Netflix has all forms of entertainment you could ever need. If you’re looking for a great sci-fi series to dive into, there are plenty of excellent options to choose from. In fact, the biggest challenge you’ll likely face is deciding which show to watch first.
Black Mirror and Stranger Things are always solid go-tos. But if you want to dig deeper into Netflix’s sci-fi catalog, I’ve got you covered. Whether you’re in the mood for something bleak and dystopian or light-hearted and relaxing, the streamer has the sci-fi you’re searching for.
I’ve curated a helpful guide to point you toward some awesome science fiction entertainment. Scroll on for the best Netflix sci-fi TV shows you should be watching. Check back often, as I’ll be updating this list monthly.
The Boroughs
The Boroughs is executive-produced by The Duffer Brothers, but this is no Stranger Things. Well, there are some similarities, but rather than teenagers banding together to fight monsters, this show follows elderly residents doing just that. The cast is stacked with genre legends, making this an easy recommendation. The series leans into that nostalgic Amblin vibe from the ’80s and takes place at a retirement village in the middle of the desert, where strange things are happening.
Falling Skies
Before Noah Wyle returned to the emergency room to lead HBO’s acclaimed drama The Pitt, he was busy battling aliens. No, seriously. Falling Skies originally aired on TNT, so take that into consideration when evaluating the story’s quality across the seasons. That said, Falling Skies is a fun ride.
11.22.63
11.22.63 premiered on Hulu a decade ago and has now resurfaced on Netflix. The series, based on a masterful piece of historical fiction by Stephen King, posits the existence of a doorway that can transport you back in time. What would happen if someone went through it with the goal of saving JFK from assassination? That’s the question King tries to answer in both the book and this show. Riveting stuff.
Pantheon
Pantheon premiered on AMC in 2022 and disappeared a year later, which is a shame since the show is top-tier sci-fi entertainment. The program takes place in a reality where human consciousness can be uploaded to the cloud. Netflix’s comedy Bodies (also on this list) tackles similar subject matter. Pantheon is much darker and explores all kinds of hot-button issues like corporate accountability, immortality, and morality, all against a backdrop of an unraveling tech conspiracy.
Orphan Black
Discussing what Orphan Black is about would immediately put me in spoiler territory. All you really need to know is that this is one of the most thought-provoking, engaging, and beloved sci-fi shows to hit TV in the last decade. Tatiana Maslany is the highlight, showcasing her acting range by playing a total of 17 clones here — each with their own mannerisms and accents.
Russian Doll
Time loop stories are nothing new in the sci-fi world, but Russian Doll still manages to carve out its own unique space in the genre. Natasha Lyonne stars as a woman who gets caught in said loop on her 36th birthday, and every time she dies, she restarts her day. Themes of trauma, generational trauma, and addiction permeate the show, making this more than a simple run-of-the-mill comedy.
Resident Alien
Resident Alien, like Orphan Black, isn’t a Netflix original. However, I think both shows deserve to be included on this list — not just because they’re currently streaming on Netflix, but because their cult-favorite status tells me more people need to be introduced to them. Alan Tudyk stars as an alien living among humans trying to carry out a world domination mission. The only problem? He sort of likes being human. He’s just not very good at it.
I Am Not Okay With This
It’s one thing to be a teenager and navigate the awkward parts that high school life has to throw at you. But add some newfound superpowers into the mix, and the challenges become much more complicated. That’s essentially what I Am Not Okay With This is about. The series is based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel and there is only one season. After being renewed, the show was unfortunately canceled due to COVID restrictions and budgetary issues.
Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams
It’s almost expected that when a new genre anthology series premieres, someone will inevitably compare it to The Twilight Zone. Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing with Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams. The new seven-episode anthology series leans heavily into horror territory and does so through an Indonesian lens.
Devil May Cry
The classic video game series gets the anime treatment in Netflix’s Devil May Cry. The gist in a nutshell: Dante, a charismatic demon hunter, has to hunt demons to save humanity. Power Rangers alum Johnny Yong Bosch voices Dante in this action-packed series co-created by Castlevania and Dredd producer Adi Shankar.
Stranger Things
Stranger Things caught on like wildfire when the genre series quietly premiered its first season on Netflix in 2016. What started as an homage to ’80s cinema, with callouts to E.T., Dungeons & Dragons, The Goonies, and the works of Stephen King, has blossomed into a layered and sweeping sci-fi adventure. The program follows a group of teenagers in Hawkins, Indiana, who, after meeting a mysterious girl they call Eleven, discover a strange dimension hiding right beneath their feet. Government cover-ups, demonic hell-beasts, and a cast full of lovable misfit characters make up this tour-de-force genre series.
The Eternaut
Netflix’s beautifully shot, post-apocalyptic series is the long-awaited adaptation of the beloved Argentine graphic novel, El Eternauta, which was first published in 1957. The story follows Juan Salvo and a group of survivors who make it through a deadly snowstorm (the snowflakes actually kill) only to discover the real threat against humanity isn’t a climate anomaly but an alien invasion.
Maniac
Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star in this mind-bending drama from Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) and Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers). The ten-episode series follows Annie (Stone) and Owen (Hill) as they enter a drug trial for a medication that can allegedly cure all their problems. As you might expect, it doesn’t. Stone and Hill look like they’re having an absolute blast throughout the show, as they get to inhabit a range of different characters. The addition of Sonoya Mizuno, Justin Theroux, and Sally Field to the cast make this an underappreciated gem worth your time.
