The unknown lurks in the night waiting to sink its evil claws into the innocent; a common perception that we all have grown up with. While we associate night with fear and daylight with safety, what happens if the monster that we fear is none other than the sun that is the very source of life?
Into the Night is a Belgian apocalyptic sci-fi thriller drama series that focuses on a group of people whose idea of an uneventful flight goes haywire when a man in khaki pants hijacks the plane and forces it fly towards westwards. He claims that it is the only way to stay alive. And he is proven right when a solar event causes the sun to destroy everything in its path.
Into the Night is more than a story of a catastrophic cosmic event. It is a saga of survival.
If you are looking for some similar series that leave you at the edge of your seats, then look no further.
Here is a list of similar binge-worthy series:
The Leftovers
The Leftovers give us a glance of a post-apocalyptic world, with the series picking up three years after the ‘Sudden Departure’, a mysterious event that causes synchronous disappearance of 140 million people on October 14, 2011. It is a story of those left behind who are wounded from within. Especially the Garvey and Murphy family.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the series is that it doesn’t begin by explaining the absurdities but dives into raw human emotions such as grief and uncertainty and whether or not it’s possible to move on from such a tragedy. The viewers are as much in the dark as the characters who are desperately trying to attach meaning and purpose to their lives.
It is a world that you and I cannot imagine with fringes of humor and hope as characters try to rebuild their lives. The unusual way that the series deals with spirituality and helplessness, makes it worth watching.
Lost
Every time you see Into the Dark, one of the main things that will hit you is the group’s fight for survival. And when we talk about surviving against catastrophe, we cannot move further without mentioning Lost.
Not much time is wasted in building a back story and in the very first seconds of the first episode of Lost the passengers find themselves in an island immediately following a plane crash. With time travelling, supernatural elements, research experiments that are complex enough to drive one mad, Lost never loses sight of the survivors of the crash who now battle against odds that threaten their very existence.
With flashbacks now and then, we get to see the lives of our characters before the crash and before long we start to relate with them. Even with life-threatening situations, the series ensure comic reliefs here and there when even the most stoic characters have their moments.
Betrayal and sacrifice decide the faith of all the people stranded on the island, and at the end of each episode, we are left with some answers and additional questions.
Falling Skies
Here is another series based on a post-apocalyptic world. Only this time an alien invasion wipes out 90% of the human civilisation by destroying the world’s major cities and capitals. All militaries are defeated and demolished, leaving behind a group of civilians who share a common goal of regaining control of their world.
Unlike most shows that involve aliens, this series is based on the fact that aliens successfully invaded and have taken over the planet. It is a treat for all sci-fi lovers. Devoid of the ugly rubber suits or hilariously artificial tentacles, Falling Skies effectively introduces the horrors of an alien invaded earth. With scores of mysteries to unravel, you will find yourself strangely addicted to the ploys and plans of the aliens whose intentions the script withholds for a long time.
Nothing unites humans like the will to survive and fight back. With ordinary people who have no superpowers joining forces to survive, Falling Skies appeals more to the audience.
Colony
We often come across plots where a group of people are cut off from the rest of the world as they are stuck in an inaccessible place. Colony breaks all such notions.
The series depicts what would happen if a city like Los Angeles is cut off from the rest of the world, and the residents are forced to live under the control of aliens. The City of Angels is now walled off and divided into Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and San Fernando Valley. No one knows if life survives beyond the wall.
The story follows a family that is fighting to survive while also fighting to stay together as they navigate this new world. Some of the biggest villains in Colony are not the extraterrestrials, but everyday citizens who’ve turned on each other. Secrets are revealed slowly and that glues us to our seats.
It is a story of humanity at its best and its worst and an attempt of maintaining normalcy under oppression. The colony is one of its kind series and worth a watch.
The Rain
The Rain is a post-apocalyptic web television series that is set in a world that is far from the one we know. A deadly virus that is carried by rainfall wipes out almost all humans in Scandinavia and all of a sudden the mundane teen struggles in the lives of Danish siblings Simone and Rasmus, fade away as they embark on a journey of survival.
