The best science fiction TV to watch on Netflix

By James On Jan 31, 2024

What do you look for in a good science fiction series? Brave new worlds, time travel conspiracies, wise cracking automatons and crazy speculative madness? We all have our own personal favorites, especially when it comes to the best science fiction TV available on Netflix.

We’ve combined our collective passion and knowledge of the genre to bring you our list of the coolest under-the-radar series to check out if you’re looking for a daring new adventure to get lost in. With high-quality psychological thrillers, globe-spanning mysteries, and odysseys that brave the farthest known reaches of the universe (and beyond), we’ve hand-picked the best series for you to watch.

Here’s our list of the best science fiction TV series to watch on Netflix.

Bodies

Image: Netflix

episodes: 8
Creator: Paul Tomalin
Form: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Shira Haas, Amaka Okafor

Four detectives in London try to unravel a centuries-old conspiracy surrounding a mysterious corpse. This is where the sci-fi weirdness comes in: it’s the exactly the same body, left in the exactly the same location, rediscovered again and again in 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053.

The series jumps back and forth between these four time periods, deftly interweaving historical narratives and speculative fiction to create a tangled web of shocking discoveries and gripping personal revelations. Bodies is most enjoyable in moments where one of the detectives notices an intriguing clue left by another detective more than a lifetime ago, with virtually nothing in common aside from the nature of their profession and their tireless search for answers and justice. If you haven’t seen it yet Bodies considering it quietly premiered on Netflix last October, you absolutely should. —Toussaint Egan

Dark

episodes: 26
Makers: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
Form: Louis Hofmann, Lisa Vicari, Gina Alice Stiebitz

It’s not a spoiler to say that Dark is a time travel show. Actually, it’s more of a starting point. But if your typical problem with time travel is that they don’t take the issue seriously enough, or don’t delve into its weirdness and complications, then Dark is the perfect science fiction series for you.

The German-language series follows the residents of a small town full of secrets as they experience the tragedy of a child who mysteriously disappeared. Of course, the disappearance is just the beginning, and things get a lot more complicated from there. The more the characters travel through time and discover their town, the more complicated and exciting the mystery of the series becomes.

Dark are a lot of things. It’s a compelling family drama, a time travel mystery, one of TV’s most bizarre shows and a journey to the end of the world. But above all, it is one of the best and most complicated science fiction shows ever produced. —Austen Goslin

The OA

episodes: 16
Makers: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
Form: Brit Marling, Emory Cohen, Jason Isaacs

Sci-fi has a reputation for being Big: big set pieces, new worlds, grandiose social commentary. The OA is a good example of this – namely by doing almost none of these things. It’s a much smaller-scale story, about a young woman (Brit Marling) who returns after being missing for seven years, now calling herself “the OA” (which stands for “the original angel”), and who is no longer blind. .

The story goes to some wild places, but never loses the sci-fi feel, enhanced by its narrow focus and limited budget. But what the story lacks in hifalutin VFX, it makes up for in its Big Heart and Big Ideas The OA the no-brainer cult hit that it is today. —Zosha Millman

Pluto

Inspector Gesicht aims an arm-mounted projectile cannon into a forest.

episodes: 8
Creator: Toshio Kawaguchi
Form: Shinshū Fuji, Yoko Hikasa, Mamoru Miyano

Based on the legendary manga by Naoki Urasawa, Pluto is a small wonder of a show: an eight-episode sci-fi thriller about an amnesiac robot detective tasked with hunting down a serial killer determined to kill the world’s most powerful robots.

The miniseries was quietly produced over the course of six years, and it shows: each of the approximately hour-long episodes is packed with dazzling visuals, impressive action sequences, and creatively implemented CGI. It’s a rollercoaster of a story that lovingly recreates the world and characters of Urasawa’s manga beat by beat and almost shot by shot, paying tribute to the critically acclaimed universe while adapting to take advantage of modern animation at its best. Pluto is not only one of the best anime of 2023, but also one of the best shows of 2023, period. If that doesn’t earn it the distinction of being one of the best science fiction shows on Netflix, I don’t know what else will. -AT

Sentence8

A group of people, including the protagonists of Sense8, standing over the shoulders of two people typing on laptops in Sense8.

episodes: 24
Makers: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski
Form: Aml Ameen, Bae Doona, Jamie Clayton

The Wachowskis series was canceled prematurely due to the (understandably extreme) cost per episode Sentence8 nevertheless managed to wrap up the major plot points and reach a fairly satisfying conclusion. Still, it feels like looking back at the pace of the first season The Matrix writer-directors and Babylon 5J. Michael Straczynski thought they had all the time in the world to finish this story. It begins when eight adult characters in eight countries around the world all become connected as ‘sensates’, able to communicate telepathically and share sensations and skills. (And also having sex with each other; this is one of the hottest shows on Netflix.)

There’s a thriller movie overplot involving a downright terrifying, sensual hunter who wants to dissect For Science’s protagonists, but for much of the running time: Sentence8 is much more a wish-fulfillment fantasy of human connection, with these eight people providing each other with companionship, care, and skill-sharing in emergency situations. And again, sex: this is a feast for the eyes driven by sense and sensuality, shot on location in the characters’ eight countries, with an eye for beautiful locations and beautifully exposed bodies. It’s a flawed show in so many ways, but it’s deeply heartfelt and cheesy, and it’s one of the most ambitious productions Netflix has ever made. —Tasha Robinson