Can’t Wait for ‘The Last of Us’ To Return? Watch This Apocalyptic Thriller Series (2025)

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'The Passage' Has a Lot To Offer for 'The Last of Us' Fans 'The Passage' Boasts Some Incredible Performances Your Rating Cast

In the face of a deadly pandemic, a gruff, ex-military grieving father is tasked with delivering a young girl to a group of scientists intent upon experimenting on her for the good of humanity. Meanwhile, monsters lurk. This is not The Last of Us, this is The Passage. And before any accusations of plagiarism arise, The Passage is based on a series of books that predate The Last of Us.

The Passage follows Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney), an orphaned girl taken to Project Noah by Agent Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) to be experimented on by Doctor Sykes (Caroline Chikezie) and Doctor Lear (Henry Ian Cusick). Their goal? To harness a virus that causes vampirism in hopes of combating an oncoming plague. While the premise may sound familiar, The Passage delivers its unique brand of eerie, thrilling storytelling. So, as you await Season 2 of HBO’s critically acclaimed The Last of Us, now is the perfect time to check out The Passage.

'The Passage' Has a Lot To Offer for 'The Last of Us' Fans

If The Last of Us drew you in with the father/daughter dynamic of Joel and Ellie, you will love The Passage. Tasked with bringing her to Project Noah, Agent Wolgast almost immediately abandons his orders to protect Amy, and it makes him instantly endearing. He's only known this girl for a few hours, and he's already prepared to throw away his entire career to protect her. Amy, for her part, is clever as a fox and just as ride-or-die. These two are so in sync, it would be unbelievable if not for the fantastic familial chemistry Sidney and Gosselaar conjure through their performances.

The creature design for the "virals" — the show's version of vampires, though no one dares call them that — is another standout. Infected with the virus that Project Noah is trying to perfect as a last-ditch effort to combat an oncoming pandemic, these creatures are outwardly ghastly, emotionless, and animalistic. But inwardly, they have a complex telepathic network they use to communicate with each other and get the humans to do their bidding. The Passage is staunchly sci-fi in genre, but there's something very gothic about the virals regardless. When they come to you in visions or dreams, they appear as their best, most beautiful selves. Their voices are soft, lilting, and near-seductive. Trapped (at least for now) within the confines of Project Noah, the virals rely upon manipulating the surrounding humans to try to get what they want.

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Even as they stray further and further from their humanity, their motivations remain deeply personal. The virus does not inexorably alter the people it infects, it only heightens what was already there. Tim Fanning (Jamie McShane), also known as patient zero in Project Noah's deep dive into this vampiric virus, leads the virals. But even as he plans for his escape and eventual world domination, he uses his newfound powers to infect Elizabeth Lear (Jennifer Ferrin), wife of his best friend Dr. Lear and the woman he's in love with, with the virus to cure her early-onset Alzheimer's. While many of the characters in the universe consider the virals to be subhuman and the virals consider themselves above humanity, they're just as feeling as the uninfected characters.

'The Passage' Boasts Some Incredible Performances

The Passage also features some incredible performances. Child actors are notoriously hit or miss because they are, in fact, children. But Saniyya Sidney's performance as Amy Bellafonte is fantastic. Sidney disappears entirely into the character. Amy is a character who is precocious and sharp as a tack — traits often given to child characters that can come across as annoying or unbelievable by lesser actors.

Some films and television have to resort to outright telling the audience how smart or talented a child character is to compensate for an actor's inability to sell it, but The Passage doesn't have to. Amy feels real and gritty. She's wounded in the way hurt kids often are — guarded, but still holding onto hope. She's sentimental and takes to Agent Wolgast with ease, but isn't a doormat. Even before Project Noah infects her with the virus, and she gains her supernatural abilities, she fights like hell for what she believes is right. And there's not enough praise that can be lobbed at Sidney for the way she just effortlessly embodies the character— all the while only being 12 while filming.

Of note within the ensemble is the complicated dynamic between Cusick’s Dr. Lear and McShane’s Tim Fanning. Fanning may now be an evil vampire (sorry, viral), but there’s an undeniable history between him and Lear that makes every interaction layered and painful. Fanning is in love with Lear's wife and once had an affair with her. Lear knows that, and yet still fights to bring Fanning back from the virus' corruption. Their relationship is one of love and pain, making their friendship all the more heartbreaking as it genuinely hurts to watch them interact. It's this striking dynamic that makes Cusick and McShane just utter perfection together. They don't just share a love for Elizabeth, but each other too. Even if that love won't prevent them from eventually destroying each other.

It is a shame and a sin that The Passage didn't get another season. While some fans of the books disliked the show's departure from its source material, what the series itself was building was so intriguing. Wolgast and Amy's dynamic alone made the series worth watching, not to mention the overarching viral plot. While The Passage was tragically cut short after just 10 episodes, its legacy remains a thrilling, overlooked gem. If you missed it the first time around, now is the perfect time to dive in.

The Passage is available for purchase on Amazon Video in the U.S.