The appeal of the best dystopian sci-fi TV shows, is that they explore human truths using the context of technological advancement. From body modifications to time travel, sci-fi presents the dream of breaking boundaries that physics and biology impose on us, and uses that context to confront viewers with questions about the nature of humanity. While some shows like Star Trek have such a legacy that they're not only always ed but consistently rebooted, some equally great shows have a more unfortunate fate.
The problem of relying on viewership per season led to recent sci-fi shows getting canceled that didn't deserve it. Shows like The 100 which have aired for years provide a rich collection of compelling storylines and complex conundrums, but with rampant cancelations, shows rarely have the prospect of doing that anymore. It's a high-risk, high-reward gamble these days. Many underrated sci-fi gems from the past decades that never received the recognition they deserve. Still, that doesn't mean they're not well worth going back and watching, as they have a lot to offer.
10 Killjoys (2015-2019)
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
Killjoys
- Release Date
- 2015 - 2019-00-00
Killjoys is a 2015 action-adventure series that follows a trio of interplanetary bounty hunters navigating deadly warrants in a politically volatile planetary system called the Quad. The team, sworn to neutrality, must confront numerous challenges as they maintain their impartial stance amidst impending revolution.
- Network
- SyFy, Space
- Cast
- Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, Luke Macfarlane, Thom Allison, Rob Stewart, Patrick Garrow, Mayko Nguyen, Kelly McCormack, Adam Kenneth Wilson, Chris Hoffman, Ian Tracey, Lisa Ryder, Stephanie Leonidas, Tori Anderson, Von Flores, Chris Violette, David Crowe, Christine Horne, Derek Herd, Dewshane Williams, Luke Marty, Maria Syrgiannis, Ewa Kasp, Kiriana Stanton, Troy Blundell, Emily Dickinson, Jayne Lewis, David Collins
- Directors
- Stefan Pleszczynski, Paolo Barzman, Peter Stebbings, Chris Grismer, Samir Rehem, Andy Mikita, April Mullen, James Genn, Martin Wood, Ruba Nadda, Jeff Renfroe, Grant Harvey, Ken Girotti, Michael Marshall, Michael Nankin, Stephanie Morgenstern
- Writers
- M. A. Lovretta, Adam Barken, Jeremy Boxen, Nikolijne Troubetzkoy, Julie Puckrin, emily andras, Jon Cooksey, Sean Reycraft, Aaron Martin, Vivian Lin
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Amazon Prime Video
Set in outer space, Killjoys tells the story of three bounty hunters who work in the Quad, a system of four planets. They're official agents of the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition, which is a neutral organization that maintains peace in the Quad without pleading allegiance to any of the planetary governments. Set during a period when war looms on the horizon, Killjoys follows the trio of bounty hunters as they chase dangerous warrants to keep.
Buoyed by nuanced performances from the highly talented trio of Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, and Luke Macfarlane, Killjoys explores how the characters' pasts complicate their relationship with their job and their contracts. Neutrality towards politics proves difficult to maintain when people they care about are no longer safe. The chemistry of the three main characters, each of whom has a different set of morals, and get along due to shared interests, makes Killjoys entertaining beyond measure, as they joke around and pull off daring maneuvers to protect each other.
9 Childhood's End (2015)
IMDb Rating: 6.8/10
Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End was adopted for a three-episode miniseries that struggles to live up to the novel, but still manages to tell a compelling story by itself. The arrival of an alien lord ushers in an idyllic age of prosperity for humanity as Earth thrives under his influence. However, when he exposes his real form to people, the fallout starts a chain of events which eventually leads to catastrophe.
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Charles Dance plays the role of the overlord, and his screen presence perfectly reflects the feeling of despair that leads humanity to inevitably self-sabotage. Mike Vogel is the clear standout best actor in the series though, playing the first human for the aliens, who falls victim to many unfortunate circumstances over the course of the three episodes. While Clarke's novel explores the complexity of the human experience more up-close, personal, and through a more nuanced lens, Childhood's End has the exact look and feel as the book, and that justifies watching it at least once.
