The Best Sci-Fi TV Show to Binge Watch Now

Real life is so overrated. We'll take a good sci-fi show over reality any day of the week, which is why we've put together this list of the best sci-fi shows to watch right now. New to the list are a pair of gems: Apple TV+'s ambitious space opera Foundation, based on the novel by Isaac Asimov, and the new-to-Netflix Oats Studios Vol. 1, a collection of short films from visionary filmmaker Neil Blomkamp.

Below you'll find plenty of shows across various streaming platforms that are about future societies, clones, robots with feelings, galaxies far, far away, and even immortality. Our list of all the best sci-fi shows to watch right now covers several streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and more.

Best Sci-fi TV shows

1. The Expanse Stream from Amazon We are lucky to have The Expanse. The show was nearly cancelled until one of its biggest fans saved it from cancellation. It wasn't just any fan, buy Jeff Bezos who happens to own Amazon. Since being saved the show, about a human colony on the outreaches of space, has gone from strength to strength - pushing its political overtones while keeping the series completely engrossing. 2. Battlestar Galactica Stream Now (Prime Video) If you’re looking for a show that intertwines those dinner party favourite conversations of religion and politics, not least the influence of one on the other, the 2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica – for around 60% of its run – does just that in terrifyingly authentic style. It goes on to follow a narrative path that’s either incredibly bold or just plain nuts depending on your perspective. It’s also notable for getting around TV swearing censors, in full on Father Ted style, by introducing its own special cuss word. 3. The Mandalorian View on Disney Plus now The Mandalorian is old-school event television that's just a joy to watch. It's episodic with a new-ish adventure every week - the only real bit of connective tissue is The Child, a Yoda-like figure that The Mandalorian feels obliged to protect. Each episode looks (and is) expensive and it really feels like another area of the world of Star Wars that hasn't been explored yet, as well as some familiar bits too. 4. Star Trek: TNG Buy now from Amazon There has been something of a revival for Star Trek: TNG and it's all thanks to Picard which is currently on Amazon Prime. The show originally straddled the 80s and 90s and focuses on a Starfleet in the 24th Century. It's an absolute blast and a brilliantly iconic part of Star Trek lore. 5. The X-Files Stream Now (Prime Video) The personals column of 1990s sci-fi magazines stopped being about Girl Meets Boy, Boy Meets Girl, Girl Meets Girl and such like, in favour of Scully seeks Mulder, and plenty of variants on that. Such was the grenade conspiracy drama The X-Files threw into popular culture, instantly making stars of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. There was a spin-off series too, The Lone Gunmen, but that never fared anywhere near as well. 6. Babylon 5 Stream Now (Prime Video) A massive budget Babylon 5 did not have, but a cauldron of ideas it absolutely did. And the similarities between it and the subsequent Star Trek: Deep Space Nine raised questions ultimately nobody tested in court. It also had a bold idea, to treat each of its 100+ episodes as a chapter of a novel, one that ultimately covered five years in the life of a five mile-long space station. In its own way, a groundbreaking show, whose first season boasted effects done on a computer many people had in their own homes. 7. The Twilight Zone View now at Amazon Given the influences of The Twilight Zone on his movie Us, it’s little surprise filmmaker Jordan Peele is in charge of the latest reboot of the iconic TV series. The anthology show was created by Rod Serling and debuted in 1959, telling primarily sci-fi stories and attracting writers such as Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451) and in its later iteration, directors such as William Friedkin (The Exorcist) and Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street). 8. Stargate SG-1 Stream Now (Prime Video) Given the struggle to bring the original 1994 Stargate movie to the screen, and its decent if unspectacular box office returns, it’s remarkable that it went on to spawn such an enduring collection of TV spin-offs. Stargate SG-1 remains the most prominent, running for over 200 episodes across ten consecutive seasons. One of the bosses of its parent studio, MGM, would describe the show as the television equivalent of James Bond to the studio, such was its financial success. 9. Westworld Stream Now (Now TV) True story: the low budget 1973 movie of Westworld, on which HBO’s hugely expensive television series is mainly based, introduced pixelisation effects to the big screen for the first time. The TV series expands heavily on the late Michael Crichton’s work, taking what was an 88 minute movie and turning it into a far deeper, broader series about a robot theme park starting to go out of control. HBO was rewarded with its best-ever ratings for a series launch. 10. Black Mirror Stream Now (Netflix) If the aim of all good science fiction is to take life and technology now, and reflect where it could head in the future, few do it to as chilling effect as Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Brooker wove in things he learned from his zombie Big Brother drama Dead Set, with the approach of the classic anthology series The Twilight Zone. Technology is the thematic glue holding it all together. Robert Downey Jr was amongst the many soon hooked: he optioned the episode The Entire History Of You for a (thus far unmade) movie adaptation.