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Tired of Reading about Area 51? Watch these Conspiracy-Thrillers

Burning conspiracies unravel in these five TV shows

Jul 21, 2019

'The Expanse' is a geopolitical, space thriller that unfolds amidst a trans-planet conspiracy.

The contagion of the conspiracy theory is so potent that even popular culture hasn’t been able to resist its allure. Whether it’s the alleged remains of UFOs in Nevada’s Area 51 or secret societies with mysterious ties to historical events, what remains constant is curiosity. The bait that conjecture dangles may perhaps not be as incendiary as the truth itself, but it’s powerful enough to start a conversation. And when you do get tired of discussing conspiracy theories, let fiction provide the vicarious thrill of discovering answers to the unknown. Here are five TV shows for every conspiracy enthusiast:

  1. ‘The Expanse’

‘The Expanse’ explores the cost of power, politics and survival when faced with the alien and the known.

This diverse, geopolitical, space thriller deals with the mysterious emergence of an alien technology in the known universe. The Expanse is set roughly 200 years into the future wherein humanity has colonized space. United Nations governed Earth and independent military power Mars barely tolerate their co-existence, while the ‘belters’ living on Ceres and Eros toil to advance the two superpowers’ interests. When the crew of a Ceres ice trawler find themselves being hunted by an unidentified ship, they soon realize they have breached the confidentiality of a trans-planet conspiracy – one that could spell the end of the universe itself. 

Starring: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jared Harris, Dominique Tipper, Steven Strait, Thomas Jane and more.

The Expanse streams on Prime Video.

  1. ‘Timeless’

‘Timeless’ hits the sweet spot for history buffs as well as conspiracy enthusiasts.

When college History professor Lucy Preston gets called in by Homeland Security to aid on a special project, she doesn’t expect to witness a heist. The stolen object is a time machine and Garcia Flynn, the thief, has escaped into the past, altering history. Preston steps back in time with pilot, programmer Rufus Carlin and Delta Force operative Wyatt Logan to stop the thief and preserve the present. But the world they live in may not be controlled by elected leaders after all, and learning Flynn’s motive might change the course of billions of lives. What will the team do when they realize there are things more precious than time?

Starring: Abigail Spencer, Sakina Jaffery, Malcolm Barrett, Goran Višnjić, Matt Lanter, Claudia Doumit and more.

Timeless streams on SonyLIV.

  1. ‘1983’

‘1983’ is a what-if show that tests the rise of resistance against ideological subjugation

1983 is a Polish dystopian series set in an alternate historical timeline where the iron curtain still stands and Poland is an authoritarian state. In a world where the cold war never ended, Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk experience a wave of bombings in 1983 which cripple the resistance, allowing a dictatatorial regime to cement its power. 20 years later, a relentless police detective and a law student work together to find the real culprit and reason behind the terrorist attacks as new rebels brew a revolution to bring an end to the iron-fisted regime. 

Starring: Robert Więckiewicz, Maciej Musiał, Michalina Olszańska and more.

1983 streams on Netflix.

  1. ‘Stranger (Forest of Secrets)’

Can justice prevail over corruption in ‘Stranger’?

The South Korean show Stranger traces the steps of Hwang Si-mok, an apathetic prosecutor whose case investigation is halted when his lead is murdered. Si-mok doesn’t believe the suspect to be guilty in spite of the piling evidence and convicts him for robbery instead. Heeding a hunch that the suspect was framed, the prosecutor sets out to find the truth with the help of fearless police lieutenant Han Yeo-jin. Embroiled in a bureaucratic snakepit involving the chief of police, chief prosecutor and the government at large, Si-mok soon realizes that the string of covered-up murders are part of a deeper conspiracy. 

Starring: Cho Seung-woo, Bae Doona, Lee Jun-hyuk and more.

Stranger streams on Prime Video.

  1. ‘Mr. Robot’

Anybody can be exposed on ‘Mr. Robot.’

During the day, Elliot Alderson is a cyber security engineer at Allsafe. But at night, he’s a hacker. When he joins a hacktivist group called ‘fsociety’ led by anti-class hacker Mr. Robot, they decide to erase consumer debt by wiping out the data of E Corp – a corporation that owns everything and also happens to be Allsafe’s biggest client. The chessboard gets dicey when other hackers enter the game. Alderson realizes that the biggest player of them all is hidden in plain sight and with all the cards on the table, it just might be too late to fold.

Starring: 

Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Carly Chaikin, BD Wong and more.

Mr. Robot streams on Prime Video.

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