8 Counterpart (2017-2019)
IMDb Rating: 8.0/10
Counterpart is a science fiction thriller series that stars J.K. Simmons as Howard Silk, a low-level bureaucrat who discovers his organization is hiding a parallel universe. As Howard navigates this revelation, he confronts his doppelgänger from the other side, uncovering intense espionage and political intrigue.
- Cast
- J.K. Simmons, Olivia Williams, Sara Serraiocco, Nicholas Pinnock, Betty Gabriel, Ulrich Thomsen
- Seasons
- 2
Set in a, or rather, two worlds, Counterpart tells the story of two parallel Earths who are caught in a Cold War after one is suspected to be responsible for the outbreak of a pandemic on the other. The audience's point of focus becomes an agent played by J. K. Simmons whose job involves exchanging seemingly nonsensical messages because he doesn't have the security clearance necessary to know more.
The duality of humans is a central theme for Counterparts, where the contrast between the versions of the same people from the two earths is often a highlight for the storylines. The main character himself has a stark contrast between his lives, being a clueless office worker in one world, and an intelligence officer with a penchant for violence in the other. Counterpart is one of those rare TV shows with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for each of its seasons. Unfortunately, it's a victim to the trend of canceling acclaimed sci-fi streaming shows and didn't get renewed for a third season.
7 Fringe (2008-2013)
IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
This sci-fi procedural follows the FBI's secretive Fringe Division and its agents Olivia Dunham, Walter Bishop, and Peter Bishop. Together, they investigate cases regarding strange events that threaten society, including cases of parallel universes, human experimentation, and other strange phenomena.
- Cast
- Joshua Jackson, Blair Brown, Leonard Nimoy, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Mark Valley, Seth Gabel
- Showrunner
- Jeff Pinkner
- Directors
- Jeff Pinkner
- Writers
- Roberto Orci, J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Amazon Prime Video
With parallel universes and multiple timelines, Fringe is often considered to have predicted most of the modern sci-fi shows' tropes as a pioneer. A masterfully paced show that gets off to a slow start in its pilot season, and gradually ramps up the lore by exploring different dimensions to its initial premise, Fringe doesn't deserve to be as criminally underrated as it is.
Set in a world where singularities from different parallel Earths pose threats to life, Fringe follows the FBI's Fringe Division, which uses fringe science to deal with extraordinary circumstances caused by the singularities. Each episode of the first season shows the team using some unique play on the laws of nature to counter the effects of an event orchestrated by people from the parallel Earth. With later seasons, this expands, as characters' backstories get fleshed out, singularities appear in more places around the world, and even alternate timelines become involved.
6 Lexx (1996-2002)
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Lexx is a Canadian-German sci-fi television series that follows a group of misfits traveling in a sentient spaceship. The crew, including a cowardly security guard, a love-slave, and a dead assassin, navigate a bizarre and dangerous universe while facing various adversaries.
- Cast
- Brian Downey, Jeffrey Hirschfield, Michael McManus, Tom Gallant, Xenia Seeberg, Nigel Bennett, Patricia Zentilli, Rolf Kanies, Louise Wischermann, John Dunsworth, Walter Borden, Eva Habermann, Ellen Dubin, Jeff Pustil, Anna Cameron, Minna Aaltonen, Dieter Laser, Lex Gigeroff, Jon K. Loverin, David Albiston, Anna Kathrin Bleuler, Glenn Wan, Kevin Curran, Tara Doyle
- Seasons
- 4
- Creator(s)
- Paul Donovan, Lex Gigeroff, Jeffrey Hirschfield
Lexx stands out as a sci-fi show because it's a cross between science fiction and sex comedy. With a colorful crew of people, including a robot with a gimp mask, the Lexx is a spaceship of sorts that floats in outer space and goes through a series of misadventures during the first season, which is a set of four feature-length made-for-TV movies.
