Another season of “Love, Death + Robots” has come and gone, and the hunt for more fun and interesting sci-fi stories begins again.
Both the fun and beauty of a series like “Love, Death + Robots” is that each season is so easily digestible, but that often means the show is over in a sitting or two. Luckily, there are plenty of other anthology series that have cropped up trying to emulate the Netflix original, or doing something similar in a live-action setting.
Here are seven shows to check out and binge once you finish the latest season of “Love, Death + Robots.”
Secret Level
Prime Video definitely looked at “Love, Death + Robots” and wanted their own version, but with a bit more corporate synergy. So, instead of wholly original stories, what they did with “Secret Level” was create animated anthology episodes set in the world of various video game properties. Your mileage may vary from episode to episode, but if you’re a fan of the game worlds the episodes are set in, there is plenty to enjoy.
Black Mirror
“Black Mirror” and “Love, Death + Robots” feel like siblings in a lot of ways. One offers a small bites of sci-fi in an animated package and the other gives their anthology episodes an hour or more to breathe in live action.
There’s a lot to love about “Black Mirror.” Want a two-part “Star Trek”-inspired story? Check. Horrors of the rise of AI giving you the chills? There’s a story for that. The ever-growing obsession with social media? Yep. “Black Mirror” can scratch a lot of itches and is well worth the time.
Pantheon
“Pantheon” went relatively unnoticed when it first premiered because it was relegated to the low-subscribed AMC+. But with the two-season run finally on Netflix, the series can hopefully find the larger audience it deserves. The animated series follows three unlikely protagonists who find themselves at the center of a global conspiracy as the world is on the brink of uploading human consciousness into machines.
If certain episodes of “Love, Death + Robots” tickled your particular fancy and you wished they were fleshed out beyond 10-15 minutes, then “Pantheon” is your next stop.
The Boys: Diabolical
“The Boys” franchise also tried their hand at the animated anthology series. “The Boys: Diabolical” is definitely more gruesome than “Love, Death + Robots” and one of the stories is even canon to the larger world but if you’re craving more horrific superheroics while waiting for “Gen V” Season 2 and the final season of the flagship series you could do worse than this single season show.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo del Toro is a master of horror filmmaking, and in 2022, Netflix dropped an anthology series helmed by him that featured a number of live-action horror stories. Think “Black Mirror” but with monsters instead of terrifying tech. The stories cover a wide range of twists on classic and gruesome horror tropes and it stands as a fun few hours to spend. Del Toro also opens every episode, giving a very fun Rod Sterling/”Twilight Zone” energy to the series.
Channel Zero
“Channel Zero” turned to the internet phenomenon known as creepypastas and went about adapting them over the course of a season. The “Candle Cove” story is one of the most famous creepypastas, and the show does a great job of realizing it on the small screen. If you want a stronger dose of horror with your anthology, and a story that gets an entire season vs a single episode means more time to marinate.
Electric Dreams
Prime Video has been hunting for its anthology hit for some time. One of it’s first attempts was “Electric Dreams” – based on the Philip K. Dick story. The stories lean a bit more into the hard sci-fi than stories featured in “Love, Death + Robots” or even “Black Mirror,” but for fans of the genre, this under-watched show is well worth the time.
