End of World Movies on Netflix 2022: Exploring Leave the World Behind

The allure of apocalypse and survival narratives remains potent, with audiences continually seeking out stories that explore societal collapse. While searches for “End Of World Movies On Netflix 2022” reflect a specific interest in that year’s offerings, the streaming giant constantly adds compelling new entries to the genre. One chillingly relevant addition, released in late 2023, is Leave the World Behind. Starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke, this apocalyptic thriller from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail presents a terrifyingly plausible scenario triggered by an inexplicable blackout and cyber attack, forcing two families into a desperate fight for survival. As technology fails and nature acts strangely, it becomes clear there’s no returning to normal, making it a significant title for anyone interested in recent end-of-days storytelling on Netflix.

What is Leave the World Behind About?

This apocalyptic thriller, helmed by award-winning writer and director Sam Esmail, centers on Amanda (Academy Award winner Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke). Seeking a break, they rent a luxurious Long Island home for a weekend getaway with their children, Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie). Their vacation takes an abrupt turn when two strangers, G.H. (Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), arrive unexpectedly. They bring news of a mysterious cyberattack crippling the city and seek refuge in the house they claim is theirs. As the unexplained disaster escalates, becoming more terrifying by the minute, the two families must confront the looming catastrophe and grapple with their place in a rapidly collapsing world. Leave the World Behind, based on the National Book Award–nominated novel by Rumaan Alam, is produced by Esmail Corp and Red Om Films, with Higher Ground Productions serving as executive producers.

“I had been interested in doing a disaster movie for a while, and I specifically wanted to do one surrounding a cyber attack because I don’t think a lot of people have a concrete idea of what that would look like or how detrimental it would be, not just in America, but globally,” writer and director Esmail told Netflix. “The impact of technology on society is something that I’ve always been fascinated by because I really do think it dramatically changed the way we interact and evolve as people.”

Is Leave the World Behind Based on a Book?

Yes, the film is adapted from Rumaan Alam’s bestselling, National Book Award-nominated 2020 novel of the same name. Alam also serves as an executive producer on the film adaptation. The novel deeply resonated with Esmail. “I read it in one sitting and then reread it a few hours later — the first time as a fan and the second time imagining it as a movie,” Esmail shared. “What Rumaan did so well with this story is that he kept it centered on these characters and the journey they’re all on, and I found a way to expand upon my obsessions while translating it into a cinematic experience: What if technology was the driver behind this collapse?”

Alam, in turn, felt Esmail was the right creative partner to bring his novel to the screen. “There’s a trust you have to establish with people as an artist, and in my first conversation with Sam, I trusted him and felt I understood him as an artist,” Alam explained. “When he sent me the script, it felt as if I was seeing this story I had come up with being reborn, yet the emotional truth remained the same. It showed me that I had chosen a creative partner who enriched the story, deepened it, and created a different experience, but one with the same destination.”

For fans of the novel, Alam offers reassurance: “I have many colleagues and friends who are also novelists who’ve had their hearts broken in Hollywood. I never had that experience working on this project. I always felt like my book was in great hands,” he said.

What’s Going On with the Deer in Leave the World Behind?

One of the film’s unsettling elements involves strange animal behavior. In one scene, while Clay attempts to fix a non-functional television, he witnesses an eerie sight: the property is surrounded by a large herd of deer, standing silently and staring. When Rose cautiously approaches, the typically skittish animals remain unnervingly still. This unnatural behavior signifies that something is fundamentally wrong with the world, adding another layer of mystery and dread to the unfolding crisis, although the exact cause remains ambiguous.

A herd of deer stands silently, staring unnervingly at the house in a scene from the apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind on Netflix

Where was Leave the World Behind Filmed?

The central location, the luxurious house where the families take refuge, is a real property. Exterior shots and some interior scenes were filmed on location in Old Westbury, New York. Director Sam Esmail had specific requirements when selecting the house: an open-plan kitchen and living room to facilitate camera movement and a swimming pool visible from the kitchen. To achieve more complex shots, including those that appear to move through walls and floors, the production team meticulously built near-exact replicas of the home’s rooms on soundstages in Bethpage, New York.

“It had such a personality in terms of how it was laid out, this hallway with windows that could oversee the pool,” Esmail told Tudum. “It just also, for us as filmmakers, gave us license to be able to move the camera, and interesting angles where I don’t think we could have gotten away with that in other homes.”

Who Is in the Cast of Leave the World Behind?

