If there’s one thing that can be said for and about science fiction or sci-fi Television, it is this; Sci-Fi has become a scientific fact in recent years. If you have hesitations about this, go back to the original Star Trek, which ran from 1966 to 1969. Take a look at those things which were regarded as sci-fi back then. Do you still recall the science fiction film The Day The Earth Stood Still? Some would say that precisely what occurred there’s starting to occur here in the twenty-first century.
When it comes to science fiction television shows, it relatively much goes without saying that the series Star Trek is the first thing that comes to the mind of many people. Today, many popular streaming platforms have their own sci-fi channel. Do you realize that there are many TV shows past and present that fall under sci-fi? If you are not aware, here are some of the best sci-fi series from the past and up to the present.
The Book of Boba Fett
This is one of the most-watched Sci-Fi TV shows. This is an American space western TV series made by Jon Favreau for Disney+, a popular streaming service. The series is part of the SW franchise and occurs after the Return of the Jedi in 1983.
This TV series follows Boba Fett, a bounty hunter from the original Star Wars trilogy who appears in The Mandalorian, as he launches himself as the latest lord of the former territory of the Jabba the Hutt. Fett is the owner of one of the best Star Wars ships, the Slave I. The Sci-Fi series The Book of Boba Fett as well as the upcoming Ahsoka show intersects with The Mandalorian.
The title character is Temuera Morrison, Pedro Pascal, and Ming-Na Wen. All reprise their characters from the SW franchise. A standalone film focused on Boba Fett was in untimely development at Lucasfilm prior to the company starting to prioritize streaming TV shows like The Mandalorian. That’s when the idea of a spin-off series about Boba Fett came up. Filming started and lasted until June 2021. Aside from Favreau as director, there are also Dave Filoni, Colin Wilson, and Kathleen Kennedy as executive producers of the series, who also worked in The Mandalorian series.
The series premiered in December 2021 and had 7 episodes in its first season. As for how it was received by the audience and the critics; it can be said that it was generally well received by the audience and that the critics were mixed.
The Expanse
Another popular American hard Sci-fi TV show is The Expanse, created by Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus. This was based on Expanse novels by James S.A. Corey.
The show was set in the future, where civilization has settled in the Solar System. After the colonization of Mars and the Asteroid Belt, after some time, three opposing factions were formed, Planet Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planet Alliance (OPA). Mars, a former colony, is growing into a strong military force, and on the edges of the system, in the asteroid belt, a third rebel faction, eager for independence, is emerging. There are growing tensions between them due to limited resources and behind-the-scenes political intrigue.
The plot follows a different band of characters- Chrisjen Avasarala, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo member of the UN Security Council; Josephus Miller, played by Thomas Jane, a police detective office; James Holden, played by Steven Straight, a ship officer, and his squad – who accidentally get involved in intrigues between factions and bring themselves to the center of a mysterious threat of extraterrestrial origin to humanity.
This series has received a critical commendation, with a particular accolade for its character development, visuals as well as political storyline. It received various kinds of awards, including the Best Dramatic Presentation by Hugo Award. The series had six seasons, and the last season came out in December 2021.
Stranger Things
A Duffer Brothers creation, this science fiction horror drama TV series was streamed on Netflix. Brothers work as executive producers and showrunners with the help of Dan Cohen and Shawn Levy.
Stranger Things was developed by The Duffer Brothers as a blend of exploratory drama with supernatural elements represented by horror, supernatural mystery, parallel universes, and many things contained in one SciFi genre.
The story is set in the small fictional town of Hawkins, located in Indiana. The city looks like many of these across the country, but some strange and mysterious things are starting to happen there. There is an incomprehensible disappearance of the child, and his friends realize that something strange is happening and set off in their own search. Over time, a few more locals realize that unnatural phenomena are at work. Government secret agencies are also involved in the whole story, conducting experiments on children with psychokinetic abilities. Slowly, but with certainty, they all realize that behind everything there is a parallel reality called Upside Down.
