(Credits: Netflix)

If you just finished the intense, cult-centred psychological thriller, Unchosen, you’re most likely already back on Netflix, searching for shows that lean into similar themes of isolation, manipulative power structures, and deep-seated secrets.

From Satan worshippers to deeply conservative extremist religious sects to self-proclaimed prophets and so-called saviours of the community, cults can look distinctly diverse everywhere. But the point of commonality?

They always target the vulnerable, capitalising on the people’s faith and belief system to psychologically manipulate and perpetuate society. Although these cults prey on loneliness, often presenting themselves as a safe space where they can belong, no matter how seemingly worlds apart these institutions feel, they very well make our reality.

This is why the fascination with cult-based dramas lives on, and to help you through with your post-Unchosen blues, here are five psychological thrillers on Netflix to follow up with.

Five psychological thrillers to watch on Netflix after Unchosen

Wayward (Mae Martin and Ryan Scott, 2025)

Set in 2003 in the fictional town of Tall Pines, Vermont, Wayward is a Canadian limited series about Tall Pines Academy, a cult-like facility for behaviour modification where troubled teens are subjected to a four-phase program designed to break and rebuild them. While the entire town is in on this system, when a new police officer, Alex, begins investigating the school, little does he know of his pregnant wife’s dark past linked to the very institution.

The academy is run by Evelyn Wade, who weaponises the idea of “radical honesty” to manipulate students. And to trigger memory loss and establish psychological control, the academy capitalises on a “Leap” drug, which is basically toad venom. In Unchosen, we witnessed the manipulative power of a religious cult. But Wayward takes that exploitation and places it inside a creepy reform school, exploring how the idea of “bad” and “good” is constantly used to justify abuse.

Archive 81 (Rebecca Sonnenshine, 2022)

Unchosen may have offered viewers a front-row seat to a fictional cult linked with religious exploitation. But Archive 81 takes the cognitive thrill to the next level with supernatural depth. The Netflix series follows archivist Dan Turner, recruited by a mysterious company to restore 1994 damaged videotapes, originally shot by Melody Pendras for her dissertation project on the Visser building.

While investigating the building, Melody uncovered a cult called the Vos Society, run by Samuel, aimed to summon a demon called Kaelego. As Dan works to restore these tapes in a remote compound, he realises that they actually contain particulates of the demon, allowing it to influence the present. Something convinces Dan that he can alter the past by communicating with Melody through the footage. But is there more to their story than just a coincidence?

Ares (Giancarlo Sanchez and Michiel ten Horn, 2020)

Ares is an eight-episode Dutch psychological horror thriller series, currently streaming on Netflix, that might just be the perfect follow-up to Unchosen. It follows aspiring student Rosa as she joins an exclusive secret society called Ares in Amsterdam, hoping to secure her future. While the centuries-old society grants its members power and success, it simultaneously mandates extreme sacrifices and demands.

Although it doesn’t take Rosa long to discover that the elite society, or cult, if you may, is actually built on unsettling occult rituals, collective guilt, and a demonic entity named Beal, she must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to stay in the upper ranks. But as she begins to uncover the truth that was better buried about the mysterious suicide of fellow members, Ares puts Rosa in a tough spot, resulting in a bloody showdown.

Devil in Ohio (Daria Polatin, 2022)

Based on Daria Polatin’s book of the same name, Devil in Ohio is yet another limited series that fits the bill of post-Unchosen cravings. The suspense thriller tells the story of Dr Suzanne Mathis, a psychiatrist who provides shelter to Mae Dodd, a teenage escapee from a satanic cult. The series kicks off with Mae arriving at the hospital with an inverted pentagram carved on her back, which convinces Suzanne to take her in until she can find a foster home.

But as the escapee begins to warm up with the Mathis family, chaos is not too far behind. Soon after Suzanne takes her in, Mae starts to manipulate situations, particularly targeting her daughter and creating friction within the family. Although Suzanne is determined to protect Mae at all costs, Devil in Ohio centres on the rising familial tension that happens to be too big a coincidence when traced back to her cult past.

Dear Child (Isabel Kleefeld and Julian Pörksen, 2023)

The last stop on today’s marathon has to be Dear Child, based on Romy Hausmann’s Liebes Kind. Although the show is not exactly cult-focused, it expertly captures the psychological toll inherent in the genre. The German limited series starts where most psychological thrillers end – with an escape. It follows a woman named Jasmin who escapes a windowless, high-security cabin after five months of captivity by a “Papa” figure.

Dear Child backtracks Jasmin’s story after the escape, revealing how she was forced to act as “Lena,” a mother to two children, Hannah and Jonathan, to replace a woman kidnapped over a decade ago. In case Unchosen’s domestic suspense and tropes of isolation got to you, this six-episode series tackles the psychological aftermath of being held in total isolation. Better be seated!