The Best Sci-Fi TV Shows To Watch Right Now, Ranked (According To Rotten Tomatoes)

From atomic-age fears spawning classic films like The Day The Earth Stood Still to modern technology creating worries reflected in Black Mirror, sci-fi has long been a staple of media on screens both large and small.

New sci-fi TV shows conceived in recent years have taken the world by storm, and there are some that fans of the genre may have missed due to the focus on the established heavyweights like Stranger Things or The Umbrella Academy. For anyone looking for a collection of TV shows with imaginative takes on the future, here are 10 that are sure to make genre fans dizzy while their brains work overtime.

Updated on October 20th, 2021 by Tanner Fox: Fans may be anxiously awaiting the next installments of series like Stranger Things or Loki, but they are far from the only current sci-fi shows worth watching. Though they may have flown slightly under the radar, offerings like Love, Death + Robots, or The Expanse are must-see material for science fiction devotees.

Of course, trending series like Rick and Morty and Altered Carbon are also deserving of mention. There’s never been a better time to be a sci-fi fan, so why not boldly go watch something new?

14 The Orville (Hulu, Disney+) – 65%

The comedy of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is often pretty controversial, but critics seem to agree that The Orville is, if nothing else, wildly entertaining.

A live-action comedy series meant to parody Star Trek—among many other popular sci-fi properties—The Orville explores the many misadventures of the titular ship’s crew in the distant future. Poking fun at many genre tropes while offering up some surprisingly gripping storylines, The Orville is something of a celebration of all things sci-fi, and its excellent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes proves that it’s deserving of the hype.

13 Raised By Wolves (HBO Max) – 74%

With the first two episodes directed–and the whole show produced–by Ridley Scott himself, sci-fi fans will know that Raised by Wolves’ pedigree is top-notch.

This sci-fi drama series is a futuristic recreation of the mythical origins of Rome. It follows the exploits of two androids as they raise a human child on a planet that’s being colonized. Sadly, the human colonies have already started setting their claws into the planet and injecting their own theological agendas and prejudices. This means that it’s only a matter of time before they start killing each other, turning the planet into a very dangerous place in the process.

12 Snowpiercer (Apple TV+, YouTube TV, and HBO Max) – 75%

Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer is often floated as one of the best post-apocalyptic movies ever made. Fans of the director will be pleased to know that there is also a TV series based on the movie and its graphic novel source material. Snowpiercer is a literal wild ride, taking place on a train that just keeps circling the world after it turned into a frozen wasteland.

It takes a different route to the movie, taking on a different story. However, class warfare still takes center stage, with the train being a metaphor for modern society.

11 Altered Carbon (Netflix) – 75%

Cyberpunk gets some–but not much–opportunity to shine in sci-fi movies, much less on television, which is why shows like Altered Carbon are rare and should be cherished. It might have had some clunky parts and odd exposition choices, but it makes good use of its cyberpunk setting.

It’s a world where mortality doesn’t mean much anymore since anyone’s brain can easily be transferred to a new body. Of course, this means that it’s usually the rich who tend to abuse this sort of power. In the middle of it all is Takeshi Kovacs, who keeps coming back from the dead for some unfinished business.

10 Love, Death + Robots (Netflix) – 80%

Love Death + Robots is an anthology series that includes several different short sci-fi stories, each with its own contained narrative, animation style, and world-building idea.

All of the stories are great and contain a mix of humor, horror, action, and drama. Regardless of which one might become a fan’s favorite, once they’ve watched them all, all are sure to spark a newfound sense of wonder and intrigue in the viewer for the world of science fiction. Each episode is raw, uncensored, and worthy of its own full-length production.

9 Devs (Hulu) – 82%

For those who are fans of shows about conspiracies and technology, Devs can be a wonderful and confusing thrill ride as it features an Illuminati-like organization masquerading as a multinational tech company.

The audience experiences this strange story through the eyes of a young female computer engineer working for the company, Amaya, as she begins asking the company questions when her boyfriend suddenly disappears while also working for the same company. Devs is full of secrets and secret divisions that can only be unlocked through the prying minds of the show’s paranoid computer geniuses.

