Person of Interest follows eccentric billionaire computer programmer Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) who has developed an algorithm called “The Machine” that he claims can predict terrorist acts across the world before they’re even committed. With the help of CIA operative John Reese (Jim Caviezel), Harold and The Machine try to stop threats before they happen, while also confronting the complicated ethics of their preventative measures. If nothing else, Person of Interest was the perfect sci-fi training ground for Nolan in advance of HBO’s much bigger Westworld. – AB
12. The Expanse
The Expanse is special, that rare TV show that has a good story with something to say and the right people telling it. In the case of the political space opera that started on SyFy and finished its six-season run on Amazon Prime Video, the right people were book authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, as well as showrunner Naren Shankar. They were a passionate and talented ensemble of actors, including women of color Cara Gee, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Frankie Adams, and Dominique Tipper. They were the countless other cast and crew members who helped bring this epic to life.
The good story was a complex exploration of a future in which humanity has colonized the Solar System, taking our systems of inequality and exploitation with us. And the something to say perhaps best boils down to a series-ending voiceover from Tipper’s Belter engineer Naomi Nagata: “The universe never tells us if we did right or wrong. It’s more important to try and help people, and to know that you did. More important that someone else’s life gets better, then for you to feel good about yourself … It doesn’t matter if you ever know. You just have to try.” – KB
11. Rick and Morty
At its core, Rick and Morty is an animated family sitcom dressed in the most outlandish sci-fi concepts and served with a healthy dose of cynicism. The show plays fast and loose with all of the best tenets of the genre — futuristic tech, alternate dimensions, exotic alien worlds, existential philosophical quandaries — and delivers them with a hearty burp. Creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon perfectly toe the line between high and low brow comedy, mixing in improvisational riffs just to keep the chaos swirling and the audience on their toes.
Something of an homage to Back to the Future, the series finds titular mad scientist Rick, an alcoholic with a God complex, dragging his naive high school-aged grandson around the galaxy and multiverse with almost no other purpose than to fight off his own crippling boredom. The show can get seriously dark, but it also knows how to bring levity and deliver the typical heart-warming family sitcom moment. Thrilling in its ambition and absurdity, Rick and Morty is a sci-fi high-wire act that continues to surprise and delight. – NH
10. Foundation
Foundation‘s mere existence is a big win for sci-fi nerds of all ages. The fact that it’s also very good just happens to be icing on the cake. This centuries-spanning series based on Isaac Asimov’s classic novels is set in the Galactic Empire run by three cloned emperor “brothers” (one of which is played by Lee Pace). Though the Empire seems stable, “psychohistorian” Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) predicts that its dissolution is fast approaching. To hasten the rebuild of the world to come, Seldon establishes a “Foundation” at the edge of the galaxy and recruits all manner of scholars and survivors to enact his master plan.
Despite running on the, let’s say, lesser-subscribed-to Apple TV+, Foundation is quite simply one of the biggest shows to ever air on television. It looks mind-bogglingly expensive, taking Asimov’s already expansive imagination and casting it out into breathtaking reality. Many thought that Asimov’s series of Foundation novellas-turned-novels would prove unadaptable. But those commentators failed to foresee an entertainment environment that encourages trillion-dollar companies to hand VFX departments a blank check. – AB
9. Fringe
Fringe became a natural successor to The X-Files when it first debuted in 2008, and though this was a much, much slicker sci-fi project from the minds of J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, they’d really done the hard work during the casting process. The show itself, which follows the outlandish casework of the Fringe Division (a Joint Federal Task Force supported by the FBI), simply throws the buttoned-down Agent Olivia Dunham into a working relationship with “mad scientist” Dr. Walter Bishop and his irreverent son Peter, and stands back to watch them cope with one ridiculous scenario after another. But the core acting trio of Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble had all the chemistry needed to make the show work on another level.
