In an era when everyone has too much TV to watch, it can somehow still be difficult to find a good sci-fi show. Many of them are too convoluted for their own good, or lack the great characters that always make quality sci-fi sing. It’s always possible to go back to the sci-fi shows you used to love, of course, but sometimes you want something that’s still airing to meet your regular sci-fi cravings.
Luckily, we’ve tracked down five of the best sci-fi series still airing new episodes for you to enjoy. This list includes a few shows that have been running for decades, or that are part of larger cinematic and televisual universes. Elsewhere, though, there’s some more original content that you might find equally satisfying.
Hello Tomorrow! (2023)
A bizarre cross between The Jetsons and Mad Men, Hello Tomorrow! stars Billy Crudup as Jack Billings, an energetic salesman living in a retrofuturistic America. Jack leads a team of salesmen selling timeshares on the moon. At least, that’s what everyone thinks. Is Jack for real? Or is he just a slick con man dressed in an expensive suit with a cheap smile? Its visually pleasing look and texture help Hello Tomorrow! stand out further from the rest of TV’s current and recent sci-fi offerings. While the first season is far from perfect and about two episodes too long, the series is consistently compelling and well-crafted enough to make watching it a surprisingly easy act.
Doctor Who (2005)
One of the first real sci-fi franchises to ever hit TV remains one of the best. Doctor Who has been telling wild, often moving time travel stories for decades now, and has brilliantly written in changes to its cast the whole way through.
As new Doctors come on board, so too do new teams of writers, and each of those new teams has brought a pretty unique sensibility to the character with them. Doctor Who has a long history, but it’s one that any sci-fi fan should dive into.
Loki (2021)
It might seem strange to throw a superhero show on this list, but Loki is among the hardest science fiction that the MCU has ever produced. The series follows Norse god Loki as he deals with the TVA, a time-oriented authority that exists to ensure that any variants to the sacred timeline are quickly pruned.
It’s a bit wonky, but Loki tells a story firmly grounded in its central character, one that also allows him to interact with other versions of himself from across the multiverse.
Star Wars: Andor (2022)
Star Wars TV has been a mixed bag since the first season of The Mandalorian dropped, but Andor is an unmitigated triumph. The series tells the story of Cassian Andor, one of the main characters in Rogue One, as he learns to become the rebel we already know him to be in that movie.
Along the way, though, we get to see how the rebellion was fomented from its earliest days, and get an on-the-ground look at many of the characters responsible for that all-out rebellion. Andor is a morally murky show, and intentionally so, but it’s also one that highlights how arbitrarily cruel the Empire often was in pursuing its goals.
The Peripheral (2022)
The Peripheral stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Flynne Fisher, a young woman who finds herself caught up in a timeline-spanning conspiracy after using a virtual reality headset her brother was sent. With ominous forces from both the future and present closing in, Flynne must find a way to solve a mystery unfolding decades from now, all while protecting her family.
The Peripheral is a gorgeous show with stunning visual effects and superbly directed sequences that blur the line between fantasy and reality. The unique combination of a twisty narrative, a unique directorial point of view, and gripping performances from the show’s cast make The Peripheral a standout sci-fi series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
There have been several great Star Trek shows and a few truly terrible ones, but Strange New Worlds gets the balance just right. Although this show is technically a prequel to the original Star Trek, the show is most concerned with reestablishing the storytelling that made that original series feel so groundbreaking.
Above all else, Strange New Worlds is fun in a way that many recent Trek outings haven’t been, and that in and of itself is worthy of celebration. Featuring a great ensemble cast and a largely unserialized story, it’s sure to fill the hole left behind by many other Trek outings.
Severance (2022)
A heavily serialized, deeply strange show about a group of office workers who are “severed,” meaning they don’t know who they are outside the office whenever they get to work, and vice versa, Severance is both a satire of modern corporate culture and also a pretty compelling mystery box show.
Adam Scott’s central performance is crucial to the success of the entire project, but Severance is also remarkably well-written. The show’s sterile office environment may not seem like a natural home for the twists and turns of great sci-fi storytelling, but rest assured that Severance is one of the best shows on TV right now, sci-fi or not.
