The following mentions suicide and child death.
Science fiction shows have gotten more and more upsetting in recent years. With technological advancements in AI raising concerns about its societal impact and moral issues, more television series are oriented around exploring the downsides of technology. In some cases, they show the deadliest inventions and virus outbreaks. Many recent sci-fi shows depict a post-apocalyptic world and promise death and violence.
Many shows are inspired by history and tap into the most hopeless scenarios that could occur should technology go wrong. Horror becomes an oppressive reality in many, with the science fiction genre often focusing on realizing fear. When talking about the future and the unknown, the genre is perfect for delivering warnings.
10 The Last of Us Is Grim
Set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, The Last of Us is simply sad. It begins with a man witnessing his daughter's death and then follows the journey of him protecting another child so that she won't meet the same fate. There are very few moments of joy. Everyone either dies, ends up being killed or eaten (or eats others). The show is certainly not short on tragedy. It makes people question what is truly more horrifying — the zombie fungus or people who will do anything to stay alive. There's only so much the virus can do to humans, but what humans can do to each other is endless.
On the other hand, the show is also about strength and survival. It's about fighting against all the terrifying things that attempt to drag the main characters down in order to stay alive and human. The show gives viewers something worse than their current reality to focus on, which itself is a form of escapism.
9 Andor Is the Darkest Star Wars Show
Andor is known for its bleak and bold tone that separates itself from the rest of the titles in the Star Wars universe. The show paints oppression in a realistic way, as the characters live under the weight of the Empire. While there's barely any action throughout the show, certain details and developments can get under viewers' skin. Many have expressed feeling morose after watching certain episodes, with Episode 7 and 8 being mentioned the most.
"There’s this very oppressive atmosphere that permeates nearly every interaction on this show," wrote one Redditer, who also mentioned that Episode 7 left them in "depression for a solid 20 mins afterward." Some even argued that Episode 8 should have a trigger warning for self-harm in the beginning, so that viewers wouldn't get accidentally triggered. By any means, Andor isn't a lighthearted watch.
8 The Boys Faced Controversy
From the world of superheroes, The Boys shows viewers that heroes can just be villains dressed up in nice suits. DC certainly taps into the gritty and upsetting in The Boys. Despite its fame and massive fan base, the show has caused some people to doubt the meaning of its very existence. Wired said:
" The Boys is a pointless, depressing reinforcing expression of our feelings about our current society. It's unhealthy in every way."
Some viewers have also found certain jokes in the series poorly executed rather than funny. The show is not short on violence, nudity or explicit scenes, and the way these are used for shock value makes the show too bleak for those who might want something more happy-go-lucky.
7 Westworld Gets Darker With Each Season
If murdering a child in front of their parents isn't dark enough, humans' spiral into extinction makes Westworld one of the most upsetting sci-fi shows of the last decade. Set in a simulated Western world, Westworld is essentially a game where people can freely be themselves without any consequences. All the other "people" in the simulation are robots and therefore can be treated in any way the guests desire.
The first half of the show reveals the lows of humanity: violence, greed, and deception. As the robots slowly gain consciousness, they begin to remember the horrifying things the guests have done to them, which eventually leads to the robots breaking out of Westworld to take over the outside world. The show keeps getting darker throughout the four seasons, and it seems like a never-ending nightmare with no hope.
6 Silo Is Visually Bleak
Silo is set in a future world where the earth becomes a poisonous wasteland uninhabitable for humans; the premise itself sets a bleak tone. The last surviving humans are forced to live in an underground building called a silo. Relics and talk of the old world are forbidden, and the population is highly monitored. People who break the rules are sent outside, apparently to their deaths.
The main colors of the show consist of a rusty orange and blue color scheme. It's hard not to be affected by the isolating and suffocating setting and the idea of a toxic world.
5 Black Mirror Mirrors Reality With Horror
Black Mirror got its name from the black screens of digital devices. It reminds viewers that what they see on their phones are twisted reflections, instead of reality. The show really dives into the potential horrors of technology if things go wrong. From a paranoid creator who spends most of the time thinking about how things can go wrong, Black Mirror gets under viewers' skin within a minute, with the first episode rated as one of the most disturbing episodes in the entire show.
The most upsetting aspect of Black Mirror again comes from the fact that it eerily reflects what's going on in real life. A grim television series that creeps viewers out, the show mimics and amplifies the dark aspects of humanity, technology, and society. Many viewers feel like the show itself is a warning of what may happen in the near future.
4 Oats Studios Is Cruel and Uncaring
The Netflix series Oats Studios is a compilation of experimental short films that are designed to maximize viewers' pain. Oats Studios envisions nightmares and a post-apocalyptic world in a vivid and unapologetic way. It is meant to be disturbing, and many viewers have reported feeling uneasy after watching it. From the longest short film (which lasts 26 minutes) to the shortest (which runs barely 4 minutes and a half) Oats Studios is gory, grim and hopeless.
Of course, each short cannot tell a full story, but this only makes them creepier. It won't satisfy its viewers with how the story will end. Instead, the short films act as separate nightmarish scenarios. The endings are left open, unresolved and unfinished. The show also shows body mutilation and explicit violence in a bloodily brutal manner.
3 3 Body Problem Falls Into Nihilism
The show 3 Body Problem begins with a series of disturbing scientist deaths. Then the entire plot revolves around the main characters attempting to solve the 3 body problem, only to reveal that it's unsolvable.
The disturbing deaths of top scientists are only the beginning. The plot twist is what makes the show truly dark. The core beliefs in Liu Cixin's science fiction novel, The Three Body Problem, are rooted in nihilism and humanity's triviality compared to the entire universe.
2 Mr. Robot Issues a Suicide Hotline Warning
Mr. Robot is known for being bleak, mainly due to its realistic portrayal of a dystopian society that runs too many parallels with the one viewers are familiar with. The main character is an unreliable narrator with a god complex and mental illness. The show is a particularly tough one to watch because it doesn't view society's future optimistically. Many viewers have been affected by the show's depiction of a future filled with depression, loneliness, rage and violence.
The show is brutal in portraying tragedy in a way that's completely plausible and random. Viewers have commented that the female characters are murdered senselessly. Due to its upsetting nature, Mr. Robot has never aired before 10 pm. One episode in particular even has the Suicide Hotline info at the end in case it causes too much distress among its viewers.
1 Dark Makes Viewers Question the Meaning of Life
Dark is about time travel, and it follows six characters as they each jump between different spots in time. Some are in the future and some are in the past. Cause and effect cut both ways in a time jump, and the more one changes the timeline, the more questions it raises.
Many viewers have reported feeling upset after viewing the show. While Dark is darkly beautiful in the way it crafts its story, the show seems to have left viewers in a worse place than before they watched it. The plot twists, revelations, and relationships can be deeply sad and disturbing at times, making viewers doubt if Dark is truly about time travel or simply about pain.
