What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe Orphans
The Light and Tragic Company · Podcast · 2025
If you loved The Orphans, start with The Electric State (Joe Russo, 2025) — a film on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 films and 4 series, each matched to The Orphans across media.
What hooked you in The Orphans was the way the vast, cold expanse of space mirrors the intimate desperation of survival.
Books on the same thread
The Future
Naomi Alderman · Book · 2025
Explores: Technological surveillance, Cults and indoctrination, Wealth inequality.
Like the intricate galaxy-spanning narrative of The Orphans, this story explores how powerful entities manipulate individuals, forcing you to navigate complex webs of surveillance and personal identity under pressure.
Watching Over Us
Will McIntosh · Book · 2025
Explores: Child Soldiers, Resistance, Underdog Story.
If you appreciated the gritty endurance required by the castaways in The Orphans, you will recognize that same spirit of resistance against overwhelming odds in this stark military narrative.
In the Lives of Puppets
T.J. Klune · Book
Explores: found family, artificial intelligence, humanity.
The Orphans masterfully balances high-stakes sci-fi with the emotional weight of artificial intelligence, a dynamic you will find beautifully echoed in this story about the complexities of found family.
War Stories
Andrew Liptak, Jaym Gates · Book
Shares a thread with The Orphans: Space Opera.
The Orphans excels at showing the human cost of conflict, and these stories provide a similar deep dive into the lasting psychological scars that soldiers carry long after battles end.
Films on the same thread
Predator: Badlands
Dan Trachtenberg · Film · 2025
Explores: Outcast Hero, Unlikely Alliance, Redemption Arc.
Just as The Orphans pairs humans with complex artificial intelligence, this journey features an unlikely alliance between a hunter and a damaged android fighting to survive in the wild.
The Gorge
Scott Derrickson · Film · 2025
Explores: Forbidden Love, Opposites Attract, Survival.
This story captures the tension of isolation found in The Orphans, focusing on how two individuals forge a connection while facing a looming environmental threat on a hostile frontier.
The Electric State
Joe Russo · Film · 2025
Explores: Sibling Relationships, Artificial Intelligence, Loss and Grief.
The Orphans explores the profound nature of loss within a futuristic setting, a theme that drives this journey of a teen and her robot companion seeking a lost relative.
Superman
Film · 2025
Explores: Heroism, Identity, Alienation.
Much like the characters in The Orphans who grapple with their place in a vast universe, this story highlights the internal struggle of an outsider searching for home.
Series on the same thread
Gachiakuta
Series · 2025
Explores: Wrongful Accusation, Social Outcasts, Revenge.
If the castaway perspective of The Orphans resonated with you, you will appreciate this story of an outcast forced to fight for survival and truth in a hostile environment.
The Expanse
Mark Fergus · Series · 2015
Shares 2 threads with The Orphans: Space Opera, Hard Science Fiction.
The Orphans builds a sprawling, interconnected universe, and this series offers the same sense of massive scale paired with the high-stakes conspiracies that define a complex interstellar political landscape.
His Dark Materials
Jack Thorne · Series · 2019
Explores: Orphan Protagonist, Moral Ambiguity, Interdimensional Travel.
Like the protagonists in The Orphans, Lyra is an orphan navigating a world where the lines between science and mystery blur, forcing her to confront grand, dangerous secrets alone.
The Pitt
R. Scott Gemmill · Series · 2025
Explores: Underfunded Healthcare, Emergency Medicine, Trauma.
The Orphans highlights the intensity of working under extreme pressure, a feeling reflected in this medical drama where staff struggle to maintain humanity within an overcrowded and broken system.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Orphans a single continuous story or an anthology?
The Orphans is an interconnected cinematic audio drama. Each season explores a new vantage point within the same expanding galaxy, focusing on themes like survival on hostile worlds, emotional artificial intelligence, and the complexities of love and loss in a far-flung future.
What is the primary setting of The Orphans?
The Orphans is set in a harsh, far-flung future universe. The narrative follows castaways stranded on a hostile world and explores the interconnected lives of strangers who share faces, all while navigating the challenges of survival in an ever-expanding galaxy.
Does The Orphans feature artificial intelligence characters?
Yes, The Orphans features artificial intelligence characters who possess unprecedented emotions. These A.I. entities are central to the sci-fi narrative as they navigate the challenges of survival alongside human castaways within the show's complex, interconnected galactic setting.
How does The Orphans structure its narrative across seasons?
The Orphans structures its narrative by moving to a new vantage point with each season. While each season introduces different perspectives and scenarios, they all remain part of an interconnected galaxy, maintaining consistent themes of survival, emotional artificial intelligence, and human connection.