Severance Meets Blade Runner In Netflix's Smartest Sci-Fi Series Since Black Mirror

3 hours ago 16

Published Jun 29, 2026, 8:01 PM EDT

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When Severance first arrived on Apple TV+, its unique vision of corporate dystopia became an instant cultural talking point. The 2022 series transformed fluorescent office corridors and mundane workplace rituals into something terrifying, presenting a world where technology literally split people's identities in two. In many ways, it captured the same fascination that made Blade Runner such a landmark when it premiered in 1982.

While very different, both Severance and Blade Runner depict just how dangerous a combination of unchecked corporate ambition and mind-bending technology can become. It's the same harrowing picture that’s made Netflix's Black Mirror one of the defining sci-fi’s of the streaming era. However, another brilliant Netflix show explores many of those same themes through a far stranger and more emotionally intimate lens. That overlooked gem is Maniac, the 2018 miniseries that warrants immediate inspection by Severance and Blade Runner fans.

Starring Hollywood A-listers Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, Maniac is the tale of two troubled strangers who volunteer for an experimental pharmaceutical trial that promises to eliminate emotional suffering. Although its story differs dramatically from Blade Runner and Severance, its presentation and themes frequently overlap with both. The Netflix miniseries creates an unsettling corporate future filled with retrofuturistic technology that redefines what it means to be human. Equal parts psychological dark dramatic comedy and cerebral science fiction, Mniac remains one of Netflix's smartest original series.

Maniac Brings The Weirdness Of Severance To Blade Runner's Dystopian Future

Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in an elevator in Maniac

There are plenty of reasons why Maniac stands out among Netflix's original sci-fi shows. However, one of its more ingenious elements is how it effortlessly blends the liminal, dreamlike atmosphere that makes Severance so mesmerizing with the retrofuturistic cassettepunk technology and decaying urban landscapes that instantly recall Blade Runner.

The near-future New York of Maniac is filled with bulky computers, outdated monitors, analog interfaces, and clunky robotics. It’s a visual identity that echoes the retrofuturism of Blade Runner. Also like Blade Runner, the setting of Maniac feels overcrowded yet lonely. It’s a world shaped by corporations whose influence reaches every corner of society. Technology has advanced dramatically, yet humanity seems emotionally stagnant.

At the center of the story in this dystopian world are Owen (Jonah Hill) and Annie (Emma Stone), who enroll in a mysterious drug trial that promises to permanently heal trauma. The experiment quickly spirals into surreal shared dream worlds that blur memory, fantasy, and reality in increasingly unpredictable ways. Those fractured realities naturally invite comparisons with Severance. Both Severance and Maniac explore identities divided by experimental technology, questioning whether emotional pain can simply be compartmentalized or erased.

At the same time, thematic echoes of Blade Runner emerge through Maniac’s AI storyline. The emotionally evolving computer GRTA (voiced by Sally Field) raises familiar questions about sentient machines and personhood Blade Runner fans will be all too familiar with. Combined with its exploration of corporate experimentation and emotional isolation, Maniac creates a haunting vision of a future where technological progress continually threatens to outpace morality.

Maniac Also Feels Like A Long Black Mirror Episode

Dr. Azumi Fuita (Sonoya Mizuno) in a labcoat looking anxious in Maniac

Although Maniac shares obvious thematic similarities with both Blade Runner and Severance, it is hardly the only Netflix series to explore these ideas. The platform's defining sci-fi success with similar concepts remains Black Mirror. A cultural phenomenon, its audience among Netflix subscribers almost certainly exceeds Severance's current viewership and may even surpass the number of active Blade Runner devotees during the 2020s. For these longtime Black Mirror fans, Maniac should immediately jump onto the watchlist, because it feels like an extended episode.

The difference between Black Mirror and Maniac is their format, not their ideas. Black Mirror condenses its technoparanoia into standalone episodes, whereas Maniac stretches it across ten. It explores the consequences of a technological premise that feels ripped right out of a Black Mirror episode but in greater depth. Neither show offers simple answers, preferring to challenge audiences long after the credits finish rolling.

For Netflix subscribers who have watched every season of Black Mirror multiple times and are searching for another cerebral sci-fi series that scratches the same itch, Maniac is an easy recommendation. It delivers the same kind of philosophical questions about unsettling technology, while also carving out a distinctive identity that feels unlike anything else in Netflix's library.