As the Netflix library balloons, it can be hard to figure out just where to start when you want something in a specific genre.
The streamer has a large collection of top-tier sci-fi shows on offer for fans of the genre, so where do you begin? Do you go with some strong international offerings made exclusively for Netflix? Do you start with all-time classics of the genre? It can all be a bit daunting.
Luckily, we’ve pared it down to seven great options to check out if you’re yearning for a new sci-fi show to sink your teeth into.
Dark
“Dark” remains to this day the best original offering Netflix has ever released. It is often pitched as a German “Stranger Things,” but that is a wildly reductive way to describe one of the all-time great time travel stories. The three-season show explores a town through three time periods, each 33 years apart, as a group of people try to stop a cycle that’s destined to destroy the world.
It’s a whip-smart series that does have a bit of a learning curve as viewers track the residents of the town at different periods of their lives and often interact with themselves. Investment in “Dark” is the best thing any fan of sci-fi could do.
The Eternaut
“The Eternaut” is the latest sci-fi dark horse hit to land on Netflix. The Spanish series follows a group trying to survive after a mysterious snowfall manages to kill off most of the people in Buenos Aires. They eventually come to know they’re the target of an alien invasion and have to band together to fight and survive a wholly new kind of enemy.
Pantheon
“Pantheon” went relatively unnoticed when it first premiered because it was relegated to the low-subscribed AMC+. But with the two-season run finally on Netflix, the series can hopefully find the larger audience it deserves. The animated series follows three unlikely protagonists who find themselves at the center of a global conspiracy as the world is on the brink of uploading human consciousness into machines.
The 100
“The 100” hit right as “The Hunger Games” phase was ramping into high gear, but became so much more. Hundreds of years after Earth is decimated in a nuclear war and humans are forced to flee to space, 100 troublemaking kids are sent back to the surface to see if the planet is survivable again. What follows is a better sci-fi story than The CW deserved as the group begins to unravel the secret of what happened on their planet and how things have changed while they’ve been up in the stars.
Arcane
“Arcane” has it all. Impeccable writing and themes, gorgeous animation, and music that fits every scene and will have you loading up your various Spotify/Apple Music playlists with new entries. In an era that seems more focused on adapting video game IP, it’s going to be tough to top this “League of Legends”-spawned story led by excellent voice work from Ella Purnell and Hailee Steinfeld. “Arcane” is a show that demands to be experienced.
Lost
“Lost” is iconic, and the hope is that anyone searching for great sci-fi TV shows to watch on Netflix already has this one checked off their list. But if not, watch the show that inspired an entire generation of stories. The series may start off as more of a “how do we survive stranded on an island,” but it’s clear that said island has more mysteries than you can shake a stick at, and uncovering them will bring out the obsessive in any viewer.
It’s as simple as this: Watch “Lost.”
Black Mirror
Because “Black Mirror” is an anthology, it offers up a lot of different flavors of sci-fi to give fans their fill. Want a two-part “Star Trek”-inspired story? Check. Horrors of the rise of AI giving you the chills? There’s a story for that. The ever-growing obsession with social media? Yep. “Black Mirror” can scratch a lot of itches and is well worth the time.
