Netflix's 6-Part 'The Last Of Us Meets War Of The Worlds' Series Is One Of Its Best Sci-Fi Shows

HBO's The Last of Us has been praised for far more than simply being a good video game adaptation. TLOU stands out because it treats its infected apocalypse as a deeply human tragedy first and a zombie TV show second, with the psychological damage survival inflicts being the core theme of every episode. This focused tone pushed zombie media into new, gritty territory with more emotional depth than it had previously seen.

It’s an approach other corners of sci-fi and horror could benefit from, especially alien invasion stories. While several alien invasion TV shows and movies explore the mental toll of the catastrophe, only Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds arguably captures the same tension. The movie’s focus on the emotional journey of an average man barely holding his family together while civilization collapses around him was fascinating, but over too quickly. Many fans have sought out a TV show that hits the same notes for a deeper, more prolonged viewing experience.

That is precisely why Netflix’s The Eternaut feels so refreshing. Based on the legendary Argentine comic by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, the six-part sci-fi drama released in 2025 explores the aftermath of a mysterious snowfall that wipes out much of Buenos Aires before an alien invasion emerges from the chaos. The result is a gripping survival story that combines the grounded emotional intensity of War of the Worlds with the bleak, character-focused apocalypse drama that made The Last of Us such a phenomenon.

The Eternaut Brings The Survivalism Of The Last Of Us To An Alien Invasion

One of the reasons The Last of Us resonated so strongly was because the infected were rarely the true source of horror. Instead, the series focused on what prolonged catastrophe does to people over time. Characters become hardened, paranoid, and emotionally numb after years of surviving in a world where safety no longer exists.

Most alien invasion stories rarely explore that same long-term psychological collapse. Even Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, as effective as it is, largely unfolds as a desperate sprint from one disaster to another. Tom Cruise’s Ray Ferrier spends the feature-length runtime reacting to immediate danger. While the tension this generates is extraordinary, the invasion itself resolves before humanity fully adapts to living under extraterrestrial occupation.

The Eternaut bridges that gap perfectly. Like War of the Worlds, the series throws ordinary civilians into an overwhelming alien invasion they barely understand. They are terrified people improvising solutions while society crumbles. The show uses a storytelling lens like The Last of Us to explore its characters and their emotional deterioration when faced with prolonged survival. Like Joel and Ellie, everyone in The Eternaut gets forced into increasingly grim situations where trust becomes fragile and moral compromise unavoidable.

From the outset, the mysterious toxic snowfall that kills anyone exposed to it immediately creates the suffocating atmosphere of paranoia and isolation present in the tensest scenes in The War of the Worlds. Survivors cannot simply run outside to escape danger, which makes the world feel claustrophobic despite the story’s large scale. That constant pressure gives The Eternaut the same oppressive emotional intensity that elevated The Last of Us above standard post-apocalyptic television.

An Alien Apocalypse Isn’t The Eternaut’s Only Sci-Fi Trick

Being a grounded alien invasion drama would already make The Eternaut stand out, but the Netflix show has more sci-fi concepts up its sleeve than extraterrestrials. While the story initially presents itself as a tense survival thriller, it gradually reveals deeper mysteries involving time distortions, fractured realities, and looping events.

The Eternaut’s narrative features a lot of time manipulation, but weaves it into the story carefully so it doesn’t overshadow the show’s emotional core. Rather than existing purely for spectacle, the temporal distortions reinforce the helplessness consuming the survivors. Reality itself becomes unstable, making the characters feel even more disconnected from any sense of control.

If anything, the time-loop elements strengthen the show’s emotional themes. Much like The Last of Us, The Eternaut is predominantly an exploration of how people psychologically process endless trauma. The possibility that events may repeat or reality may fracture entirely adds another layer of dread to an already bleak TV apocalypse. This unique aspect helps cement The Eternaut as one of Netflix’s strongest sci-fi series in years and a reminder that alien invasion stories can still feel fresh when they prioritize humanity as much as spectacle.