The main stars are old acquaintances from previous seasons, such as David Harbor, Winona Ryder, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin Gaten Matarazzo, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, and others …
The initial episodes of this TV show were premiered in July 2016 on Netflix. So far, four seasons have been filmed, and it has been announced that the fifth and final sixth seasons will also be released.
Halo
Called Halo, the series is a popular military sci-fi TV show created by Steven Kane and Kyle Killen and aired on Paramount +. The show was derived from the video game franchise of a similar name. This very popular game has a large base of players around the world. Halo was produced by 343 Industries, Showtime Networks, One Big Picture, and Amblin Television, as well as Chapter Eleven.
This TV show takes place in the 26th century and follows the fight between the Covenant and the United Nations Space Command. Covenant is a theocratic ruthless military coalition of many advanced races of aliens determined to eliminate human beings.
The main protagonists around which the whole story revolves are Master Chief Petty Officer and Cortana, a smart AI hologram. Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), also known as John-117, is an elite soldier who was kidnapped from his family as a child and subjected to a program of creating super soldiers under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone). Cortana is played by Jen Taylor.
Filming began in October 2019, which had an unforeseen delay due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and ended in Budapest in February 2022. The nine-episode series premiered on March 24, 2022, in the United States. Part of the Halo sci-fi series was aired at SXSW. The first season got positive feedback from viewers and critics. What is known is that the series has been renewed for a second season as well.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Another popular Sci-Fi series is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a spin-off from Discovery, created by Jenny Lumet, Alex Kurtzman, and Akiva Goldsman for Paramount+. Strange New World is the 11th series of Star Trek and was aired in 2022 as part of the extended Star Trek Universe.
The main character of the series is Captain Christopher Pike, who leads the crew of the starship USS Enterprise in discovering new worlds and new civilizations across the galaxy. The story is set in the period before the original Star Trek series. The series is conceived similarly to the classic Star Trek series, with several separate stories and adventures of the crew and their captain.
Due to the good reception from the audience and very positive reviews, the series was renewed for the next season after the first season of 10 episodes.
Doctor Who
One of the most popular British Sci-Fi TV shows is Doctor Who, created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson, and C. E. Webber and aired in 1963 by the BBC TV networks.
The series shows the escapades of a Time Lord known as the Doctor. He was an alien being from the planet Gallifrey who looks like a human. Also, he had the ability to regenerate into a new form after a while. The Doctor searched the universe with the help of the TARDIS, a time-traveling alien spacecraft. The exterior of the TARDIS looks like a blue police box. With different companions, the Doctor fights enemies works to save humankind, and assists people in need.
Doctor Who series has inspired many spin-offs, movies, comic books, and new series.
Westworld
A dystopian sci-fi TV series, Westworld, was made by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan.
Set in Westworld, an imaginary, technologically sophisticated Wild-West-themed amusement park occupied by robots, more precisely, android hosts. This park caters to rich and powerful visitors who could indulge in the craziest fantasy in the park without fear of revenge from the android hosts when the program prevents them from killing and injuring human beings. Afterward, in the 3rd season, the setting goes beyond the real world in the middle of the 21st century, where human lives are driven as well as controlled by Rehoboam, a powerful artificial intelligence.
The series is based on the 1973 film of the same name, directed by Michael Crichton. The first season, out of three seasons so far, premiered in October 2016 on HBO, and the premiere of the fourth season is scheduled for June 2022.
The Mandalorian
A space western TV series by Jon Favreau for Disney, The Mandalorian is the initial live-action TV show in the franchise of Star Wars, starting five years after the 1983 Return of the Jedi events, and Pedro Pascal as the star, playing the role of lone bounty hunter that goes on the run to secure a small child, Baby Yoda. As the plot unfolds at some point we will meet some old heroes like Ahsoka and Boba Fett.
The series, of eight episodes in the first season, came out in November 2019 on Disney +. The uncertainty around the third season seems to have come to an end, as Disney has announced its third sequel for February 2023.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
George Lucas’s computer-animated series, The Clone Wars, started with a dramatic and pretentious feature movie which was released on the 15th of August 2008 and shortly thereafter, on the 3rd of October 2008, aired on Cartoon Network.