The film boasts a stellar cast bringing the complex characters to life amidst the unfolding disaster.

Julia Roberts as Amanda Sandford

Amanda is portrayed as a high-strung advertising executive from New York City, desperate for an escape from her hectic life. Booking a spontaneous family trip to Long Island, her plans for relaxation are shattered by the arrival of the homeowners seeking shelter during a blackout. While sometimes appearing privileged and myopic, Amanda reveals a fierce, no-nonsense protective instinct when her family is threatened. Roberts, also a producer on the film, found the character compelling. “She’s just a wildly challenging character,” Roberts told Netflix. “She’s complicated and surprising, and the main reason I took on this role — aside from wanting to work with Sam Esmail again — was the challenge. There are a lot of fine lines in making her understood, but not too unlikeable.” Esmail, who previously directed Roberts in Homecoming, felt she was perfect: “Julia has the uncanny ability to channel the humanity out of any character, regardless of how flawed they may be.”

Julia Roberts stars as the complex character Amanda Sandford in the Netflix end-of-world movie Leave the World Behind

Previously In: Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Eat Pray Love, Ocean’s Eleven, Notting Hill

Mahershala Ali as G.H. Scott

G.H. Scott is a sophisticated and well-connected financial advisor living in New York City. Trusting his intuition about the city-wide blackouts being more than a simple outage, he takes his daughter, Ruth, to their Long Island vacation home for safety, only to encounter the skeptical Sandford family. Ali, known for tackling complex roles in projects like Moonlight and True Detective, brought a unique quality to G.H. “Mahershala’s poignant everyman quality mixed with his undeniable charisma make it nearly impossible for him to deliver a substandard performance,” Esmail noted. “That was what G.H. needed, a deep-hearted accessibility that lets him be your avatar into the story.” For Ali, the role presented a welcome challenge: “I think what attracted me to this character was that I wasn’t sure if I could do it,” he admitted to Netflix. “If anything, I was excited about the challenge of bringing this character to life.”

Mahershala Ali portrays the insightful financial advisor G.H. Scott seeking refuge in the apocalyptic scenario of Leave the World Behind

Previously In: House of Cards, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Swan Song, True Detective, Hidden Figures, Moonlight

Ethan Hawke as Clay Sandford

Clay Sandford, Amanda’s husband, is a media studies professor content with being the more laid-back partner in the marriage. However, when the crisis hits and technology fails, Clay finds himself utterly unprepared and struggles to adapt or problem-solve effectively. Esmail found Clay to be “one of the more fascinating characters in this film.” He explained, “Clay as a character is so interesting because he upends everything you’d expect from the patriarch of the family… What Ethan did with him is so difficult to pull off because he took a character that disappoints himself and his family… but instead of begrudging him for it, you instantly relate to him that much more because of it.” Hawke reflected on the role: “I think the most interesting aspect about Clay is how much I don’t enjoy playing him! I’ve spent much of my life trying not to be Clay… Clay represents that in its most egregious form: somebody who means well and does nothing.”

Ethan Hawke plays the overwhelmed professor Clay Sandford struggling during the crisis in Netflix's Leave the World Behind

Previously In: Dead Poets Society, Boyhood, Training Day, First Reformed, The Black Phone, Before Sunrise trilogy

Myha’la as Ruth Scott

Ruth is G.H.’s sharp, 25-year-old daughter. She isn’t afraid to challenge the assumptions and behaviours of the older characters, including her father’s evasiveness and Amanda’s initial prejudice. Notably, Ruth’s character was changed from G.H.’s wife in the novel to his daughter for the film, a decision Esmail and Alam agreed upon to introduce a vital millennial perspective. “She’s amazing,” Esmail said of Myha’la. “Ruth is written as this really sort of brazen, overly confident person, but then there are quiet moments where her fears get the best of her. Myha’la has the range to effortlessly move from one extreme to the other.” Myha’la commented on her character: “Her generation interacts with technology and media in a different way… So she becomes this interesting intersection of wealth, race, gender, age, and as a result, she can feel a bit like a contradiction.”

