Dystopian fiction has always been an undercurrent in literature, but a while back, it really exploded in popularity as a subject for Young Adult fiction, and seems to have become more prevalent in the mainstream.
The first Fallout game was released in 1997, but just got a new show recently, making it the rare case of a video game adapted to film that did well. It also released in competition with a lot of other shows though.
I think like horror movies, this trend can be interpreted as a way society views itself and our modern challenges and our recent experiences in COVID, especially since the projects would have started then. Or we can be conspiratorial and say the bigwigs running everything want us in a state of latent fear. This is the internet after all. CONSPIRACY!