supernatural events that took place there and their impact on the family's two clairvoyants, a complicated narrative starts to emerge. 

The second installment in Mike Flanagan's "The Haunting" series, "The Haunting of Bly Manor" integrates elements from Henry James' works including "The Turn of the Screw." Much more than just another gothic horror set in a sprawling mansion, "Bly Manor" is a love story wrapped up in a twisty puzzle box narrative full of ghostly inhabitants that haunt the grounds. Framed as a tale told at a 2007 wedding rehearsal dinner, the story begins with the 1987 hiring of American Dani Clayton (Victoria Pedretti) to work as au pair for the wealthy Wingrave family who reside at Bly Manor. The manor itself is home to many strange occurrences and spirits, each with their own connection to the estate. 

Much like "The Haunting of Hill House," "Bly Manor" is more about soulful storytelling and mindbending twists than jump scares and in-your-face horror. It's a trip through a beautiful looking glass into a world where things aren't always what they seem and the fragile psychology of the human mind is the most frightening thing of all. 

The third and final Flanaverse series on this list, "Midnight Mass" is a limited series with all the character-driven storytelling of Mike Flanagan's best gothic horror set in a story that will feel familiar to "From" fans. The story follows Riley Finn (Zach Gilford) as a man who left his isolated island community years ago to pursue a successful career as a venture capitalist only to end up spending years in prison after his decision to drive drunk left a woman dead. Returning home upon being released, he reconnects with his now-pregnant high school sweetheart Erin (Kate Siegel) just as the tiny community sees their village priest replaced by the mysterious Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater). 

Things on Crockett Island start to turn dark very quickly after the community of feral cats living on a nearby island washes up on their beach with no clear cause. Then the priest performs an apparent miracle before dying and becoming resurrected himself. Before long, an "Angel" appears that may or may not be a vampire and the community devolves into a suicidal cult. The whole thing is unhinged, freaky, and very much feels like a long lost sibling of "From."

One of the best hidden gem horror series ever made and quite possibly the coolest thing M. Night Shyamalan has done to date, "Servant" is a psychological horror story about loss, grief, family, food, and redemption in which the Philadelphia rowhouse the series is set in serves as the story's central character. A complete story told across four seasons, the series was praised by horror legends Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro for its surreal and creepy storytelling. But it's really much more of a supernatural puzzle box than a straightforward horror story, which is exactly why "From" fans will love it. 

The series stars Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell as affluent Philadelphia couple Dorothy and Sean Turner, a TV news reporter and professional chef, respectively. After losing their son Jericho in a hot car death accident, Dorothy descends into a dissociated catatonic state that she only emerges from after receiving a Reborn doll that she seems convinced is her living son. When the couple hires the very young live-in nanny Leanne to help Dorothy transition back to the workplace, Sean and his brother-in-law Julian (Rupert Grint) become suspicious as Leanne takes the delusion to the extreme. Soon, it's revealed that Leanne may have supernatural abilities and a mysterious past with dire implications for everyone.

Going strictly off the advertisements for "Grotesquerie," it would be easy to mistake the Ryan Murphy series for an "American Horror Story" clone. But aside from the horror and a few aesthetics here and there, the series is truly nothing like "AHS," and anyone expecting that will most certainly find it disappointing. Instead, they'll discover a surreal, narratively complex and frequently cinematic psychological horror that bears much more in common with "Twin Peaks: The Return."

Told through POV character Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts), a police detective who finds herself investigating horrific crimes that feel unsettlingly familiar, the series deals with the way Tryon's personal life seems to connect to the gruesome killings of a ritual serial killer calling themself Grotesquerie. And yet beyond the dark and disturbing details of the case, it soon becomes apparent that many things in Detective Tryon's world seem surreal, from apocalyptic fires to a strange nun to a bizarre and inappropriate nurse overseeing Lois' comatose husband's care. The sense that nothing is quite as it seems only seems to intensify as the story progresses and the layers of truth behind Lois' life slowly start to peel away.  

If you missed it the first time around, the lull between "From" seasons is the perfect opportunity to binge "Lost," that O.G. mystery box sci-fi series with an equally bloated ensemble cast. The similarities between "Lost" and "From" are too many to count. Both are genre-defying stories that find their central characters trapped in a mysterious place with strange, supernatural properties, no way to leave, and nefarious forces that get you when you go into the woods alone. 

"Lost" follows a group of fated airline passengers as they crash land on a beach that doesn't seem to be on any maps. Much like "From," "Lost" survivors live in a world full of hidden landmarks and secrets seemingly arising across many time periods. Although there are no smiley flesh-eating monsters, "Lost" serves a parade of mysteries and a handful of invisible horrors from reanimated corpses to a smoke monster possessed by the Man in Black. And the best part? "From" star Harold Perrineau is a member of the ensemble cast.