What to watch before The Institute: Season 2

No. 01 · 2025 · Series · 14h 39m

The Institute

When 14 year old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.

Why it matters: A teenage prodigy is abducted to a secret facility that experiments on psychic children.

Starring

Ben Barnes, Joe Freeman, and Simone Miller

Creator

Benjamin Cavell

Scores

IMDb 6.7

Episodes

16 across 2 seasons

No. 01 · 2025 · Series

The Institute recap

The Institute (2025) is an MGM+ series about a teenage prodigy abducted to a secret Maine facility that experiments on psychic children. Season 1 ran for eight episodes from July to August 2025, with Jack Bender directing the final two. Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) wakes in a copy of his own bedroom after intruders take him from his home and meets other abducted children, including Kalisha (Simone Miller), Nicky (Fionn Laird), George and the young telepath Avery Dixon. Director Ms. Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), security chief Stackhouse (Julian Richings) and Dr. Hendricks (Robert Joy) inject the children and test them, and those who "graduate" go to Back Half and are never seen again. In the nearby town, Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), an ex-cop with a troubled past, takes a job and grows close to deputy Wendy Gullickson (Hannah Galway). Helped by housekeeper Maureen, who later takes her own life, Luke escapes through a rotten fence and across the river, where he meets Tim. The pair outwit an Institute agent posing as a journalist and set out to expose the place, while Luke's friends in Back Half are used as weapons.

How The Institute ends

The Institute ends its first season, in the finale "Fight", with the facility destroyed and Avery dead. Wendy arrests Sigsby, and Stackhouse locks down the Institute and plans to gas the children. Linked minds wake the Back Half children, the connection spreads to children at other Institutes, and the building starts to tear itself apart. Stackhouse falls through the floor, and Avery stays behind to hold the link. Luke, Kalisha, Nicky and George escape with Tim and Wendy. A man on the phone orders a clean-up, and Sigsby, free again, hitchhikes away with Maureen's flash drive. Season 2 premieres on November 8, 2026.