Myha’la Herrold embodies the sharp-witted Ruth Scott, G.H.'s daughter, in the tense thriller Leave the World Behind

Previously In: Industry, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Black Mirror, Dumb Money

Farrah Mackenzie as Rose Sandford

Rose is Amanda and Clay’s youngest child. Her binge-watching of the sitcom Friends is abruptly cut short by the blackout, and she seems more attuned than others to the strange occurrences happening around them. Esmail praised Mackenzie’s portrayal: “She has this otherworldly quality just in her eyes… I found myself always wondering what she was thinking.” Mackenzie described her character: “Rose kind of lives in her own world… she’s curious and inquisitive and she’s kind of the first one to realize or see the beginning of these strange happenings… I think Rose feels alone a lot of the time and that’s why she feels like she can escape into this whole other world of television.”

Farrah Mackenzie portrays the observant young Rose Sandford sensing danger in the Netflix film Leave the World Behind

Previously In: United States of Al, Utopia, Logan Lucky

Charlie Evans as Archie Sandford

Archie is the Sandfords’ teenage son, typically withdrawn and absorbed in his video games and phone. The loss of signal deeply affects him, fueling an obsession with reconnecting to the outside world. Esmail noted that Evans brought a different dimension to the character than initially conceived: “Charlie played Archie as a smart-aleck type of guy who kind of talks from a place of know-it-all superiority versus being a run-of-the-mill callow brute… What struck me the most is how different his Archie was from what I imagined — and how much better it was for it.” Evans shared his enthusiasm for the genre: “I love thrillers and psychological thrillers… I know [Hitchcock and 2001] are both massive inspirations for Sam.”

Charlie Evans plays Archie Sandford, the tech-reliant teenager facing disconnection in Leave the World Behind

Previously In: The Park, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay

Kevin Bacon as Danny

Danny is a local contractor who previously worked on G.H.’s house. More importantly, he’s a survivalist, seemingly better prepared for the unfolding crisis than the vacationing Sandfords. Bacon, known for iconic roles, worked with Esmail to ground the character. “Kevin turned what could have been a clichéd stereotype of a gun-toting conspiracy theorist into a staunch family man who wanted to protect his loved ones at any cost,” Esmail stated. “Kevin knew exactly how far to push and pull back, making Danny come to life with much more dimensionality.”

Kevin Bacon appears as Danny, the prepared survivalist encountered in the Netflix disaster movie Leave the World Behind

Previously In: Footloose, City on a Hill, Mystic River, Hollow Man, Tremors, Apollo 13

Listen to Every Song in the Leave the World Behind Soundtrack

Music plays a crucial role in setting the film’s tone. Esmail intentionally selected tracks less commonly used in film and television to avoid pre-existing associations. He highlighted a key dance sequence: “When you pick a song like that, it’s really going to end up being another character in the scene. I had to pick a song they could dance to, but one that wasn’t overused. ‘Too Close’ [by Next] just fit the bill… That scene goes from lighthearted and playful to sad and dark within a matter of a minute, so the song had to do a lot of heavy lifting.”

Here is the full list of songs featured in Leave the World Behind:

• Joey Bada$$ “THE REV3NGE”
• Kool & the Gang “Misled”
• Blackstreet “Never Gonna Let You Go”
• TV on the Radio “Winter”
• Next “Too Close”
• The Rembrandts “I’ll Be There for You – Theme from ‘Friends’”
• Nirvana “Breed”
• Eminem “White America”
• Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five “New York New York”
• OutKast “Roses”
• Pop Smoke “What You Know Bout Love”
• Nazar, Shannen SP “Bunker”
• Sufjan Stevens “America”
• ESG “Dance”
• ABBA “The Name Of the Game”
• Red Axes “What Is In Your Head”
• Beastie Boys “Shake Your Rump”
• Diana Ross “Upside Down”
• KPH “Welcome to the Party – Instrumental”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
• LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends”
• Beck “Lost Cause”
• M83 “Kim & Jessie”
• Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood “Summer Wine”
• TNGHT “Higher Ground”
• 2Pac, Talent “Changes”

You can find a playlist featuring music from the film on Spotify.

Conclusion

Leave the World Behind delivers a chilling and thought-provoking apocalyptic thriller, focusing on the human drama sparked by a mysterious cyber attack and societal breakdown. Anchored by powerful performances from Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke, and guided by Sam Esmail’s distinct directorial vision, the film explores themes of technology dependence, class, race, and survival in a world suddenly stripped of its norms. While not released in 2022, it stands as a potent and highly relevant recent entry in Netflix’s collection of end-of-world narratives. For viewers seeking compelling disaster movies and psychological thrillers that resonate with contemporary anxieties, Leave the World Behind is a must-watch, currently available for streaming on Netflix. Consider adding it to your watchlist for a gripping take on the end of the world as we know it.