In this piece · 7 sections+
If you're here looking for the single show closest to The Walking Dead: Dead City, it's The Leftovers. Not for the zombies — there are no zombies. For the specific thing Dead City does well: throwing damaged people into a hollowed-out, claustrophobic version of a place that used to be normal, then watching them try to function while grief and guilt eat them alive. Dead City is at its best when it's just two people who hate each other walking through a ruined Manhattan and not talking about the things that broke them. The Leftovers is that feeling, stretched to three seasons, with Justin Theroux instead of Maggie and Negan. Start there. The rest of this list is ranked by how close each show actually gets to that vibe — not what some recommendation engine spat out.
A quick warning before we go further. The candidate pool TMDb hands out for Dead City is, charitably, deranged. It thinks you also want a British alien-baby show and a Brighton detective procedural. I've sorted through it so you don't have to. Some of these belong on this list. Some are here so I can tell you why they don't.
The Tier System
Closest match: if you liked Dead City, watch these first. Strong match: different genre, same bones. Worth your time. Tangential: there's something here, but adjust expectations. Skip unless desperate: I'm including these because TMDb suggested them and I owe you the truth.
Closest Match
The Leftovers (2014, 3 seasons, HBO Max)
Damon Lindelof's post-rapture grief show is the closest thing on this list to what Dead City is really about underneath the walkers. Two percent of the world vanishes. Nobody knows why. Everyone left behind is broken in a slightly different way, and the show just sits in that for three seasons without ever giving you the answer your brain keeps asking for. The shared DNA with Dead City is the apocalyptic grief — the empty streets, the people who can't say what they actually mean, the specific Justin Theroux / Jeffrey Dean Morgan vibe of a man who can't decide whether he wants to live. Start with season 1, episode 1 to see if the tone clicks, but the show doesn't go fully great until season 2, so commit to at least four episodes before bailing. Different from Dead City: no monsters, the threat is internal. Time commitment: 28 episodes, ~55 min. Ended. Three seasons, complete arc, sticks the landing — a rare thing.
Under the Dome (2013, 3 seasons, Prime Video / Paramount+)
Stephen King premise: a town gets sealed off from the world by a transparent dome and the people inside immediately start eating each other (metaphorically — mostly). The thing it shares with Dead City is the claustrophobia. A confined space where the rules of society collapse and the worst person in town suddenly has the most power. Season 1 is great pulp. Seasons 2 and 3 are where the CBS network executives clearly walked into the writers' room and asked if they could add a magical egg. Start with Under the Dome season 1, episode 1 — that pilot is one of the best network TV hours of the 2010s. Different from Dead City: broadcast pacing, a much larger cast, sillier as it goes. Time commitment: 39 episodes. Ended (the show outran its welcome and CBS pulled the plug). Watch season 1 and quit. Trust me. (the Stephen King novel on Amazon)
Strong Match
Eric (2024, 1 season, Netflix)
Benedict Cumberbatch as a deteriorating father searching for his missing son in a 1980s New York that is itself rotting in real time. The connection to Dead City is the New York-as-character thing — a version of Manhattan that looks like a corpse, where every shadow holds something worse than the last one. Cumberbatch is doing the same kind of work Jeffrey Dean Morgan does on Dead City: a man who has done terrible things, is doing more terrible things, and would like you to feel sorry for him about it. Start with episode 1 — it's a six-episode limited series so you can't really start anywhere else. Different from Dead City: no apocalypse, just the regular kind of urban decay, plus a giant puppet (you'll see). Time commitment: 6 episodes, ~55 min. Limited series, complete.
Departure (2019, 4 seasons, Peacock / various)
A plane vanishes over the Atlantic and a recently widowed aviation investigator has to figure out what happened. This is on the list because of the grief-as-engine thing — same as Maggie searching for her son in Dead City, our lead is propelled forward by the fact that standing still is unbearable. It's a procedural, which Dead City isn't, but the lead's emotional posture is the same. Start with season 1, episode 1. Bail after three if it's too network-y for you. Different from Dead City: no horror element, no walkers, much more about evidence boards. Time commitment: 24 episodes across 4 short seasons. Ongoing/wrapped depending on which Canadian co-production funding line you ask about, but seasons 1–4 are complete stories.
Ballard (2025, 1 season, Prime Video)
Michael Connelly spinoff from the Bosch universe. Detective Renée Ballard works the cold-case unit at LAPD and runs into a serial killer plus a department conspiracy. Why it's here: the lone professional grinding through a corrupt system while being haunted by personal damage is exactly the Maggie energy. Maggie versus the Croat in a wrecked Manhattan; Ballard versus a serial killer in a wrecked institution. Pick your apocalypse. Start with Ballard season 1, episode 1 — it's a one-season show so far and it moves. Different from Dead City: procedural framework, sun-soaked LA instead of dead Manhattan, no genre elements. Time commitment: 10 episodes, ~50 min. Ongoing — renewed for more.
