Devs: parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A brainy, slow-burning sci-fi thriller miniseries for older teens and adults who like big questions about free will. After her boyfriend dies mysteriously on his first day in a secretive unit of a tech company, a software engineer sets out to learn what really happened. Violence is infrequent but graphic and disturbing: a man is suffocated with a plastic bag, footage shows a body burning, and several characters are killed. Swearing is frequent. Sexual content is limited to kissing in bed and a blurry projected sex scene. A death staged as suicide, a deliberate fatal fall and a young child's death drive the story. We suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongRare but graphic: a man is suffocated with a plastic bag, footage shows a body set alight, a knife fight ends with a man's neck broken, a captive is tortured, another man is shot dead, and a crash in the finale kills two.
Language
StrongFrequent strong language: f-words (one count passed 20) and repeated s-words, plus bitch, damn and misuse of God's name, once combined with the f-word.
Sex and nudity
ModerateCouples kiss and lie in bed together without nudity. Programmers watch a pixelated, indistinct projection of a famous couple from history having sex. Unmarried couples live together.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateCharacters drink at bars and at home without much drunkenness. Lily's past drug use comes up in a session with a psychiatrist. Otherwise little substance content.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongA creeping, ominous mood throughout, set to an eerie choral score. Disturbing images include a burning man on video, a suffocation and simulated historic executions, and a character deliberately goes over the edge of a dam to his death.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Death of a child
- Death of a parent
Worth talking about
If every action could be predicted, would people still have free will? Talk about how different characters react to being shown their own future.
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.