The sci-fi genre can take audiences to faraway places or make an unsettling mark with stories set in their world. The stories are either a little different, giving a creepy feeling to viewers because they’re something that could happen, or they are completely out there where the mind is bending trying to keep up. There are stories that many people are familiar with, like Star Wars, that have given shape to more unique storytelling experiences over the years with spinoffs like Rogue One and Andor.
But there are also many stories that maybe haven’t been explored by the masses yet. Some good options for sci-fi TV series are ones that viewers maybe didn’t realized were so readily available. Prime Video has a lot of good options for sci-fi fans to stream, with a number of series that extend from a single season to many.
Here are 10 great sci-fi TV series on Prime Video that are an absolute must-watch.
10
‘Upload’ (2020 – Present)
Skewing the lines between sci-fi and comedy, Upload was created by Greg Daniels, the showrunner and creator of the American version of The Office. Upload takes place in 2033 in a world where people can upload themselves into a virtual afterlife that they pick, so when they die, they’re sent to spend eternity wherever they want to be. When Nathan Brown dies, he is sent to an expensive place where his obsessive girlfriend Ingrid still has some say in what he’s doing in the afterlife. He bonds with Nora, his living client rep, while trying to figure out the afterlife.
The series has been a hit for Prime Video, and the fourth season and final season will be premiering soon. The show stars Robbie Amell as Nathan, Andy Allo as Nora, Allegra Edwards as Ingrid, and also features Zainab Johnson, Kevin Bigley, Andrea Rosen, Owen Daniels, and Josh Banday. The series is lighthearted and offers a good satirical look at the world.
9
‘Night Sky’ (2022)
Bringing two older Academy Award winners to a TV series shows a bit of power behind the casting. Night Sky stars Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons as Irene and Franklin York, a Midwestern couple who discover a secret on their property. There’s a device that can teleport them to another world, which they discover and can use to look upon the star-filled sky and the desolate area that the portal opens to them. However, once people start coming through the portal and device and into their world, Franklin and Irene become concerned.
The show earned a one-season pickup from Amazon, which aired in 2022. It was created by Holden Miller and was primarily shot in Illinois and Argentina. Reviews were generally favorable, especially for Simmons and Spacek. But the series was cancelled after one season. Regardless, it’s worth checking out for any viewers who want an imaginative idea that feels a bit too real.
8
‘Undone’ (2019 – 2022)
Featuring the unique use of animation in the sci-fi genre, Undone is a Prime Original that had its first season premiere in 2019 and its second in 2022. The series features Alma, a woman who is involved in a near fatal car crash and develops the ability to manipulate time. She decides to use her abilities to understand more about her father’s death, which he helps her with from beyond the grave. The series was created by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Purdy was a writer and producer on Bojack Horseman, which Bob-Waksberg created.
The series stars Rosa Salazar as Alma, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie, Daveed Diggs, and Bob Odenkirk as Alma’s father. It earned a number of award nominations and wins from critics and animation guilds and was lauded for its writing. Season 1 has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes and Season 2 has a 96% score.
7
‘Utopia’ (2020)
Gillian Flynn, the acclaimed author of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, adapted the 2013 British TV Series Utopia in 2020 for American audiences. The series features a group of young people who get their hands on an underground graphic novel. By doing so, they uncover a conspiracy, which opens them up to being targeted by a shadow organization. It also means that they must stop at nothing to save the world as they unravel clues.
It’s a thrilling series that features a lot of recognizable faces, such as John Cusack, Jessica Rothe, Rainn Wilson, Desmin Borges, Sasha Lane, Cory Michael Smith, Fiona Dourif, Christopher Denham, Dan Byrd, Javon “Wanna” Walton, Farrah Mackenzie, Ashleigh LaThrop, and Jeannine Seralles. The show was canceled after one season, likely because of its overly violent themes and that it came out right as the COVID-19 pandemic was happening. Anyone who has watched the original series should give this a try as well.
6
‘Electric Dreams’ (2017)
Electric Dreams
- Release Date
-
2017 – 2017
- Network
-
Channel 4
- Directors
-
David Farr, Francesca Gregorini, Jeffrey Reiner, Julian Jarrold, Marc Munden, Peter Horton, Dee Rees, Tom Harper
-
Andrew Rothenberg
Captain Miller
-
Jay Paulson
Reverend Perine
-
-
Nathalie Armin
State’s Advocate
Philip K. Dick is one of the most prevalent sci-fi writers of all time. Some of his most famous works include The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was the basis for Blade Runner, and A Scanner Darkly. The series Electric Dreams is an anthology series based on adaptations of his works. There are 10 episodes, all of which are based on short stories by Dick. The series premiered in the U.K. in 2017 and arrived in the U.S. on Prime Video in 2018.