Start a Prime Video free trial if you want to knock out Ballard and Under the Dome in the same weekend, which is a real option.
Taken (2002, 1 miniseries, Prime Video)
The Spielberg-produced alien abduction miniseries — three families across sixty years, government coverups, Dakota Fanning before she was Dakota Fanning. What it shares with Dead City is harder to pin down but real: an inherited apocalypse. The horror happened before our characters got here, and they're trying to live inside its consequences. That's Dead City. That's also Taken. Start at episode 1 — it's a 10-part miniseries designed to be watched in order. Different from Dead City: no zombies, slower, decades-spanning. Also, this came out in 2002, so the pacing is from a calmer time in TV. Time commitment: 10 episodes, ~85 min each. That's 14 hours. It's a commitment. Ended/complete miniseries. (Taken on Amazon)
Tangential
The Midwich Cuckoos (2022, 1 season, Sky / various)
Small town gets knocked out for a day by an alien presence, wakes up to find every woman of childbearing age pregnant. The reason it's on the list at all is the community-under-supernatural-siege premise, which is the wider Walking Dead universe in one sentence. It's much quieter than Dead City, much more British, much less interested in violence. Start with season 1, episode 1. Different from Dead City: different show in almost every other way. Slow, dialogue-heavy, deeply suburban. Time commitment: 7 episodes, ~45 min. Ended after one season — the renewal didn't happen.
The Girl Before (2021, 1 season, HBO Max / BBC)
A traumatized woman moves into a strange minimalist house designed by a controlling architect. The connection is thin: psychological siege inside a confined, controlled space. It's Dead City's claustrophobia without the apocalypse — a single building instead of a single island. Smartly made, but if you came to this list looking for the next Walking Dead installment, this is a hard pivot. Start with episode 1. Different from Dead City: no genre, no action, just dread and architecture. Time commitment: 4 episodes, ~55 min. A weeknight. Limited series, complete.
Skip Unless Desperate
Grace (2021, 5 seasons, BritBox / various)
Brighton detective procedural. The lead has a missing wife who he's been searching for, which I guess is the TMDb algorithm's idea of a Dead City connection (Maggie searching for her son? Negan haunted by his past?). It's a perfectly fine British cop show, but recommending it to a Dead City fan is like recommending tea to someone who asked for a beer. Skip unless you also happen to like ITV procedurals, in which case start with season 1, episode 1. Time commitment: 15+ episodes across 5 seasons, ~90 min each. Ongoing.
Tell Me Lies (2022, 2 seasons, Hulu)
College romance about a toxic relationship that destroys everyone around it. Why TMDb thinks this is a Dead City match is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the modern internet. The only connection I can construct is that both shows feature people making catastrophic choices. That's also true of every show ever made. Skip. If you do want to watch it, start with season 1, episode 1 — it's actually good at what it's doing, that thing just isn't Dead City. Time commitment: 18 episodes. Ongoing.
FAQ
What's the single show most like The Walking Dead: Dead City?
The Leftovers. Same grief, same broken people stumbling through a ruined version of normal life, same refusal to comfort you with answers. If you stripped the walkers out of Dead City and replaced them with an unsolved mass disappearance, you'd basically have The Leftovers. Three seasons, complete, on HBO Max.
Is there anything as good as The Walking Dead: Dead City?
The Leftovers is better. Eric is in the same weight class. Under the Dome season 1 is the closest pulpy match, but the show falls apart after that. If you're asking whether anything else in the Walking Dead universe scratches the same itch, Daryl Dixon is the closest sibling — but you didn't ask, so I'll stop.
Did the Dead City creators make anything else?
Dead City was created by Eli Jorné, who came up through The Walking Dead writers' room. He hasn't yet shipped another solo creator credit, so there's no obvious next show to chase down. If you want more of that specific universe sensibility, follow Scott M. Gimple's name — he's the Walking Dead universe chief content officer and his fingerprints are on Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live.
Is The Walking Dead: Dead City still going?
Yes. AMC renewed it. Season 2 is on the way. So if you blow through this list and want more of the actual show, you don't have to wait long — which is more than you can say for most prestige TV in 2026, where shows get cancelled after one season because a streaming exec didn't like the engagement metric for week three.
Start with The Leftovers season 1, episode 1 this weekend. It's the closest match on the list and it's on HBO Max right now. If that doesn't grab you by episode 4, jump to Under the Dome season 1 for the pulpier version. Either way, you've got a weekend handled — which, given the current state of new TV, is doing better than most.