10 Shows Like Netflix's Lord of the Flies to Watch Next

Key Takeaways

• Netflix's BBC Lord of the Flies miniseries stays faithful to William Golding's novel about societal breakdown
• Yellowjackets and The Wilds offer similar survival themes with teenage girls as protagonists
• Lost remains the definitive plane crash survival drama with deeper philosophical themes

That book you tried to avoid reading in high school is now a BBC miniseries on Netflix. The new Lord of the Flies adaptation has arrived at a moment when brutal times seem to invite brutal narratives. Or maybe we just like watching kids go wild.

William Golding's original novel works because of its straightforward premise. Remove society's rules and watch how fast humans devolve. We know that story. We see echoes of it in the news daily. But Golding's choice to let it play out with children still feels shocking decades later.

If you've watched the Netflix adaptation and want more, plenty of shows have explored similar territory. Most feature older teenagers or adults, but they all ask the same question: what happens when civilization disappears?

Yellowjackets (2021–Present)

This time-hopping survival drama follows a group of teenage girls stranded in the wilderness in 1996. They do terrible things to survive. We only learn the full extent through flashbacks from the present day, where 19 months in the wild still haunts the survivors.

The show teases supernatural elements but delivers plenty of human-level horror. It plays in Lord of the Flies territory while adding a cynical observation: there's a huge gap between the past we talk about and what actually happened.

Stream Yellowjackets on Paramount+.

The Wilds (2020–2022)

An airplane full of teenage girls crashes on the way to an empowerment program in Hawaii. The accident was engineered. The whole thing is a social experiment. The survivors must compete against each other to live.

The show understands how young women are exploited and expected to compete in the real world. It makes clear that a Lord of the Flies scenario with women at its center won't go better. Just differently.

Stream The Wilds on Prime Video.

Lost (2004–2010)

If Golding's novel feels pat and on-the-nose, Lost goes all-in on mystery and philosophy. The show opens with flashbacks that reveal layers of the crash survivors. Then it introduces polar bears in warm weather, mysterious underground bunkers, and questions that span six seasons.

Lost became a cultural phenomenon for a reason. It took the plane crash survival premise and built something stranger and more ambitious than anyone expected.

The Society (2019)

A group of teenagers returns from a field trip to find everyone else in their town has vanished. No adults. No rules. No way out. They must create a society from scratch.

The Society is Lord of the Flies meets local government. It asks whether young people would repeat their parents' mistakes or build something new. The answer is complicated.

The 100 (2014–2020)

Ninety-seven years after nuclear apocalypse, humanity survives on space stations. Resources are running out. The solution: send 100 juvenile delinquents to Earth to see if it's habitable.

The show starts as teen drama but evolves into something darker. Survival requires terrible choices. The 100 explores what those choices do to the people who make them.

The Decameron (2024)

Based on Boccaccio's 14th-century stories, this Netflix series follows nobles and servants who flee the Black Death to an Italian villa. Isolation breeds chaos. Class divisions collapse. Dark comedy ensues.

The Decameron proves the Lord of the Flies premise works across centuries. Remove consequences and watch people reveal themselves.

The 8 Show (2024)

Eight strangers agree to be locked in a building where they earn money based on how long they stay. The rules create a hierarchy. The hierarchy creates violence. It's Squid Game meets Lord of the Flies.

This Korean thriller uses its premise to examine class, capitalism, and how quickly desperate people will exploit each other.

And Then There Were None (2015)

Ten strangers arrive at an isolated island mansion. A recorded voice accuses each of murder. Then they start dying. Agatha Christie's classic works because isolation removes the safety of civilization.

This BBC adaptation captures the paranoia and moral reckoning of the original. When escape is impossible, trust becomes fatal.

All of Us Are Dead (2022–Present)

A zombie outbreak traps students in their high school. No adults are coming to help. Survival requires choosing who lives and who dies. The Korean series uses zombies to create the Lord of the Flies pressure cooker.

High school hierarchies persist even during apocalypse. The bullies remain bullies. The outcasts remain outcasts. Until survival forces new alliances.

The Stranded (2019)

A tsunami strands 37 students at an elite Thai school. Cut off from the mainland, they discover the island holds supernatural secrets. The series blends survival drama with horror elements.

The Stranded uses its premise to examine Thai class divisions. Privilege means nothing when everyone's fighting to survive.

Why These Stories Keep Working

Lord of the Flies endures because its premise feels testable. We wonder what we would do. Would we become Ralph, trying to maintain order? Or would we paint our faces and join Jack's hunters?

Each show on this list asks that question differently. Some add zombies. Some add social experiments. Some add supernatural mysteries. But they all start from Golding's insight: civilization is thinner than we pretend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I watch the new Lord of the Flies series?

The BBC miniseries is streaming on Netflix.

Is Yellowjackets similar to Lord of the Flies?

Yes. Both feature groups stranded in the wilderness who resort to extreme measures to survive. Yellowjackets focuses on teenage girls and adds time jumps between 1996 and the present day.

What happened to The Society on Netflix?

Netflix canceled The Society after one season in 2020, citing pandemic-related production challenges despite initially renewing it for a second season.

Is Lost worth watching in 2025?

Lost remains one of the most ambitious survival dramas ever made. Its mysteries don't all resolve satisfactorily, but the character work and early seasons hold up well.

Are there any Lord of the Flies shows with adult characters?

Yes. Lost features mostly adults, as do And Then There Were None and The Decameron. The 8 Show also centers adults in its survival scenario.

Source: Lifehacker