Actors featured in episodes include Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, Benedict Wong, Jack Reynor, Steve Buscemi, Timothy Spall, Anna Paquin, Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, Essie Davis, Greg Kinnear, Mireille Enos, Juno Temple, Janelle Monae, Vera Farmiga, and Maura Tierney. Directors of episodes include Dee Rees, Tom Harper, Alan Taylor, and Julian Jarrold. The series received good reviews, as it was seen as a step above some of the other Black Mirror-like series that have come out since that series premiered. Fans have been clamoring for more episodes since this first batch debuted.
5
‘Solos’ (2021)
Another anthology series with a star-studded cast, Solos premiered in 2021 and was created by David Weil. The series focuses on stories surrounding what it means to be human and highlighting how shared experiences can help people feel more alive. This premiered following the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of the stories intersect with one another.
They all have a mixture of science fiction in them, featuring time travel, dream stealing, robots, and more. The stars of the episodes are Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Uzo Aduba, Nicole Beharie, Dan Stevens, Helen Mirren, Anthony Mackie, and Constance Wu. Episodes were mainly directed by Weil and Sam Taylor-Johnson, with Zach Braff and Tiffany Johnson each directing one.
4
‘The Expanse’ (2015 – 2022)
The Expanse originally aired on Syfy before being picked up by Prime Video. The series ran for six seasons and 62 episodes, based on the series of novels by James S. A. Corey. The story is set in a world where the entire solar system has been colonized, and humans live in space on Mars, Luna, and other places as well. The show has been lauded for its character-driven focus..
The Expanse features Thomas Jane, Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Frankie Adams, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Paulo Costanzo, and more. The series explores how different powers in the solar system have worked to reign over different areas and the political clashes that have been built into the sci-fi adventure. It has been widely recognized by critics and fans as one of the better sci-fi series in recent memory.
3
‘Outer Range’ (2022 – 2024)
When a mysterious black void shows up in one of his pastures, a Wyoming farmer must try to decipher its meaning in Outer Range. The Prime Original stars Josh Brolin as Royal Abbott, the farmer who must deal with this strange void that appears on his land after Autumn, played by Imogen Poots, begins camping out there. He extends his hand into the hole and starts seeing prophecies. He must also contend with neighboring landowners, led by Will Patton’s Wayne Tillerson, trying to take his land.
The show mixes western and sci-fi very well and receives great performances from Brolin and Poots. The series ran for two seasons and also costarred Lily Taylor, Lewis Pullman, Tom Pelphrey, Tamara Podemski, Noah Reid, and Shaun Sipos. It was created by Brian Watkins and Season 2 earned better reviews than the first season.
2
‘Humans’ (2015 – 2018)
Humans
- Release Date
-
2015 – 2017
- Network
-
Channel 4
- Directors
-
Lewis Arnold, Daniel Nettheim, Francesca Gregorini, Jill Robertson, Mark Brozel, Al Mackay, China Moo-Young, Sam Donovan, Ben A. Williams, Carl Tibbetts, Richard Senior
-
Emily Berrington
Dr. Aveling
-
-
-
Pixie Davies
Laura Hawkins
Set in the near future, Humans shows what it would be like to integrate sophisticated robots into society. With AI such a popular topic in today’s world, Humans is a smart series to revisit, as it ran for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. The realistic robots called “synths” present a distinct challenge to humanity in the series which focuses on how people deal with them from a physical, mental, and psychological point of view.
Starring Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Lucy Carless, Emily Berrington, Ruth Bradley, Will Tudor, Danny Webb, and Carrie-Anne Moss, it first aired on AMC in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the U.K. It was based on the Swedish TV series Real Humans. The portrayals of the synths by the actors were recognized for bringing the series and machines to life.
1
‘Fallout’ (2024)
Based on the best-selling video game franchise, Prime Video launched Fallout in 2024. The story depicts life after the Great War of 2077 and how most people live in fallout shelters following the events. Lucy MacLean must leave her vault and search for her father, Hank, who gets kidnapped in a ravaged Los Angeles. She joins forces with The Ghoul and Maximus, a bounty hunter and a squire, and the three must try and reconcile with their pasts.
The series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moises Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins. There are many cameos or notable actors that appear in the series, including Zach Cherry, Mykelti Williamson, Matt Berry, Michael Emerson, Fred Armisen, Michael Rapaport, and Erik Estrada. The series has been hugely popular, earning 17 Primetime Emmy nominations. Season 2 is set to premiere in December, and it has already been renewed for Season 3.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