Travelers
Time travel is the name of the game in this sci-fi series that flew under the radar for many. Led by Will & Grace alum Eric McCormack, the show follows a group of people whose consciousnesses are sent back in time to inhabit different people’s bodies to make humanity better by changing the past. It sounds complicated, but I promise you, it’s not.
3 Body Problem
3 Body Problem was created by Game of Thrones alums David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, alongside True Detective showrunner Alexander Woo, and is based on the Hugo Award-winning novel by Liu Cixin. The high-concept sci-fi series connects a watershed moment in 1960s China to the present day, where a group of scientists must face an emerging global threat unlike anything humanity has ever seen.
Archive 81
This sci-fi horror series, which was loosely inspired by the found footage podcast of the same name, follows a film archivist who restores documentary footage found on a collection of videotapes from 1994. Through his work, he’s pulled into a terrifying mystery surrounding the content on the tapes. Netflix may have only given this series one season, but it’s still a riveting watch.
The Umbrella Academy
Inspired by the comic book created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, the series follows a group of adopted superhero siblings who were raised to save the world. From time travel to saving humanity from multiple apocalyptic events, the ongoing adventures of the dysfunctional Hargreeves flip expected genre tropes on their heads. It’s quirky, off-beat, hilarious and poignant.
Supacell
Supacell takes the familiar superhero story and flips the script. The series follows four Black people living in South London who suddenly develop superpowers. What connects each of them to their newfound abilities are their families’ histories with sickle cell disease — a common genetic condition. Using the genre as its storytelling foundation, the show delves into the human drama that plays out among these characters while highlighting relevant cultural themes like racism, human trafficking, and predatory healthcare practices.
Black Mirror
Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror set the standard for what a modern-day genre anthology series can be. Every story featured throughout the series, which currently has six seasons and an interactive standalone movie worth visiting, takes place in a near-future world where technology has affected humanity in unprecedented, strange, and horrifying ways. Uplifting to horrific, Black Mirror is a brain worm of a television show that’ll keep you thinking long after the credits roll.
The OA
They broke the mold when they made The OA. The two-season series created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij follows the story of Prairie Johnson (Marling), a young blind woman who, after being missing for seven years, returns to her family with her sight restored. Where was she all those years? How can she see? Parallel existences across multiple dimensions, that’s how. OK, that answer barely scratches the surface of this incredibly strange and layered program. Come for the quantum physics, stay for the interpretive dance routines.
Dark
Like Stranger Things, Dark kicks off with the inexplicable disappearance of a child. Instead of another version of the Upside Down plaguing the town, the German series dabbles with time travel to explore how a family and community can be affected by the event of a child going missing. A noir slow burn that leans heavily into the horrors of generational trauma, Dark lasted three seasons on Netflix. It’ll definitely get under your skin.
1899
1899 was created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar — the same duo who brought Dark to Netflix — and follows a group of passengers on a ship heading to New York at the turn of the century. This is more than a run-of-the-mill period piece. Once things kick off, the show throws time travel, multiple dimensions, reality simulations, and other bits of sci-fi craziness at the screen. It may not have gotten a season 2, but there is still plenty of genre goodness to mull over here.
Parasyte: The Grey
In Parasyte: The Grey, alien parasites land on Earth and start turning people into shape-shifting monsters. To battle this rising Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style threat, survivors — otherwise known as “The Grey” — rise up to save humanity and the planet. Inspired by the manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki, this Korean series should please any horror and sci-fi fan.
Sense8
Matrix creators Lilly and Lana Wachowski teamed up with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to bring Sense8 to Netflix. The supernatural drama follows eight random people from around the world who discover they are emotionally and mentally linked. Called “sensates,” the group learns from each other as they are literally forced to walk in each others’ shoes and take on new and exciting experiences. Things wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of a shadowy organization hunting them all down. Over two seasons, the show explored timely issues like gender, sexuality, and identity, blending genres like telenovela, K-drama, Bollywood, and Euro-noir as it hops across the globe.
Altered Carbon
Based on the book by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon exists in a future world where consciousness can be moved from one body to another. Joel Kinnaman starred in the first season as ex-soldier Takeshi Kovacs. His mission to solve a murder evolves into a journey of self-discovery as he works to track down his lost love and answers about his former life. Season 2 finds Anthony Mackie stepping into the role to further the cyberpunk noir story.
Love, Death + Robots
Mixing different animation styles with live-action, Love, Death + Robots is an anthology unlike many others. The series, which has drawn comparisons to Black Mirror, dips into a vast collection of standalone stories that explore a world where sentient robots, creatures, and other such beings have more humanity than humanity itself.
Lost in Space
Using the 1965 series as inspiration, Lost in Space follows the Robinson family on a space mission to colonize a planet as humanity teeters on the brink of collapse. The show is heavy on family drama, which can be off-putting at times. But thanks to the sociopolitical conflict, a cool alien robot friend, and Parker Posey’s deliciously villainous Dr. Smith, the show holds up.
Manifest
For its first three seasons, Manifest was an NBC favorite. After it was canceled by the network, Netflix swooped in to revive the series. The story follows the passengers of Flight 828, who arrive at their destination five years after initially taking off. The survivors start having premonitions and visions that help them save others from disasters that have yet to occur. It’s sort of like Lost and Final Destination had a baby, kinda.
Alice in Borderland
Alice in Borderland is based on the manga by Haro Aso and follows a group of characters in a parallel version of Tokyo forced to compete in a series of twisted games to stay alive. This battle royale-style thriller will appeal to fans of life-or-death competition titles like Squid Game, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royale.