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While Lexx becomes more serious in its latter seasons, it also loses its grasp on the constructs of the world it's set in, introducing magic at one point, which doesn't gel well with technological advancement being the only form of fantasy up until then. But even though things are chaotic for all five seasons, the show earns its cult following by being wacky at every moment possible. The first few seasons are especially full of sarcastic dark humor and sexual innuendos. But moreover, the expanse, both temporally, and spatially, that Lexx covers, gives it a premise for hilarious situations throughout.
5 Sense8 (2015-2018)
IMDb Rating: 8.2/10
Sense8
- Release Date
- 2015 - 2018-00-00
Created by the Wachowski sisters, Sense8 features an ensemble cast playing eight different people from around the world, who discover that they are suddenly mentally linked with one another and begin experiencing each other's lives and feelings. As the sensates begin to get to know each other, they must face a growing threat to all their lives by using their newfound empathic powers to their advantage.
- Cast
- Max Riemelt, Jamie Clayton, Anupam Kher
- Showrunner
- Lilly Wachowski
- Directors
- Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
- Writers
- Lilly Wachowski
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
Created by the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski, Sense8 is underrated considering the call for queer representation in the world right now. Not only does Sense8 feature multiple queer main characters in non-normative relationships, it's also culturally diverse, featuring main characters from all around the world whose relationships with their culture define their arcs in the show. Sense8 would definitely have received the kind of fan following it deserved if it wasn't one of the million Netflix shows to undergo cancelation in recent years after just a couple of seasons.
Due to some unexplained phenomenon, eight individuals around the world have begun sharing a common consciousness, via which one can use another's skillsets to navigate difficult situations in each other's lives. They can speak to each other in their heads, and discover these powers in moments of distress brought on not by an intergalactic threat, but simply the hardships they face in their personal lives. Sense8 uniquely premises superpowers as a need in regular lives before introducing supernatural threats.
4 Scavengers Reign (2023)
IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
Scavengers Reign
- Release Date
- 2023 - 2023-00-00
Expanding on the short film Scavengers concept, Scavengers Reign is a sci-fi adventure-drama series created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner for MAX. When their ship crashlands on a strange new planet, crew attempt to find other potential survivors and their downed vessel as they navigate a hostile but beautiful alien world.
- Cast
- Sunita Mani, Bob Stephenson, Ted Travelstead
- Showrunner
- Joseph Bennett, Charles Huettner
- Directors
- Benjy Brooke
- Writers
- Joseph Bennett, Charles Huettner
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- M
A rare adult animated sci-fi show, Scavengers Reign tells the story of the survivors of a crashed interstellar vehicle as they crash into the planet in pods. They fight the natural threats on the planet on their hunt for the remnants of their ship, which they plan to use in order to send a signal for help or hopefully fix up and fly back home.
Given the niche nature of the genre, it's not difficult to see why Scavengers Reign is so underrated despite being beautifully animated and telling a hauntingly human story of survival. Unsurprisingly, it was canceled by Max after just the first season. Scavengers Reign tells a relatively self-contained story of how the estranged groups of survivors inevitably meet and have to deal with interpersonal conflicts in order to survive on the unfamiliar planet. Still, there's hope for a second season, because Scavengers Reign season 2 may happen on Netflix.
