Shows Like The 100 That Are Worth Your Time

Although it treads well-worn territory, "The 100" is a unique show. The series aired on The CW from 2014 to 2020, receiving critical acclaim — especially in its early seasons. While it ran on a network known for airing soapy teen dramas, "The 100" is tonally and thematically distinct from its contemporaries. There isn't much typical high school drama, and when there are teenage relationship troubles, it's more "my new love interest is forcing me to execute my ex" than "the popular girl stole my boyfriend."

"The 100" isn't afraid to go there, and go there it does throughout seven seasons. While Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) starts the series as a rebellious teenager, she becomes the de-facto leader of her people. Before leaving her teenhood, she made harrowing decisions. During its first few seasons, "The 100" was extremely popular with the lesbian and queer community, who obsessed over the relationship between Clarke and fierce warrior Lexa (Alycia Debman-Carey) until, well, you know what happened.

Of course, The CW show isn't the first series set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, depicting teenagers in a do-or-die situation. While it was a standout show at the time, plenty of other shows will scratch that particular itch for you. Here's our list of all the shows you should watch if "The 100" is your jam.

The CW's "The 100" asks us to consider what would happen if a group of teenage delinquents arrived on earth to repopulate humanity following a nuclear disaster. The Showtime series "Yellowjackets" poses a similarly vexing question, asking us to imagine what would happen if a group of high school soccer players became stranded in the woods following a plane crash. Though the plane crash storyline isn't new (see: "Lost"), "Yellowjackets" is singularity brilliant. One of the first things we learn about the characters is that some survived the experience by engaging in cannibalism. Also, we discover that — at least — four of the girls survived, but we're unsure of everyone else's fate.

The series covers three timelines. There is the pre-crash timeline, which follows the girls going about their typical teen lives in 1996. Then there is the timeline directly following the crash, which depicts how they did (and didn't) survive. Finally, there's the present-day timeline, which tracks four survivors — Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis) — as they try (without much success) to forget about their time in the woods.

The performances in "Yellowjackets" are outstanding, as is the genius casting of the younger and older counterparts. "Yellowjackets" is a show about survival, and the cost of survival for these young women is high, indeed. Grab a taste, won't you?

"Station Eleven" is one of the best – if not the best – post-apocalyptic series to have ever graced our screens. Based on the novel by Emily St. John Mandel, the series tracks the consequences of a catastrophic flu outbreak that kills most of the world's population. The central characters are Kirsten (Matilda Lawler), a child actor who is eight years old when the pandemic hits, and Jeevan (Himesh Patel), a young man who becomes her unwitting caretaker. The series follows several timelines – pre-pandemic, the days and months immediately following the pandemic, and 20 years after the pandemic.

In the latter timeline, we meet an older Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis), who lives and works with a traveling Shakespeare company. Though a devastating pandemic is the backdrop of the series, what it focuses on is the power that art has to give life meaning. Arguably, the most important character in the series is Miranda (Danielle Deadwyler), a traumatized woman who finishes a profound graphic novel just before the apocalypse hits. Her novel is one of the things that has kept Kirsten alive, and Kirsten isn't the only one who has been affected by it.

While you might be hesitant to watch a show about a pandemic when we are living through one, it's not as depressing as you'd imagine. Despite the dire circumstances of the setting, "Station Eleven" is one of the most hopeful shows in recent memory: It's proof that life – and love, and art – can continue, despite all odds.

"The Walking Dead" may be the first of AMC's uber-popular zombie series, but "Fear The Walking Dead" comes first in its timeline. The spinoff series is a prequel to "The Walking Dead," focusing on a blended family unit of survivors. There's the former guidance counselor Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), her daughter, Alicia (Alycia Debman-Carey), her son, Nick (Frank Dillane), her fiance, Travis (Cliff Curtis), Travis' son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie), and Chris' mother, Liza (Elizabeth Rodriguez).

Fans of "The 100" might be interested in this show because it stars Debnam-Carey, and her casting in the series is why she left "The 100." (However, Lexa fans might find the series a little too triggering.) By replacing the inadvertent family structure of the original series with a blended family, "Fear The Walking Dead" transplants apocalyptic drama to a setting most will recognize.

The immensely talented Debnam-Carey is a standout performer, as is Kim Dickens as her tough-as-nails mother. The blood and guts aren't as immediate as in the original series. Gone are the horrific silences of a barren wasteland. Instead, the urgent peril of inevitable destruction follows the dysfunctional family on their journey.

While "The 100" examines what might happen if humans were able to return to earth following a nuclear meltdown, "Raised by Wolves" proposes an even more novel premise. The HBO Max series is one of the strangest shows of the last decade, which alone might be enough of a reason to watch it. The series begins in the 22nd century, following the destruction of the earth. A war between atheists and a group of devout believers called the Mithraic devoured the planet.

The story begins on the planet Kepler-22b, where two androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), have been tasked with populating their version of Eden. Campion (Winter McGrath) is the only child to survive their child-rearing, which leads Mother to steal another group of children from a Mithraic. Mother takes the adopted child of Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and Sue (Niamh Algar), two atheists who took over the lives of the Mithraic to survive the war.

If that all sounds pretty convoluted, well, it is. But even if the plot can be hard to follow, it's easy to appreciate its ambitious swings. Rather than trying to understand every little detail, it's best to let the eccentricities wash over you. If you can handle feeling a little discombobulated for several episodes, it's worth taking the leap.

The premise of "The Expanse" isn't quite a dystopia, but it certainly isn't a utopia. Set in a future where human beings have colonized the solar system, "The Expanse" lives up to its classification as a space opera. The series imagines a world wherein humanity has conquered space, but all of our social and political problems – racism, classism, etc. – have remained in place. Earthlings colonized the Moon and Mars, and Mars has emerged as a military state intent on breaking free from Earth. Meanwhile, the working class is known as "Belters," who spend their lives mining the asteroid belt far away from the habitable planets.

We learn about this brave new world through the lens of three main characters, though the cast expands as the series evolves. There's United Nations Security Council member Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), who fights hidden political battles, Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane), a hard-boiled Belter detective, and ship's officer James Holden (Steven Strait), who is on the run after an ice hauling trip gone wrong.

Each character finds themselves embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy connected to warring factions and the pressures of new alien technology. It's one of the very best sci-fi shows of the last decade. In a just world, it would have reached the level of popularity that "Game of Thrones" found. You might want to do your part and get on board with this one!