The plot is set in the fictional SW galaxy during the 3 years between the prequel movies Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. We follow the story of well-known Jedi: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka in a fight with the mysterious Sith Lords. During the battles, there are many ups and downs of the main characters, as well as many victories and defeats. Every episode had a running time of about twenty-two minutes.
The series ended with the final seventh season at Disney Plus. The supervising director of The Clone Wars show is Dave Filoni.
Loki
This is another among the many popular superhero shows. Aired on one of the most popular streaming services, this American Sci-Fi series was made by Michael Waldron based on Marvel Comics, which features a superhero of the same name.
Loki happens after the 2019 movie Avengers: Endgame wherein an alternative version of Loki manages to escape and makes a whole new timeline.
It’s the 3rd TV show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is produced by Marvel Studious, which intertwines with movies from the franchise. The first season was directed by Kate Herron along with Eric Martin, and the head writer was Waldron himself. The second season was directed by Aaron Moorhead, and Justin Benson was the head writer.
The 100
This is a post-apocalyptic TV show with a sci-fi premise that first aired in March 2014 on The CW Network.
The story begins 97 years after the nuclear cataclysm that devastated Earth and follows 100 incarcerated juvenile delinquents, all stunning young individuals from a space station that orbits Earth, who were sent down to try the viability of going back to the surface after years of deadly radioactivity. When they come to earth, they find almost ideal conditions in the swollen vegetation. However, it turns out that not everything is so ideal because many unforeseen dangers lurk around every corner. Then begins their struggle for survival in an unknown and dangerous world. The tale of survival could easily have been a relationship drama in a post-apocalyptic environment.
The creator of the series is Jason Rothenberg and the main stars are Bob Morley, Eliza Taylor, and Marie Avgeropoulos. The series has seven seasons, and the final season finished airing in September 2020.
Superman & Lois
This is one of the most popular superhero series made by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing for The CW. This superhero show was based on the popular characters in DC Comics, Superman and Lois Lane, made by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Elizabeth Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin star as the characters superman or Clark Kent, a costumed superhero, and Lois Lane, a journalist working in Daily Planet. This comic book adaptation is set on an alternate Earth separate from Earth-Prime in the new multiverse, sharing the same characters with the other superhero shows of the franchise. The series first appeared in February 2021.
Devs
Another popular and most talked about sci-fi thriller TV miniseries is Devs.
Sonoya Mizuno plays the role of Lily Chan who is a professional software engineer for Amaya, a quantum computing firm operated and managed by mysterious Forest, played by Nick Offerman. Soon, Lily becomes involved in the inexplicable loss of her boyfriend, who passed away on the first day of his work at Devs. These TV series explore topics associated with determinism and free will, and Silicon Valley. Devs received a lot of positive feedback from viewers, with critics praising its acting, cinematography, imagination as well as the soundtrack.
Devs are written, created as well as directed by Alex Garland, produced for FX on Hulu, and were aired on the 5th of March 2020.
The series ran for one season.
Altered Carbon
A cyberpunk TV series made by Laeta Kalogridis, Altered Carbon was aired on Netflix on the 2nd of February 2018. The novel, on which the series is based, was published in 2002.
The plot is set in a dystopian future in which consciousness is digitized and stored and can be transferred to different bodies.
The story follows former skilled soldier Takeshi Kovacs, who was transferred from an off-world prison by order of a very influential powerful man and placed in the role of an investigator to solve the murder.
The first season consisted of 10 episodes. Altered Carbon was renewed for another season with eight episodes that were released on the 27th of February 2020, with an anime movie set prior to the release of the first season. Even if the series received a lot of positive feedback from critics and viewers alike, it was stopped after two seasons.
For All Mankind
This is a sci-fi drama streaming TV series written and created by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore and made for Apple TV.
For All Mankind is set in an alternate history of Earth, portraying what would have occurred if the world space race was still going on, starting with the Soviet Union’s success in the first moon landing before the United States. That initial shock to people across the US set off events in the space race that went in unpredictable directions, dramatizing future events in an unusual way. The Cold War takes on new dimensions and leads to an unpredictable intensification of events.