3 Farscape (1999-2003)
IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
Farscape
- Release Date
- 1999 - 2003-00-00
Farscape is a sci-fi television series that initially premiered in 2004 and was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. Astronaut John Crichton is sucked into a wormhole across the universe after an experimental flight goes haywire, setting him onboard a ship with a crew of several different alien races. Stuck in space and on the run from a nefarious organization known as the Peacekeepers, John and company work together to make it day-by-day while trying to maintain peace throughout the universe - as much as possible
- Cast
- Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Virginia Hey, Anthony Simcoe, Gigi Edgley, Paul Goddard, Lani Tupu, Wayne Pygram, Jonathan Hardy, Tammy MacIntosh, Raelee Hill, Melissa Jaffer, David Franklin, Rebecca Riggs
- Writers
- Rockne S. O'Bannon, David Kemper, Justin Monjo, Richard Manning
- Seasons
- 4
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crackle, Amazon Freevee, Plex, Peacock
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Rockne S. O'Bannon
Farscape is a traditionally formulaic sci-fi show from the early 2000s that deserves more acclaim just for its visual design. While in today's world of advanced VFX, Farscape may not hold up, it stands out for the period when it aired for using practical effects and featuring better space navigation than most sci-fi media. Even better, there are two animatronic robots who are part of the crew of main characters, who are an immense joy to watch. Unfortunately, despite a three-hour spinoff miniseries that tries to make up for it, the show ends on a cliffhanger due to a surprise cancelation.
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Following a ragtag group of people aboard a living spacecraft, Farscape is set in a fictional universe where a corrupt peacekeeping organization is hunting down and persecuting innocent people. The diversity of the crew on the spacecraft makes for interesting internal drama, but there's no main arc for a significant part of Farscape's first season, which mostly consists of self-contained stories. The heartening story of how the people group together and each other during a time of unfair rule lies at the heart of why Farscape feels both relevant and underrated today.
2 Legion (2017-2019)
IMDb Rating: 8.1/10
Legion is an FX Original Series created by Noah Hawley in conjunction with Marvel Television. The psychological horror/thriller series stars Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, and Aubrey Plaza. The release pertains to comic book character Legion, otherwise known as David Haller, as he deals with a diagnosed schizophrenia and the formation of his mutant powers.
- Network
- FX
- Cast
- Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Jemaine Clement
- Showrunner
- Noah Hawley
- Directors
- Noah Hawley
- Writers
- Noah Hawley, Nathaniel Halpern
- Seasons
- 3
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
While it's more traditionally a superhero show, due to the advanced state of technology in this series that's based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, Legion qualifies as a sci-fi show as well. It is a uniquely told story that abandons all formulaic narrative structure in its third and final season where arcs bleed into each other in a glorious climactic moment of reconciliation for the main character who no longer knows if he's a villain or a hero.
Following schizophrenic David Haller who soon realizes he's a psychic mutant, Legion uses visual effects to blur the lines between reality, omen, and nightmare, as Legion's superpowers often take the appearance of a psychedelic trip. The themes of good and evil drive the story forward, but Legion's biggest strength is in exploring how the two are often not as different as we like to think. For fans who consider the show criminally underrated, Dan Stevens has expressed interest in reprising his role of Legion for the MCU's X-Men franchise.
1 Paper Girls (2022)
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Paper Girls
- Release Date
- 2022 - 2022-00-00
- Network
- Amazon Prime Video
- Showrunner
- Stephany Folsom
- Directors
- Brian K. Vaughan
- Writers
- Stephany Folsom
Cast
Sofia Rosinsky
WHERE TO WATCH
Based on the sci-fi comic series, Paper Girls follows four girls with a paper route who find themselves one fateful Halloween smack dab in the middle of an interdimensional conflict that sends them through time and space. The girls discover their future selves and encounter various future-altering events that they must decide to either attempt to intervene or let the scenarios play out as they were intended.
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video
Set in the '80s, Paper Girls, based on the comic book series of the same name, follows four girls who unwittingly get caught in a war between factions of time travelers and end up on wild adventures that take them to their future selves. Existential in its themes as it explores the meaning of destiny in a dramatic manner, sidelining the action side of things wherever relevant, Paper Girls deserved more recognition, and a renewal, instead of the cancelation it received after its first season ended.
Despite having a wacky premise, Paper Girls really finds an emotional core to base its central conflicts on. Instead of focusing on the technological aspect of things, or trying to figure out how the characters will get back to their timelines, the viewers are invested in how their interactions with their future selves will change who they are in the present.
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