The series still took some time to hit its stride. Again, like The X-Files before it, that breakthrough happened when the show’s mythology deepened in Season 2 and beyond. If you were still watching at that point, Fringe soon became appointment viewing with its wild take on parallel universes and alternate timelines, and still makes for an extremely bingeable cult classic. – KH
8. Firefly
Stream on: Hulu (US), Disney+ (UK)
For years after its one-season cancellation in 2003, space western Firefly transcended the identity of mere TV show and became a death lament. Wherever fans would gather, the “f**k you, Fox” cry would echo as tears fell over the loss of this work of staggering genius.
And then the genius in question – creator Joss Whedon – took a mighty dive in popular opinion following misconduct allegations, cast-member Adam Baldwin threw his support behind climate change-denier, anti-abortion, anti-LGBT bigot Ted Cruz in 2016, and Firefly’s premature cancellation no longer seemed like the main story.
Personal mileage on the above will vary, but these 14 episodes (and a movie) following the adventures of the renegade crew of the Serenity led by Nathan Fillion’s Mal remain great viewing. Han Solo-style quipping, a Buffy-ish superpowered kickass girl, a government conspiracy, multiple romantic threads, and terrifying space cannibals who eat you alive…all in a handful of installments that could have been so much more. Can’t stop the signal. – LM
7. Russian Doll
There are very few TV series that can be described as “perfect”, but Netflix’s Russian Doll is one of them. Initially imagined by the viewing public as just the streaming service’s fluffy take on Groundhog Day, Russian Doll caught everyone off-guard with its distinctively weird, crass, and occasionally very unsettling time loop plot, soon becoming that incredibly rare and most wonderful combo: a word-of-mouth smash hit AND a critical darling.
The show follows game developer Nadia (series co-creator Natasha Lyonne in a career best performance), whose 36th birthday turns into a seemingly never-ending therapy cycle when she’s caught in a deteriorating time loop. It’s no coincidence that Nadia is also at a stage in her life when she has settled into a routine she seems a little too comfortable in, so when she finds herself dying repeatedly and coming back to life at the exact same moment during her birthday party, she has to figure out how to escape the loop and make peace with the past before she can even start exploring the future … and that was all just the first season. – KH
6. Orphan Black
Sometimes heavy sci-fi can come across as a little soulless or removed from humanity. Orphan Black, the BBC America thriller developed by Graeme Manson certainly ran the risk of alienating sci-fi-phobic viewers with its high concept plot about a grand cloning conspiracy featuring shadowy corporate machinations and complex themes. Ultimately, however, Orphan Black is one of the most accessible series on this list thanks to one very important factor: Tatiana Maslany.
Maslany puts in some incredible work on Orphan Black. The Canadian actress portrays countless cloned versions of the same character with five, Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Helena, and Rachel Duncan, serving as major ones. Maslany’s brilliant subtle distinctions between multiple identical characters goes far beyond mere novelty and helps the show’s explorations of identity feel far more real and personal. – AB
5. Lost
Stream on: Hulu, Freevee (US); Disney+ (UK)
OK, let’s get one thing out of the way first. No, Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse didn’t know where the show was going at any given moment (and according to Mo Ryan’s reporting, that’s not all they didn’t know about when running the show). But what I would like to put forth right now is a big fat “so what?” Lost is quite simply one of the best and most influential sci-fi television experiences of all time.
Starting with its incredibly ambitious and expensive pilot (directed by J.J. Abrams) and continuing on through its controversial ending (of which I will explain to you if you ask nicely…or even if you don’t ask at all), Lost captivated viewers’ attention spans like little else in its era. A perfect fit for the pit of conspiratorial thinking that was the burgeoning internet, this story about plane crash survivors on a weird ass island was just damn good TV. It also fully embraced its more fantastical elements in later seasons, serving as a good sci-fi Trojan horse for unsuspecting network TV audiences. – AB
4. Stranger Things
Science fiction can be a vehicle to explore complex questions about fate, humanity, and the universe in ways that boring old normal life just can’t accommodate. Some of the best sci-fi stories, however, understand that the genre has a more pure, elemental appeal – that of adventure. Like many of the George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Stephen King genre projects that inspired it, Stranger Things uses science fiction as a jumping off point to tell some truly exciting stories. Through three, soon-to-be-four seasons on Netflix, the Duffer Brother’s sci-fi/horror mashup is far more than just a concentrated dose of ’80s nostalgia. It’s pop entertainment at its finest.