The world as we know crumbles around in the first 15 minutes of the show and proceeds at a chaotic speed. But never once does the story make you feel that you have been left behind. Six years after the event, the siblings emerge from their bunker a join a group of other young survivors and together they march through despair and destruction
The Rain since the initial few minutes thrive son hope rather than nihilism. Not burdened by unnecessary drama, the plot helps the characters to grow and along with it our need to find answers and see the ultimate fate of these people.
The Society
As the high school students in the town of West Ham, Connecticut board the bus for a 10-day trip, a disturbing smell permeates the town but these young people can’t be bothered much. After all, what can ruin a much-awaited trip? However, their happiness is short-lived because they are sent back home that same night only to find that everyone is gone.
Left to fend for themselves, these privileged teens behave as any confused teen would do. They refuse to take the situation seriously and fight among themselves and only sober up when one of them dies.
Besides being saddled by the usual teenage angst, the group now has to find ways to survive. Twists and turns propel the story forward as the group tries its best to put pieces together and figure out what’s going on. Morality is questioned at every step and greed, fear, anger, pride, envy, vengeance makes them act out.
An isolated group of people creating a society is nothing new, but the way The Society does it makes it one of our favorites.
Lost in Space
Losing your way anywhere on Earth is one thing, but getting lost in space and getting stranded in an unknown planet with strange albeit habitable conditions takes matters to another level.
While a lot of shows using scientific plots to make them interesting, Lost in Space seamlessly blends in scientific knowledge as an important part of the ploy and time and again saves the lives of the characters. Despite all the scientific jargon, this series in its heart is a story of the Robinson family struggling with an absentee father, an overachieving mother and an insecure youngest child. And this is just the tip of the iceberg because now they must co-exist with everyone else stranded with them.
With a story that doesn’t lack anything, whether it is an adventure, the will to survive, drama, deception, secrets and yes a pace that slowly and steadily answers all questions, Lost in Space is as binge-worthy as it gets.
Black Mirror
While alien invasion has more to do with imagination and speculation of life apart from what we know, there is this one thing that has already infested and dominates our life. And what is it? The omnipresent technology that we all love so much.
Black Mirror is a British dystopian science fiction anthology that examines the dark side of life and technology through different stories. Each story explores a different aspect of the rapidly evolving tech world.
The future of warfare, the growing obsession with social media approval, or even who might be peering at us through our webcams are some of the many concepts that the show brings forth. Since the series doesn’t stick to one storyline, different episodes deal with different genres like comedy, thriller, romance, horror, and more often than not a combination of all.
The show is scarily close to real life. It examines our daily life critically and enlarges the consequences of our addiction to technology and forces you to get on board and watch some of your biggest fears unravel on screen.
The 100
The horrors of a nuclear apocalypse are unfathomable. Should such a thing happen, the widespread radiation will leave our planet inhabitable. The 100 combines our worst fears and the best of technology in this post-apocalyptic science fiction drama to create a series full of seat edging tension.
The show starts 97 years after a devastating nuclear apocalypse wiped out almost all living things. Those who survived now live in a space station orbiting the Earth which they call the Ark. But after three generations resources are drying up and any crime is punishable by death unless you are below 18. So the heads of the Ark send down 100 prisoners, under the age of 18, to find out if Earth is survivable and to make the lives of other people a bit easier.
The young people are in for multiple shocks and challenges and they will have to go to extreme lengths if they want to survive. At the same time, they have to figure out who they can trust and whom they can’t.
Containment
It is very little you can do when an epidemic breaks out with no cure at hand. Quarantining and securing the containment zone seems like a feasible solution. But it’s easier said than done.
Containment plays around a similar concept. It follows the events after an epidemic sweeps across the whole of Atlanta. An urban quarantine is put in place in the city, with several people trapped inside the containment zone. The virus is lurking at every nook and corner of the city and one wrong action can be the news bearer of several deaths. And the virus isn’t the only dangerous thing out there. With order crumbling to pieces and chaos overtaking the city, everyone puts their needs first and they can go to any extent if it guarantees safety.
It is a heart-touching story that has a diverse array of characters who are living an estranged life away from close ones and families, trying to rebuild their lives. Containment is a stroke of brilliance that portrays something extremely plausible and relatable beautifully.
There you go. A perfect guide to several series similar to Into the Dark. While you await the release of new seasons, you can binge on these dramas that not only entertain but also provide food for thought.