I’ve been very into science fiction TV as of late. As a childhood devotee of the original Star Trek, there’s always been a little sci-fi nerd in me that I’m beginning to fully embrace.
It doesn’t hurt – at all – that there are so many good choices for series to stream. Here are five of my current favorites.
Constellation
This trippy one-season series starts off as a space travel action thriller. Starring Noomi Rapace (from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Jonathan Banks (from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) it details a harrowing accident on the International Space Station and the unexpected ramifications that follow.
The action on the ISS is very good, turning up the tension in the first episode. After the accident it’s up to the actors and the script to keep up the pace and keep us in the story. They do a great job of both.
Though Constellation wasn’t renewed for a second season, it wraps up at the end of Season 1 with a satisfying conclusion. I would go as far as to say that a second season would have been pushing the concept.
Constellation is streaming on Apple TV+
Bodies
This Netflix sci-fi series is eight episodes of time travel mystery. Four time periods, four investigators, and one body…four times. Starring Shira Haas (from Unorthodox) and Kyle Soller (from Poldark) Bodies takes us on a ride to find out how this one man has died so many times, all in the same spot.
Each era is explored and each investigator is a fully-realized character. It can be hard to time-jump like this series needs to, but they do it without causing confusion. The performances are excellent and bring a lot of depth to the material.
I won’t tell you too much, but the time travel is handled exceptionally well in Bodies, making it a rarity. This is a limited series but it leaves a tiny opening for a follow-up. Check out my review for more.
The Peripheral
The Peripheral stars Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a woman living in a near-future dystopia with a brother suffering from PTSD and a mom with an illness the family cannot afford to treat.
Her one escape is virtual reality gaming, and she’s great at it. When a new game is offered, one that comes with a substantial payment, she can’t say no. Suffice to say that there is a lot more here than meets the eye and this family is in for an eye-opening ride.
Sadly, Amazon Prime Video cut this series off at the knees. The eight episodes of the first season stand up well and have a satisfying enough conclusion, but there should be more to this story.
The Peripheral has very good characters, scripts, and plotting and deserved a second season. The time travel element alone is worth many more episodes of exploration. But I believe the first season is good enough to be worth your time. It is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Read my review for more.
3 Body Problem
It took me a few episodes to get into Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. The series is based on a sci-fi trilogy written by Chinese author Liu Cixin and takes place in both China during the Cultural Revolution and present day Great Britain. It’s not a time travel series – this first season brings its timelines together.
3 Body Problem is pretty hard core science fiction (for me) in that it combines physics, space travel, and a lot of what sounds like technobabble (but probably isn’t). I got into it, though, and it’s easy enough to understand if you accept the premise without fussing over the science.
This series was created by the Game of Thrones duo of D.B. Weiss and David Benioff along with True Blood producer Alexander Woo. You’ll see familiar GOT faces, including Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Jonathan Pryce (The High Sparrow) and John Bradley (Samwell Tarly). Watch for great performances from Rosalind Chao (she’ll always be Keiko O’Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation to me) and Benedict Wong (from Dr. Strange).
3 Body Problem was renewed by Netflix on May 15th 2024 for additional episodes to finish the series.
Silo
It took me a long time to start Silo – it’s another dystopian future sci-fi series and I don’t like to have more than one of those going at a time. I shouldn’t have waited.
This Apple TV+ show takes place at an undetermined time in the future. In this world, 10,000 people reside in an underground silo with virtually no idea how they came to live this way. The outside world is poison – anyone who leaves dies.
Starring Rebecca Ferguson (from The Greatest Showman), Tim Robbins, Common, and a host of other actors you will certainly recognize, Silo introduces us to this world as it enters a series of crises. We learn about the silo as we learn about those who question its rules and rulers.
There’s a lot to unpack here and I will give no spoilers. There is a lot of action in Silo, some of it just in the running of the complex structure, and it’s well done if a little dimly lit. There is currently one season (10 episodes) of Silo streaming on Apple TV+ and it has been renewed for a second. Filming has finished on Season 2 after strike delays, but we don’t have a definite premiere date.
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
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