It can be a pain waiting months or even years for your favorite television shows to drop new seasons, but these classic science fiction series can be binged from start to finish. Shows like Severance and Fallout may be worth the long wait between installments, but many viewers are still looking for something to watch in the meantime.

As a genre, science fiction has the unique ability to offer a glimpse of possible futures while also reflecting our own society. With the sheer number of streaming services available, more of these sci-fi sagas are available to watch than ever before. Whether you're looking for an action-packed story to watch over a long weekend or an epic space opera that spans the galaxy, these sci-fi series offer something for everyone.

9 Lost

Aired From September 22, 2004 To May 23, 2010 — 6 Seasons

Soon after Lost premiered in 2004, the show became a cultural phenomenon, sparking water cooler conversations every week as viewers speculated about what was really going on with the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. The show follows a compelling ensemble cast of characters who end up stranded on a desert island after their plane crashes. Over the next six seasons, the survivors encounter numerous strange phenomena as they work to untangle the mysteries of the island.

While Lost was surely fun to watch as it aired, I think the show benefits even more from binge-watching. With the large cast of characters and the complicated lore, it would be easy to forget important details between seasons or even between individual episodes. While Lost's series finale may be divisive, binge-watching the show reveals that Lost answered most of the questions it raised.

8 The Expanse

Aired From December 14, 2015 To January 14, 2022. — 6 Seasons

Based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse begins as a gritty sci-fi murder mystery, but soon becomes an epic space opera. The series features a large ensemble cast, but often focuses on James Holden (Steven Strait) and his crew aboard the Rocinante, who all make for compelling leads. Holden and his friends get caught up in political conflicts involving human colonies scattered throughout the galaxy.

After The Expanse was canceled by Syfy in 2018, Amazon Prime Video picked up the show for three more seasons, thanks in part to a successful fan campaign.

Each season, the universe of The Expanse grows, as the show adds more characters and more complications. The Expanse came to a satisfying conclusion in 2022 with its sixth season, which depicted the events of the sixth book, Babylon's Ashes. Although there are three more books in the series, they take place after a 30-year time jump, and the show does a good job of wrapping up the characters' stories while leaving the door open for a future continuation.

7 Farscape

Aired From March 19, 1999 To March 21, 2003 — 4 Seasons

When American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) inadvertently flies into a wormhole, he ends up on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy. He soon encounters a living alien spaceship called Moya and her ragtag crew of eccentric aliens, including former Peacekeeper officer Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). As John Crichton tries to find a way back to Earth, he and his new friends have run-ins with the Peacekeepers and confront various events from their pasts.

Although many Farscape episodes include self-contained stories, the series mostly follows season-long story arcs as Crichton tries to navigate his new reality. With animatronic puppets created by The Jim Henson Company, Farscape has some incredibly unique aliens. Farscape was originally meant to run for five seasons, but was canceled after four, although the mini-series Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars nicely wraps up the story.

6 Orphan Black

Aired From March 30, 2013 To August 12, 2017 — 5 Seasons

Soon after Orphan Black begins, Sarah Manning discovers herself to be a clone and gets pulled into a dark world of illegal human cloning and experimentation. Tatiana Maslany stars as Sarah and all of her clones, brilliantly making them all unique characters. Truly, Orphan Black is worth watching just for Maslany's performance, as she effortlessly portrays clones impersonating other clones while still making them distinct.

With heartbreaking twists and reveals, Orphan Black explores some dark themes, and it's a roller coaster from start to finish. From the biotech corporation that created the clones to the religious group seeking to eliminate them, Sarah and her fellow clones face enemies on all sides, and the sisterhood they form as they fight becomes the heart of the show.

5 Babylon 5

Aired From February 22, 1993 To November 25, 1998 — 5 Seasons

Centering on the staff and residents of a space station known as Babylon 5, Babylon 5 tackles numerous political and social issues that remain relevant today. The station at the center of the show serves as a hub for diplomacy and trade, and the characters stand against authoritarianism while facing threats of war and interstellar conflict. Babylon 5 featured an ensemble cast, with characters coming and going as the series progressed.

