Sci-fi shows this year range from big-budget video game adaptations such as Fallout to quirky animated gems like Iwájú. Whether they come from existing franchises, adaptations of books or totally original stories, they all explore the wide world that the science fiction genre has to offer – because in reality it is rather a range. We have Lego, we have zombies, we have robots and more. The sci-fi umbrella is big enough for everyone.
So what are the best ones to watch, the cream of the crop from 2024? Here are Polygon’s picks for the best science fiction television of the year.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Fallout felt like a small miracle of the year: a show set in the world of a video game franchise that effectively and cleverly built on the lore, rules, and tone of the games. We follow Lucy (Ella Purnell), who ventures outside her vault for the first time. What she finds in the wasteland is, of course, corruption and madness – this is Fallout, after all.
What makes Fallout it feels great how easily it goes further. Of course there are the one-off NPC tributes and the major expansions (or even just possible departure) of gaming mythology. But as precise as Fallout It feels, it also just feels like a freewheeling sci-fi world that’s just fun to live in. There are cyber feet and decapitation devices and irradiated creatures and an entire religious order built around ‘klutzy’ steel armor. It lives up to its bona fides and sci-fi potential, but it also just comes across confidently and gives a big story told through different characters. —Zosha Millman
Yeon Sang-ho’s work is often at the intersection of science fiction and horror. Zombie movies (Train to Busan), supernatural horror (Hellbound) – even his simpler science fiction projects usually contain some horror elements.
Parasite: The Grayits Netflix sequel to Hellbound‘s first season goes to extremes. The show is a live-action spin-off of the popular manga series and follows the aftermath of an invasion of Earth by parasitic creatures that kill people and take over their bodies. But when a woman (Jeon So-nee) finds herself in a more symbiotic relationship with her parasite, everything is called into question. Like most of Yeon’s projects, it’s a really fun time full of genre thrills, with some of the best VFX you’ll see this year. —Piet Volk
Where to watch: Apple TV Plus
A cat-and-mouse thriller spanning the multiverse – Wait! Don’t leave! The multiverse craze isn’t dead yet! This is one of the good ones!
Based on the novel of the same name by Blake Crouch, Dark matter finds Jason (Joel Edgerton) kidnapped and dumped in an underground laboratory… located in a parallel universe. The masked assailant behind the crime: his doppelgänger, ‘Jason 2’, who plans to spend the rest of his days with Jason 1’s wife, Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), the one who escaped into his world. Even after discovering Jason 2’s process for crossing over, returning to his place in spacetime proves no easy feat for Jason 1, as the psychedelic drugs that allow his mind to navigate the multiverse don’t come with a map , which keeps him on the run. a roulette journey to other versions of Earth, both dangerous (Ice Age world! Zombie world!) and utopian.
Like Throw it away or The Martian, Dark matter is a story of survival between people and impossible odds. But thanks to the split perspectives of Jason 1 and Jason 2, and perhaps Crouch’s choice to adapt his own novel, the show puts an emphasis on the consequences of how relationships would warp and spark under the larger-than-life situation. Joining Jason 1 in his race across the multiverse is Jason 2’s girlfriend, Amanda (Alice Braga), who challenges his “love conquers all” mission while navigating her own relationship with the man she now has as the more compassionate version of. encounters, questions. At the same time, Jason 2, a talented scientist who has given up meaningful relationships in his own world, struggles to keep up appearances with Jason 1’s family. He has the looks, but not the heart.
The grounded approach combined with bursts of the fantastic leaves Dark matter it feels more like an episodic version The Fountain than anything in the MCU, all anchored by the delicate performances of Edgerton, Connelly and Braga. —Matte plasters
Where to watch: Disney Plus
Disney’s collaboration with pan-African studio Kugali is only six half-hour episodes, but it’s impressive. It is a very tight story set in futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. The wealthy enjoy the benefits of technology, such as flying cars and high-tech computers; the poor, meanwhile, work their tails off for a fraction of that in separate parts of the city controlled by crime lords. The show follows two children, a rich but lonely girl and the smart but poor boy who works for her father. Iwájú doesn’t waste a moment in its captivating world. —Petrana Radulovic
Where to watch: Disney Plus
This year, Doctor Who danced back onto the screens with aplomb. Sure, it wasn’t the most even season, week to week. But the downs were more than offset by standout sci-fi parable episodes like “Boom” and “73 Yards.” Even charming interludes like “Dot and Bubble” and “Rogue” succeeded as showcases for the sheer charisma of WHO‘s new stars, Millie Gibson as orphaned companion Ruby Sunday and the exciting Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor.
Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies showed he could still make the old tunes sing, and that too Doctor Who could break new ground for the veteran sci-fi staple – a Doctor of Color, staunchly trans-positive themes – while remaining effortlessly and vibrantly itself. —Susana Polo
When Netflix announced this Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss would helm an adaptation of Cixin Liu’s The three-body problem next to Alexander Woo, the question from those who had read the book was simple: how? The book is one of those considered non-adaptable, filled with dense scientific descriptions and not much in terms of character interior or motivation.
The answer: by making some serious changes (but keeping some of the book’s most intense moments). The one from Netflix 3 Body problem dramatically accelerated the timeline of the books, borrowed characters from later books in the series, and attempted to put more focus on the people involved in this very science-driven story. For the most part, it worked: it told a complicated but compelling story about humanity in crisis (and with sick VR headsets). The show will get two more seasons to conclude the saga. —PV
Where to watch: Prime Video
Sadly canceled after two intriguing, bizarre seasons, this existential sci-fi western has great writing, an excellent cast (led by Josh Brolin, Lili Taylor and Imogen Poots) and just now the right amount Twin peaks influence.
A family drama from which some notes are also taken Yellowstone, Out of reach follows the Abbotts, a Wyoming farming family grappling with two major problems: (1) conniving wealthy neighbors who are eyeing their property and (2) a gigantic hole that has recently appeared in their property that no one seems to fully understand. Both are great focal points for the family drama that follows, as the Abbotts’ strong bonds are strained by the difficulty of their situation. —PV
Where to watch: AppleTVPlus
Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones) doesn’t want any of this. She doesn’t want to have lost her husband and son in a plane crash; she doesn’t want her mother-in-law telling her how to grieve. And her Certainly doesn’t want the giant helper robot Sunny (Joanna Sotomura) to come into her company. But since Sunny has been abandoned by her roboticist husband, Suzie tries (or at least can’t figure out how to shut Sunny down completely).
And that’s a good thing, because Suzie soon discovers that something is up special about Sunny, something people are willing to kill for. The more Suzie investigates what Sunny’s deal is and why she has been placed in Suzie’s care, the bigger the conspiracy becomes. Sunny is indulgent as it unravels this, methodically moving through the mysteries of this softer, slightly crazy version of an alt-Japan. Ultimately, it’s the way the show balances its many flavors – the intrigue, the sadness, the crazy – that makes Sunny worthy of being one of the best science fiction of the year. It feels like the future without losing the sense of what it feels like now. That way it’s very easy to want. —HM
Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy
What to watch: Disney Plus
Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy purposefully breaks all Star Wars “rules” to have some fun. After all, isn’t the core of playing with Legos creativity?
To break the rules, this special technically introduces some of them new lines. But while the details of how this multiverse works can lead to some very devastating implications, the actual mix of the multiverse leads to some crazy, fun times. Ewok bounty hunters? Is Emperor Palpatine a friendly old Jedi master? Leia and Greedo are a romantic item? It’s like playing with Lego as a kid and saying ‘yes, and’ to all the crazy ideas about your favorite characters. —PR