The golden-flecked credits of Altered Carbon are rolling across your laptop screen, a familiar sight after each episode, but now that you’ve reached the end, there’s no prompt from Netflix to immediately begin the next episode in the following five seconds. After the heavy-handed ending, you might be relieved to get off the emotional rollercoaster, and you might still have some unanswered questions if you were too busy going through tissues and clinging to the edge of your seat. So what now? Nothing could be quite as submerging as the futuristic worlds of Altered Carbon, let alone give you the high that comes with watching Alien at three in the morning or pack the emotionally-toiling punch that comes with an episode of This Is Us. Where could you even begin to find a new favorite that has the slightest chance of competing with the AI, the myth, the legend named Poe?
1. Rewatch the show.
This may not sound like the greatest option because hey, you just saw all of this, right? But with binging comes forgetting, and on top of that, there will be so many details that you never caught on to before, the experience will almost be brand new. Besides, why not allow yourself a little self-love and give in again?
2. Read the books.
If you aren’t a big reader, this might not be the greatest option for you. You might not see much of a point in reading something you just watched, but the books aren’t entirely the same. Major differences include Reileen not being Kovacs’s sister. Game changer, am I right? Another major difference is that season one is more of a merge between the first and third books, whereas the second book includes war and Martian starships. We didn’t get to see much of the final frontier in season one, aside from the flashbacks to Kovacs’s home world, so book two is an entirely different trip. Who doesn’t want to explore space in the universe of Altered Carbon? Try picking up the first book and you’ll find even more differences than mentioned above, but you can decide the ultimate question: is the book better than the show?
3. Watch The Cloverfield Paradox.
Netflix likely suggested this for you when the end credits started rolling. Depending on your preferences in genres, you might not be familiar with the franchise, but The Cloverfield Paradox has two movies released before it, although this Netflix movie can be treated as the prequel to them both, or a sequel depending on how the details add up for you. The first movie was heavily horror, and while the other two, including The Cloverfield Paradox, feature thriller, the science fiction aspect is played more heavily. The Cloverfield Paradox explores the genre most, taking place on a space station where just about everything goes wrong. If that doesn’t draw you in, perhaps a familiar face from Black Mirror might.
Drawn in yet? Fortunately for this third movie, watching the first two films isn’t required, but the confusing details in all of them might just line up. Might.
4. Wait out for Mute (February 23rd).
Another addition to Netflix’s science fiction library, Mute takes place in a futuristic Berlin, following a mute bartender into a criminal underworld that might just remind you of Altered Carbon. If that doesn’t intrigue you enough, then perhaps a cast featuring stars like Alexander Skarsgård and Justin Theroux will draw you in. Did I mention Paul Rudd plays a villain?
5. Check out older shows like The Expanse.
This show is another book-turned-television-show and one of Syfy channel’s gems. Taking place in the future, The Expanse features Earth colonies on Mars, the asteroid belt, and further into the stars. Following an ice-freighter team, the show also takes on themes of criminal undergrounds, along with rebellions, political corruption, and conspiracies that could change the future of Earth, Mars, and every other human-run colony. So far The Expanse has aired two seasons, and a third is coming soon, but there is plenty of time to hop the asteroid belt and catch up. If that isn’t enough, then try giving the cast list a check and you’ll find the same sort of diversity and strong female characters that you came to love in Altered Carbon. While not as gritty as the beloved Netflix show, there is enough intensity and hook to keep you going, and the lack of death-every-episode that Altered Carbon had might just be the break you needed.
Don’t let your woes be woes, explore more space in the territories of the familiar and the beyond.
Cover Photo by Charles Deluvio ?? on Unsplash