Babylon 5 received critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including two Emmys, two Hugos, one Saturn, and one Nebula award.

Unlike many shows of the time, Babylon 5 featured lengthy storylines that sometimes shifted the status quo of the series. Initially conceived to span five seasons, Babylon 5 spawned a franchise consisting not only of those five seasons but also six additional movies, an animated direct-to-video film, one season of a spin-off called Crusade, and numerous failed spin-offs and reboots.

4 Fringe

Aired From September 9, 2008 To January 18, 2013 — 5 Seasons

In many ways a spiritual successor to The X-Files, Fringe follows FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and her team as they investigate strange cases related to fringe science. Fringe begins in a more episodic manner, telling self-contained mysteries each week, but the show dives deeper into its mythology as it progresses.

Created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, Fringe explores everything from human experimentation to parallel universes. Fringe faced threats of cancellation after its fourth season, but was ultimately picked up for a 13-episode final season to wrap up the storyline. With compelling characters and intriguing mysteries, Fringe remains delightfully weird and entertaining, and comes to a satisfying conclusion that feels right for the characters.

3 Stargate SG-1

Aired From July 27, 1997 To June 22, 2007 — 10 Seasons

With 10 seasons and two movies, Stargate SG-1 may not be a quick binge, but it delivers some truly amazing science fiction stories. Created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, Stargate SG-1 follows the events of the 1994 film Stargate and centers on the adventures of Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and his team at Stargate Command (SGC). At the heart of the SGC is a massive portal known as a Stargate that allows travel to planets throughout the galaxy.

In its earliest seasons, SG-1 mostly tackles episodic stories, as Jack and his team explore a new planet each week. As the show progresses, it incorporates more serialized story arcs as it dives deeper into the mythology of the Stargates. Drawing from various ancient mythologies, Stargate SG-1 creates a fascinating universe, and its characters truly come to feel like a family throughout the show's 10 seasons.

2 12 Monkeys

Aired From January 16, 2015 To July 6, 2018 — 4 Seasons

Part post-apocalyptic survival story and part time travel mystery, 12 Monkeys takes the story first introduced in the 1995 film and spins it into something greater. The show centers on James Cole (Aaron Stanford), a scavenger from a desolate future who gets pulled into a plot to rewrite the past. In Cole's timeline, a devastating virus decimated the Earth's population in 2017, and a group of scientists has been working on a way to travel back in time and prevent the disaster.

The 12 Monkeys television show was created by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. Matalas later acted as showrunner for Star Trek: Picard seasons 2 and 3, and he incorporated numerous shout-outs to 12 Monkeys.

Virologist Dr. Cassie Railly (Amanda Schull) gets pulled into Cole's orbit, and the two encounter a fascinating cast of characters in their quest to save the future. With its brilliant use of time travel, jaw-dropping plot twists, and truly captivating characters, 12 Monkeys is an underrated gem that can easily be binged over a week or two. The series packs a lot of story into its four seasons, and ultimately brings everything to a satisfying finale that ties up all the loose ends.

1 Star Trek: The Next Generation

Aired From September 28, 1987 To May 23, 1994 — 7 Seasons

Following the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his Enterprise crew, Star Trek: The Next Generation brought the iconic Star Trek franchise into a new era. While the show got off to a bit of a rough start, it would go on to deliver some of the best sci-fi television of all time. Captain Picard and his crew remain one of Star Trek's most likable cast of characters, and most of the show's stories hold up today.

From period pieces on the holodeck to hard-hitting sci-fi to heartbreaking stories of family, TNG has it all and comes to a beautiful conclusion at the end of its seven seasons. While four feature films continued the adventures of the Enterprise-D crew, the show can easily be enjoyed on its own. And it's the perfect thing to watch while we all wait for the next season of Severance.