The fictional Hawkins, Indiana is not unlike many other medium-sized Midwestern towns of its era. It’s got a school, a police station, a mall – the whole nine yards. It also just happens to be home to a mysterious psychic research station that unlocks the key to the terrifying Upside Down dimension. Each season of Stranger Things unfolds a compelling sci-fi/horror yarn thanks to some smart storytelling sensibilities and the sheer power of its young cast. Mike, Eleven, Lucas, Dustin, Will, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve have all grown in fascinating, yet logical ways through the show’s run. In that way the show’s arc is not entirely unlike that of a well-played game of Dungeons & Dragons. Everyone grows closer and everyone gets better. That’s the magic of good sci-fi. – AB
3. Doctor Who (2005)
Stream on: Max (US); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Putting Doctor Who in a ranked list of the best sci-fi shows is like putting London Zoo in a ranked list of the best animals. Doctor Who isn’t one thing; it’s loads of things in roughly the same place (specifically: Cardiff). Even just counting from the 21st century TV revival, there are three showrunners, 14 series, six – soon to be seven – lead actors, a minibus-full of Companions and hundreds of episodes with thousands of opinions on them. It’s more ecosystem than TV show.
Taking all that into account, this story of an alien with the power to regenerate into different bodies, who travels around the universe(s) having adventures in time and space with their pals – definitely deserves to be placed at the top of this list. And somewhere around the middle. And right at the bottom. Hence: top three. – LM
2. Black Mirror
If Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones hadn’t made Black Mirror, we wouldn’t only lack a twisted anthology series of the highest order, we’d also lack a shorthand for describing any scenario which is, well, a bit Black Mirror. You know the kind of thing – uneasily intrusive modern technology, or advances that get hijacked by humanity’s worst impulses. Whenever something that should be a Gene Roddenberry-style utopian breakthrough only ends up reflecting our essential weakness as people, that’s Black Mirror. Robot bees. Robot husbands. Robot stuffed toys containing the trapped consciousness of your comatose mother…
Or at least, that was Black Mirror. In its later life, other modes crept into the storytelling. Its Twilight Zone-ish tales expanded to include romance and hope. There was comedy that wasn’t entirely dark-hearted. There was the odd win. And there was ‘San Junipero’. Brooker’s ability to create the nastiest and most woeful scenario out of any technological premise broadened, and the show became all the stronger for it. – LM
1. Battlestar Galactica
Stream on: purchase-only on Apple TV and Amazon (US); BBC iPlayer, Sky (UK)
Battlestar Galactica isn’t just the best sci-fi TV show of the 21st century, it practically recreated sci-fi TV for the 21st century. No disrespect intended to the Star Treks, Stargates, and Babylon 5s of the world, but this 2004-2008 Sci-Fi (now Syfy) series expanded both science fiction and nerd culture itself to a whole new audience.
Of all the concepts to have breakaway mainstream appeal, Battlestar Galactica was one of the least likely going into its late 2003 miniseries debut. The miniseries-then-show was created by Ronald D. Moore (who wrote on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and was a remake of a 1978 series that very few regarded as a classic. The original Battlestar Galactica sought to recapture the magic of Star Wars but instead came to be remembered as a corny pastiche of the regrettable space opera genre.
Impeccably timed for the post 9/11-era, the dark Battlestar Galactica remake was an immediate critical darling and fan favorite. Like the original, this BSG followed the remnants of humanity as they escaped annihilation from their robotic creations known as the Cylons and drifted out into space in search of a new home, protected only by the titular Battlestar Galactica. While things got admittedly a little loopy in the end, Battlestar Galactica’s four seasons, one miniseries, one spinoff, and two TV movies represent some of the most thrilling science fiction the medium of television has to offer. – AB
Honorable Mentions: Torchwood, Colony, Dollhouse, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lost in Space (2018), Dark Angel, Snowpiercer, Counterpart, Dark Matter, Killjoys, Avenue 5, Raised By Wolves
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Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of the 21st Century - Den of Geek
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