This is a star-studded TV series including Joel Kinnaman, who played the lead role as a fictional NASA astronaut named Edward Baldwin, along with co-stars Jodi Balfour, Shantel VanSanten, Sarah Jones, Michael Dorman as well as Wrenn Schmidt in other starring roles. For All Mankind features famous astronauts from the past such as Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, all from Apollo 11. There is also Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, as well as other historical figures: rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun, United Stated Presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and many others.
Lost in Space
A popular sci-fi streaming series following the escapades of a family of space colonists whose ship veers off route, Lost in Space is a reboot of the old 1965 series of a similar name.
The adventures of the Robinson family begin 30 years into the near future when the human race has advanced technologically, so space travel is a reality. On their journey to a new colony on a distant planet, their spaceship Jupiter 2 deviates from the course and crashes on an unknown planet, light years away. Then begins their struggle for survival in a world where many hidden dangers lurk.
This was produced by Synthesis Entertainment, Applebox Entertainment, Clickety-Clack Productions, and Legendary Television and written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, with Zack Estrin serving as showrunner. The series was released by Netflix on the 13th of April 2018 and renewed the following month for another season. On the 24th of December 2019, the second season was aired, and on the 9th of March 2020, this was renewed for the last season, released on the 1st of December 2021 on Netflix.
Star Wars Rebels
Another popular American three-dimensional sci-fi TV show is SW Rebels. Lucasfilm Animation was the producer of this series and set in the SW universe, happening over a decade after Revenge of the Sith as well as progressing toward the original trilogy. It portrays the Galactic Empire chasing the last of the Jedi while a hatchling rebellion against the Empire takes place. The visual design of Rebels is inspired by the original concept of the SW trilogy by Ralph McQuarrie.
This features new stars together with a few from the original trilogy and from The Clone Wars, a previous animated series.
Foundation
This is also a popular and highly watched sci-fi streaming TV series for Apple TV created by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer. This is another series based on one of the popular sci-fi novels. And it is about the series of novels ‘Foundation’ by Isaac Asimov, a popular American writer.
In the distant future, the human species will spread throughout the galaxy, where a powerful empire will rise over time. The Empire now faces a threat unlike any it has faced since its inception. The galaxy’s leading psycho-historian Hari Seldon predicts a major threat to the empire in the form of several millennia of chaos.
Foundation TV series features a group cast headed by Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey as well as Jared Harris. This series was aired in September 2021, with ten episodes in the first season. It was also officially renewed for the second season.
Resident Alien
A popular American sci-fi mystery comedy-drama TV show made by Chris Sheridan, Resident Alien is perhaps one of the most popular and awaited TV series these days. The series was based on an admired comic book of the same name by Steve Parkhouse and Peter Hogan. Alan Tudyk is the leading character of the series.
An alien came to earth from the depths of space with a mission to destroy the human race. On landing, his spaceship crashes to the ground, but he survives. He assumes the identity of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigel in order to more easily hide his true identity while carrying out his mission. However, an unforeseen development of events occurs and he comes into contact with people more and more, gets to know them, and temporarily leaves his mission.
The first episodes of this series were aired in January 2021. This was renewed for another season that aired on the 26th of January, 2022. The second season is composed of sixteen episodes, divided into two eight parts of the episode, with the 2nd half aired in the middle of 2022.
Raised by Wolves
If you are searching for a sci-fi drama TV show, we highly recommend Raised by Wolves.
The story is set in the future, where the planet Earth is ravaged by a war between two warring parties, believers and atheists. An atheistic android architect sends two of his creations, Mother and Father, to the planet Kepler 22b to establish a colony of atheists. However, their peace in raising a new generation of colonists is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Mithraic, a religious order, who are their mortal enemies. There has been contact between the newcomers and the new generation of colonists-children, and unforeseen circumstances are also happening on the planet itself.
