Television Shows About the Metaverse
Learn about some of the shows on Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime and others to explore the future utopias and dystopias of the metaverse.
Metaverse Pop Culture Part 2
Previously, I wrote about some of the books that have explored or inspired the metaverse (and you can also find my metaverse movie guide).
This time, I’d like to cover the TV series that touch on similar themes of cybersecurity, AI, virtual beings, simulation, consciousness, AR/VR and other technologies and megatrends shaping the metaverse.
Isn’t it quaint that most people still call these shows TV? Almost all of these come from the post-television era of streaming video on demand (SVOD). Which means you can watch them in the metaverse.
Black Mirror
Few shows other than Black Mirror (BBC; in the US, watch on Netflix) have explored the potential opportunities — and especially the dystopian nightmares — that could result from the technologies of the metaverse.
Providing a new twist on the infamous Twilight Zone, each episode of Black Mirror dives into a section of metaverse technology and are all worth watching.
Every episode touches upon some aspect of the metaverse, be it AI or VR or human behavior on the internet. But I highlighted three in particular to give you a sense of what the series has to offer:
The Entire History of You
In this episode, people are able to record and re-watch every one of their memories through their own eyes. One of the most notable scenes in this episode is when Liam and Ffion are being ‘intimate’. As the scene begins its leads the audience to believe that they are both engaging in a sort of make-up, passionate intercourse when in reality they both are tuned into the ‘grain’ watching this memory through their own eyes.
Nosedive
In this episode of Black Mirror we meet a character named Lacie. As she navigates the world each person is rated on every interaction they have. Lacie, rated a 4.2 at the beginning of the show, is ashamed of her low rated brother and her current social status. As she is asked by her friend, ranked a 4.8, to speak at her wedding Lacie finds herself in the a downward spiral made worse by the same feedback loops inherent in the rating system.
Playtest
In this episode of Black Mirror a young thrill seeking Cooper ventures to test a new videogame experience. They use a ‘new technology’ to fully submerge Cooper into a horror experience.
Westworld
Westworld is an HBO original series that covers a massive amount of technological and social territory. It starts as essentially a form of augmented reality — in which artificially-intelligent robots are the augments to the roleplaying experience of the players. But it covers so much more: questions of consciousness and self-determination; free will; ethics; notions of good and evil; and the impact of predictive AI.
Upload
Upload is an Amazon Original series, a dark comedy set in a future in which human consciousness may be uploaded to a metaverse-afterlife. Various commercial service providers compete for your business. Whereas episodes of Black Mirror (e.g., San Junipero) dealt with similar stories within a more serious tone — this series delves into what happens in a dystopia with free-to-play game mechanics and other facets of the current online world. It’s simultaneously hilarious and uncomfortable in its satire.
The Feed
Set in the not-so-distant future, The Feed portrays a society where tiny chips in their brains allow them to access and share their experiences on a world feed.
Altered Carbon
Based on the 2002 novel by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is set in a society where consciousness can be transferred into different bodies. The first season of the series is set in the year 2384. Altered Carbon explores the distinction between memories and the physical, rebranding human skin as ‘sleeves’ and hosting memories on a hard drive implanted in the back of our neck. (See also: mydiscussion of the books the series is based on in Books About the Metaverse).
Mr. Robot
Mr. Robot follows the loyalty of a cyber security programmer named Elliot, who’s a hacker by night. When he is asked to take down the firm he works at by the leader of the underground hacker group, Elliot’s loyalty becomes questioned. This series delves into issues of cyber security, secret organizations, subjective experience, and the very nature of money and the potential fragility of our capitalist society.
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex complex is an anime series that follows Section 9’s investigation into the kidnapping, and release, of a Japanese CEO by a hacker set within a world in which companies vie within a “sustainable war.” The series deals with augmented and virtual reality, group intelligence, AI, uploaded consciousness, and the military-industrial complex.
Sword Art Online
Set in 2022, a virtual reality massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (VRMMORG) named Sword Art Online immerses the player completely into the online realm. Utilizing a NerveGear helmet, players are able to experience all five senses in the virtual reality, controlling their in-game characters with their minds.
Love Death + Robots
Love Death + Robots explores the past lives of robots in alternate histories through a sequence of short stories. Spanning over multiple genres Love, Death + Robots provides a variety of unique perspective (sometimes funny, often terrifying) into the world of AI.
Star Trek
Many people working on VR today would tell you that they aspire to create something as immersive as the Holodeck, originally featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And the series certainly covered plenty of other topics including artificial intelligence, the status of cybernetic and virtual beings, and even games.
One of my favorite episodes was another form of virtual reality that happened via an alien technology, rather than on the Holodeck: Star Trek: TNG — Inner Light Episode
This episode explores what an “ancestor simulation” might look like — a concept that has become core to the idea of the simulation hypothesis, and touched upon by several of the other television shows and episodes discussed above (Black Mirror, the Upload). In this episode, Jean-Luc Picard lives an entire lifetime in a simulation indistinguishable from lived experience (although only minutes pass for him within our reality). Will the metaverse someday attempt to generate simulations with this fidelity?
Person of Interest
Person of Interest focuses on billionaire Harold Finch who possesses a computer that predicts who is going to be killed, when, and how to stop it. Using an elaborate security system Harold can track, find, and eliminate almost anyone in the world — tapping into their phones, computers, and even car systems.
Mythic Quest
Mythic Quest is an Apple TV original series following the game studio that created an MMORPG named Mythic Quest. While providing a comical twist on the world of videogames, Mythic Quest brings light into the background work of the game studio environment and showcases how reality impacts the virtual. From office politics, to online Nazis, livestreaming “influencers” and uncomfortably-close-to-reality depictions of the game development process — Mythic Quest explores how both environments mimic each other.
Other Books and Movies
Want to explore more of the fiction that has inspired — or warned against — the metaverse?
Check out my article covering many of the books about the metaverse.
If you’d rather watch a film: check out my movie guide to the metaverse.
Further Reading
Want to learn how the word “metaverse” came about? Read more about its origins, related concepts and etymology.
“The Metaverse Value Chain” will help you understand the seven industries that are building the metaverse .
Flip through my “Building the Metaverse Megadeck” for a casual investigation of what the metaverse is all about.
9 Megatrends Shaping the Metaverse covers some of the huge technology and social trends that will determine the course of the future.
Did I miss something?
Looking for your favorite book about the metaverse, and it’s not on this list? Tweet me and if I hear enough, I’ll add it! (and probably read it!)
This article was created in collaboration with Erin McCarrie.