In the early 2010s, the end of the juggernaut series 24 left a huge void in the action-thriller television landscape. The closest network television ever got in the 2010s to a suitable follow-up to the Fox thriller was the notable CBS series, Person of Interest, which now plays like the perfect Prime Video weekend binge — or at least the kind of five-season sci-fi thriller you can sink into over a few cozy Saturdays and Sundays. Created by Jonathan Nolan of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises fame, Person of Interest provided a slick and compelling techno-spy-thriller over five seasons and 103 episodes.
The show was cancelled earlier than planned, after five seasons, and its consistent audience average of 13 million viewers, which is gargantuan compared to the highest-watched broadcast network shows today, proves that the series was no mere cult classic. It’s time to explore how Person of Interest predicted our current A.I. predicament and why it was a worthy entry into the hall of all-time great action-thriller shows.
‘Person of Interest’ Quietly Predicted Our A.I. Future
In Person of Interest, a mysterious and brilliant software engineer, Harold Finch (Michael Emerson), recruits the unhoused and jaded former soldier and CIA agent, John Reese (Jim Caviezel), to investigate numbers supplied to them by Finch’s highly advanced computer surveillance system, dubbed “The Machine.” Created as a way to monitor, predict, and prevent terrorist threats for the government, The Machine classifies suspects or “persons of interest” as “relevant” or “irrelevant.” Using Finch’s covert access to The Machine, Finch and Reese use their skills and resources to investigate the irrelevant persons of interest, helping potential victims of violent crimes or dispensing justice against perpetrators, who are of no concern to the government and law enforcement. However, it’s ultimately revealed that what Finch created with The Machine was more than a mere security system. It’s literally “alive.”
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.
Over the course of the series, it’s disclosed that The Machine is a self-aware artificial intelligence, capable of learning and evolving. Through many years of trial and error, Finch sought to mold The Machine into a protector that understands morality and determines right from wrong. The Machine can access every digital system, and through data mining and reviewing surveillance footage, it predicts crimes. At first, Person of Interest builds off of post-9/11 fears and themes regarding the overreach of government surveillance, invasion of privacy, and the War on Terror. However, Nolan and series showrunner Greg Plageman took their series a step further with the prophetic A.I. aspect, and Person of Interest showcased the dangers of A.I. years before it became an everyday news story.
‘Person of Interest’ Explores A.I. Systems as the Opening of Pandora’s Box
Currently, everywhere you look, stories about digital A.I., generative A.I., and A.I. learning are dominating the tech world. Across various industries, general workers are concerned about how A.I. systems could potentially replace workers, how A.I. is monitoring citizens, A.I. systems creating deepfakes, how A.I. is utilized to manipulate the truth and the public, and what would happen to humanity if sentient, self-aware A.I. emerged? True, other movies and shows in popular culture have explored advanced super A.I. systems before, like Joshua in WarGames and Skynet in The Terminator movies, but Person of Interest crafted a palpable and realistic A.I. storyline in the 2010s that accurately predicted our current A.I. reality and anxieties.
Additionally, the series examines the idea of a benevolent super A.I. system with The Machine, and later introduces the more malevolent A.I. system, Samaritan, which seeks to rule the world, as Samaritan jettisons The Machine’s more humane and discreet approach, disrupting the truth and manipulating the public, much like how A.I. gets exploited today. When Finch and his colleagues started developing A.I. systems, they opened a Pandora’s box. Interestingly, Christopher McQuarrie’s version of a malevolent, sentient A.I. antagonist in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning, The Entity, has much more in common with Samaritan than Skynet, specifically with how it uses its power to manipulate the public and the truth. All that happened first in Person of Interest.
‘Person of Interest’ Went Out With a Bang
Image via CBS
The writers of Person of Interest wanted to do more with the series beyond Season 5, but due to its ownership by Warner Bros. Television, syndication deals and profits of the show benefited Warner Bros. more than the show’s network, Viacom-owned CBS. As a result, Season 5 was made the final one, and it was reduced to only thirteen episodes. The good news is that Nolan, Plageman, and their writing staff were aware of the pending cancellation, and they were able to plan a proper series finale.
The trade-off is that the shorter Season 5 brought with it a faster and more suspenseful pacing. The final season abandoned the filler storylines, and every episode played out like a major event leading up to the series closer, “return 0.” This includes one of the craziest action television car chase sequences ever, in the episode “The Day The World Went Away.”
Watching Season 5 was like watching a big-budget spy-thriller movie, more so than in past seasons, so the show went out with a bang rather than a lull. Those 13 million viewers who tuned in to Person of Interest from 2011 to 2016 know and remember this series was a thrill ride, and it’s still worth watching.
Person of Interest is now streaming on Prime Video (and Paramount+).