This was produced by Aaron Guzikowski and aired on the 3rd of September, 2020, on HBO Max. Ridley Scot was the director of the first two episodes and also worked as an executive producer. On the 3rd of February, 2020, the Raised by Wolves series was renewed for another season right after its debut. The first season received a lot of positive feedback from viewers, while the second season received negative reviews from the audience.
And four more sci-fi TV shows that are worth mentioning:
Red Dwarf (1988-Present)
For a specific generation of geeks, this comedy lives up to the pledge of its title, a dense, deep, radiant cult classic that sucked its diehard fanatics into its gravitational orifice and never let go. Mixing the BBC’s delightfully ramshackle, definitely non- Hollywood science-fiction style with a Britcom setup regarding antagonistic coworkers trapped together in deep space, it has been revived many times to global acclaim.
The story follows perhaps the last human being who is stranded in deep space with his unusual friends three million years in the future.
There are thirteen seasons so far.
The Twilight Zone
Now you have crossed into The Twilight Zone, the remarkable brainchild as well as a passion project of television host Rod Serling. After decades in politics, Rod took a massive left turn into the sci-fi realm, making an anthology series that spans more than a hundred episodes and five years. Often brushing up against the paranormal and spooky as conventional science fiction, this series left spectators pondering their humanity after each exceptional episode.
Premiering in 2019, this Twilight Zone is an updated version of the 1959 anthology series featuring a variety of science fiction, horror, and mystery stories.
It was developed with the help of Jordan Peele, Marco Ramirez, and Simon Kinberg. This anthology series has found its place back in past and now.
The X Files
Scully and Mulder are notable names in the Sci Fi genre, and they are the much-loved duo of this extremely iconic science fiction television series, The X Files. The two agents lead this TV series, played notably by Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, taking on unexplainable cases of psychic activity.
In some cases, they are very shocked that an episode was even prohibited from being shown on television. Bouncing between monster of the week type episodes and an impressive, overarching conspiracy plot, this show tackled the whole thing from Bigfoot and the Chupacabra to the Roswell Aliens as well as murderous Artificial Intelligence systems.
With a creative story, a superb cast as well an otherworldly theme tune, we are here to show you that the reality is out there, and it is that this anthology series is considered one of the best and most-watched science fiction series of all time.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Take no notice of the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines events; Fox’s unbelievable, stopped, or ended-too-soon Terminator Sci-Fi series followed battled-tested Lena Headey, who plays the role of Sarah Connor, and John, her son played by Thomas Dekker, the future head of the human resistance group in opposition to the machines, as they moved in time to the year 2007 and tried to defend against cybernetic attackers from the upcoming with the assistance of their own android, Cameron played by Summer Glau. Tapping into similar conceptions as the novel techno-thrillers — the examination of fate versus character — The Sarah Connor Chronicles is indeed the most intensely human entry in the Terminator franchise, fixed by an inspirational performance from Headey, Game of Thrones star, who takes the template of Emilda Hamilton and makes it her own.
Strong yet susceptible and defenseless all the way through, Headey goes deep into the maternal factors of Sarah Connor, and the series has time which the films do not to discover the emotional toll that life on the run and understanding of imminent fate can have on an individual. The series features amazing and great visual effects, too, for a Sci-Fi shows of its time. This managed to constantly bring anxiety-inducing battle sequences. If only you could go back in time and prevent Fox from killing this unbelievable extension of the popular Terminator franchise.
Conclusion
There are a lot of remarkable science fiction TV shows from across the history of television, and we could not fit them all in this article. However, we have chosen some of the best, innovative, daring as well as hilarious shows, which show a superb genre had to give.
The Sci-Fi genre leaves the door open for an entire mix of plot ideas like traveling in time and space or aspiring to answer the question of humankind. Its capability to think the impossible has permitted amazing writers, directors, cast as well as crew to come up with scenarios that you can just dream of –or have dreams about; it depends on what you are watching. While the most excellent Sci Fi movies just have some hours to do this, television series can develop their worlds over whole seasons. All the sci-fi TV shows mentioned are the most-watched TV shows of their time.