In today’s crowded TV landscape, there are some shows you simply don’t hear about until after they’re done airing. You read that David Harbour has won at the Gotham Television Awards for his role in the series, and then you end up hitting play at 10:37 p.m. and ruining your sleep schedule. Funny thing is, you never regret doing it either. A limited series also makes for a perfect late-night binge, because you know when it’s done, it’s done.
Created, written, directed, and showrun by Patriot creator Steven Conrad, DTF St. Louispremiered on HBO on March 1 before wrapping its seven-episode run on April 12. The series follows three middle-aged characters caught in a tangled romantic mess that eventually leaves one of them dead. Investigators start digging into it, and my goodness, what a mess they end up finding. Because of that, and on the heels of the critical acclaim it’s been getting, the series has also been finding a huge streaming audience, with DTF St. Louis appearing among HBO Max’s top titles globally weeks after its finale. It’s probably the ideal HBO Max show as well, because it’s violent and weird, and extremely adult. The sort of thing you will start and finish in the same day, and then you’ll tell your friends about.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Who Stars in ‘DTF St. Louis’?
DTF St. Louis stars Harbour as Floyd Smernitch, Jason Bateman (Ozark) as Clark Forrest, and Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me) as Carol Love-Smernitch. The cast also includes Joy Sunday (Wednesday) and Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), while Conrad serves as creator, writer, director, and showrunner.
The series has been well received by critics, currently holding an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Collider’s Aidan Kelley praised the show’s central performances and its dark sense of humour, writing, “The large bulk of DTF St. Louis is another sharply written and consistently engaging miniseries that HBO should be proud of.” Not everyone was fully sold on what Conrad was trying to do, but the general response has been strong, especially toward its cast.
DTF St. Louis is streaming now on HBO Max in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