8 Doctor Who (HBO Max, Amazon Prime) – 92%

One of the most impactful sci-fi series of all time, the original Doctor Who program originally debuted all the way back in 1963. After receiving a reboot of sorts in 2005, the adventures continue on into the modern era, with the new incarnation currently on its twelfth season.

Featuring the exploits of a being known as the Doctor, the show seemingly spans all of time and space with literal decades worth of content to explore. Most sci-fi fans are at least casually familiar with the famous British series, but those who aren’t will definitely want to check it out.

7 The Mandalorian (Disney+) – 93%

Currently, one of the most popular offerings of the Star Wars mythos, The Mandalorian has seen much success as the first-ever live-action series of the franchise.

The show is all about the hard life of an initially nameless and faceless bounty hunter nicknamed “Mando”. Along the way, the seemingly callous mercenary finds something that will warm his heart and change his life forever, not to mention becoming one of the biggest meme icons of recent years.

6 The 100 (Netflix) – 93%

Nearly 100 years after civilization is destroyed, a group of survivors from a space station known as The Arc return to the Earth to determine if it can be reinhabited. As it turns out, humanity was not completely destroyed, and the intrepid group from The Arc must now contend with warring factions in a brutal post-apocalypse.

Focusing mostly on its young adult cast, The 100 bears similarities to other popular teen dystopic properties like The Hunger Games and Divergent. The series was concluded in 2020, so fans looking for a complete story need look no further.

5 The Expanse (Amazon Prime) – 94%

Originally debuting on Syfy in 2015, The Expanse imagines a future in which humanity has colonized the rest of the solar system. Yet, despite the sci-fi setting, the series is primarily a political thriller. Initially focusing on a cold war between Earth and Mars which eventually spreads to outer planets, the crew of the ship Rocinante must work to prevent interplanetary conflict.

Though it does feature a literally out-there setting, The Expanse does an excellent job of balancing its larger-than-life setting with its very relatable political plotlines, and a vested interest in all things sci-fi isn’t necessary.

4 Rick and Morty (HBO Max and Hulu) – 94%

Arguably the most notorious adult animated series to premiere in the past decade, Rick and Morty combines intelligent and complex plotlines with low-brow extremely crass humor to create something wholly unique. Showcasing the adventures of genius scientist Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith, Rick and Morty is a dimension-spanning romp that grows more chaotic with the release of each new season.

Though early episodes were more-or-less self-contained, later seasons introduced broader plot elements and fleshed out more characters, resulting in a sci-fi series that’s now crossed the threshold of complete mayhem.

3 Doom Patrol (HBO Max) – 97%

With big shows like The Boys and Umbrella Academy cementing the popularity of superhero shows, lesser-known gems, like Doom Patrol, should always be noted too.

The titular superteam is an even bigger group of misfits than the step-siblings of Umbrella Academy and has more issues than the superheroes of The Boys. Fans of the show can also use it as a way to connect to similar stories, as it’s connected to another DC superhero series called Titans, where the same actors reprise their roles in a separate continuum.

2 Osmosis (Netflix) – 100%

Osmosis explores a different aspect of human technology in a sci-fi playground, namely dating apps. This French-language series asks the age-old question of how to find the formula for love, but it does so through a scientific experiment. Participants of the experiment are implanted with the dating app which can search their brains to find the perfect match for them with 100 percent accuracy.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it is. Turns out the app digs way too deep and reveals some of the worst secrets in everyone. Finding a soulmate by taking the easiest route possible comes at a hefty price for the characters, but it makes for a very compelling story.

1 Counterpart (Amazon Prime) – 100%

A sci-fi show starring J.K. Simmons as the lead actor should be enough of a reason to watch or recommend Counterpart. It’s a highly-rated series in which Simmons plays a low-level bureaucrat named Howard Silk in an agency hiding some shady secrets. Silk discovers that the corporation he works for houses a gateway to a different dimension—that’s a lot to take in.

The odd thing about this other dimension is that it’s mostly just a parallel universe featuring mostly identical planets and people. Pretty soon, Silk meets his parallel Earth counterpart—basically himself—and the two start discussing what makes their worlds so different despite their similarities. It all makes for some great opportunities for espionage and conspiratorial intrigue.

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