Why Do Psychos Always Rise to Power After the Apocalypse?

What TV and Film Get Right (and Horribly Right) About Human Nature

I was watching The Last Ship again recently — not for the first time — and something struck me all over again. It’s not the virus or the bombs or the zombies that make these post-apocalyptic worlds so terrifying. It’s the people.
But is that really how people would be — or is Hollywood just colouring us all with the same brush? A brush that generates a lot of money.
If you’re interested, I’ve another post that dives into TV and movies and how online negativity is ruining them after you finish here.

Illustration of armed, angry men in a ruined city — symbolising the violent opportunists who often take over in post-apocalyptic TV and movies.

In Movies and TV Shows time and time again, once society collapses, it’s not the helpers or builders who rise. It’s the psychos, tyrants, cult leaders, and opportunists that terrorize and inflict pain on others. The Walking Dead, The Road, The Last of Us, Mad Max — they all paint the same grim picture: when the world burns, the worst of us take control.

But why is that? And are they wrong — or more right than we’d like to admit?

The Pattern We see in Fiction

Quick hits from The Walking Dead, The Last Ship, The Road, The 100, The Book of Eli, Mad Max. I could go on and on but you get the picture I'm painting here. I realise that Hollywood and their ilk produce this content because nobody wants to see Little House on the Prairie–style productions. Interest would be lost before the second ad break or 30 mins into a film.

Human beings have a fascination with negative themes like psychopaths, sociopaths, warlords, violent leadership, manipulation, paranoia and more. It's not that we crave it but most of us are drawn to it because we know we could never be this way ourselves. Or would we?

It is this car crash production that glues us to the screens so they keep churning it out. Every show or film must have an almost balanced protagonist and antagonist. Really?

Why These Characters Resonate (Even If We Hate Them)

There’s basic psychology at work here — and every decent screenwriter knows it. These larger-than-life warlords, cult leaders, and tyrants are exaggerated versions of flaws we see all the time in real life: the opportunist who exploits a crisis, the narcissist who loves the sound of their own orders, the bully who only feels big when others feel small.

Even if we hate them on screen, we’re drawn in because these characters test the moral boundaries of the heroes and, by extension, us. Hands up if you absolutely hated The Governor in The Walking Dead? I know I did.

Good stories need stakes, and well-written villains draw us in when they are almost human — like us — just with extreme violent tendencies or psychological failings.

It’s far easier (and more gripping) to watch conflict than cooperation. That’s why shows don’t serve up 40 minutes of peaceful people growing carrots, swapping seeds or singing Kumbaya — we’d switch channels long before the credits rolled. Wouldn't you?

What It Says About Human Nature

So what does this pattern say about us? Are we really this bad when things fall apart? Or does Hollywood just think we are? Or do they want us to be this way???? *Insert Nefarious Cackle

These are fair questions — but look around during any real crises and you’ll find hints of truth. Panic buying, hoarding (toilet paper lol), price gouging, leaders grabbing more power “for our own good.” Even without zombies or scorched highways and nuclear fallout, you can see how fast fear and control step in and how our so-called leaders cultivate this.

Maybe these stories resonate because deep down, we know we’re all capable of cracking under pressure — and maybe we wonder which side of that fence we’d stand on if the power grid failed tomorrow.

Exceptions to the Rule

Of course, not every character in these worlds is a monster. The stories need hope too or people wouldn't watch them either. You get builders as well as breakers — Rick Grimes keeping a fractured community alive in The Walking Dead, Tom Chandler trying to save the last uninfected families in The Last Ship, Daryl Dixon (TWD) protecting the vulnerable even when he’d rather be alone, Joel in The Last of Us risking it all (eventually) to protect someone who isn’t even his.

Are they heroes? Maybe. But they’re rarely squeaky clean — they’re flawed, tired, complicated, ruthless when they have to be. Maybe that’s the point: the best survivors in fiction still need a bit of steel to outlast the people who’d burn it all down. Well-written protagonists with human flaws are the perfect counterpoints to the villains — and they’re written that way deliberately.

On TV or at the movies, these characters and their flaws are usually balanced — but in real life, that’s rarely true. Are these productions a warning or a reflection of human nature?

Illustration of a terrified woman being attacked by a zombie — symbolising the fear and danger central to apocalypse stories.

Why We Keep Watching

So why do we keep queuing up shows about marauders, mad men, and the meltdown of human decency? Maybe it’s part catharsis — a safe way to look at what could happen if the lights went out. Maybe it’s morbid curiosity: would I protect my neighbour in dark times, or barricade the door with my body to save my family? Would I help a complete stranger?

Would I be who I was when Law and Order was present?

I believe stories like these are both a warning and a reflection of life on Earth. They remind us how thin the line is between survival and exploitation — and how fragile civilisation can be when the safety net vanishes.

History shows we’re never more than a few missed meals away from chaos.

My Own Point of View

I’ve been an avid film and TV show watcher — and buyer — for many years with many thousands of movies and hundreds of TV Shows watched and owned under my belt. I find a growing weariness inside me these days when I watch one of these shows that I used to love where the worst of humanity is displayed on screen.

Am I growing into my twilight years and becoming nostalgic for moral decency? I don't know but something certainly has changed.

I find more and more that I'd like to fast forward some of these bad bits as I appear to be jaded by the negative things appearing before me, I don't know if that's normal or not but decades of this exposure has obviously left an indelible mark somewhere.

Maybe it's the constant and growing bombardment of negative social media posts which are also designed to provoke the same feelings and reactions from users.

I really despair for humanity at times.

Closing Thought

Maybe that’s why we watch — to remind ourselves that, even in fiction, the world needs more builders than breakers — even if it takes a roundabout path to realise it.

When the credits roll, it leaves us with one quiet question: which one would I be?

Maybe that’s why psychos always rise to power after the apocalypse on screen — because they make the heroes stronger, the threat scarier, and the story impossible to look away from.

Writers can also twist the story, blurring the lines between good and evil if you are not following carefully — leading you to question the motives and behaviour of the characters.

Did the good guy actually win in the end — or was he the bad one?

Thanks for reading,

David

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