15 Best Sci-Fi Shows Streaming On Netflix, Ranked

When it comes to its original programming, Netflix excels with its genre shows, including and especially science fiction. Bolstering its original shows, Netflix always has a robust library of licensed sci-fi series available to stream that have long proven to be fan-favorites. The types of science fiction on Netflix range from sprawling cyberpunk epics to shows that blend sci-fi with strong horror and fantasy elements to form something wholly original. This is one of the most malleable genres around, and these are shows that take full creative advantage of that flexibility.

Simply put, when it comes to sci-fi, Netflix has an unbeatable lineup of shows to choose from for fans of any level of the genre. Indeed, some of the most successful original series produced by Netflix are firmly within the sci-fi camp, thrilling millions of viewers worldwide. Here are the 15 best sci-fi shows currently streaming on Netflix, ranked, perfect for your next binge.

English author Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 cyberpunk novel “Altered Carbon” was adapted into an ambitious Netflix original series in 2018. The show starts in the 24th century, where people’s memories and consciousness are stored in an installed device. With these devices stored on vacant or cloned bodies, humans use these devices to gain a sort of digitally facilitated immortality. The show has former revolutionary Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) hired to solve the murder of tycoon Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) by an inquisitive Bancroft himself.

“Altered Carbon” is the most immersive live-action cyberpunk series that Netflix has produced yet, with an all-around sweeping production. The story feels like a thrilling cross between “Blade Runner” and “Ghost in the Shell,” yet wholly its own in its depiction of the future. The show was substantially reinvigorated with its second season, bringing in Anthony Mackie as Kovacs’ new body even further into the future. Bringing plenty of breathtaking spectacle to its neo-noir mystery, “Altered Carbon” ended just as it was really gathering pace.

Filmmakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski teamed up with “Babylon 5” creator J. Michael Straczynski to create the 2015 series “Sense8.” The story centers on eight individuals from different locales around the world who discover that they’re mentally and emotionally interfaced with one another. Known as sensates, the ensemble is hunted by the malevolent Biologic Preservation Organization for its own nefarious purposes. Using their unique connection, the group stays one step ahead of their pursuers while trying to learn more about the sensates and the BPO.

Filmed on locations in cities around the globe, “Sense8” has a scope that few sci-fi shows can match. The show has a rollicking tone as it explores questions of shared identity and personality, often to mind-bending effect. This is elevated by the sophisticated visuals and cinematography, taking advantage of the show’s sheer global scale. A sci-fi conspiracy tale with international reach, “Sense8” mixes action with an impressive multifaceted perspective that dares its audience to keep up with it.

Premiering in 2023, the Netflix series “3 Body Problem” has “Game of Thrones” television creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss team up with Alexander Woo for a science-heavy sci-fi tale. Adapting the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” novels by Chinese author Liu Cixin, the series starts with scientist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng), who is looking for extraterrestrial life in the 1960s. This is juxtaposed by a group of scientists in present-day London whose experiments are affected by strange figures. As the story progresses, these two tales converge as humanity’s complex relationship with otherworldly forces is revealed.

From its gripping premiere episode to the tantalizing directions setting up its second season, “3 Body Problem” is a cinematic-level sci-fi show. Given its scientist-centric premise, this is one of those sci-fi shows that actually strongly emphasizes the science behind its story. The adaptation assembles an all-star cast, and the level of production values rivals the biggest contemporary blockbusters of the genre. One of the deepest and most existentially philosophical sci-fi shows in recent memory, “3 Body Problem” brings both style and substance.

The makers of the acclaimed Netflix original series “Dark,” Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, reunited for the 2022 series “1899.” The show follows a steamship traveling from England to New York in 1899 with its European passengers relocating for a fresh start. However, in mid-transit, murder and mayhem begin to sweep across the ship after they encounter a similar abandoned vessel on the high seas. With sinister developments escalating, it becomes clear that this seafaring voyage is not exactly as it appears on multiple levels.

While “1899” might seem like more of a supernatural horror series than a sci-fi one at first, it gradually reveals its full genre stakes as it progresses. This is a show that’s hard to talk about without spoiling it because the story does very much unfold like a grand mystery. Unfortunately, it’s a story that was cut abruptly short, as “1899” was canceled after only a single season despite a killer cliffhanger. Even with its truncated length, “1899” is a show that just permeates with a foreboding atmosphere, unlike many sci-fi shows, and is well worth checking out.

The original 1965 “Lost in Space” is a campy sci-fi classic that’s very much a product of its time. Fifty years after the show went off the air, it received a radical reimagining on Netflix under the same title. In this iteration, the Robinson family leads a group of colonists to find a habitable planet after Earth is struck with a massive cataclysm. After colliding with an advanced alien robot, the Robinsons and other colonists crash on a remote planet and are left to fend for themselves.

As opposed to the episodic format, with new worlds and creatures every week, in the classic series, the 2018 “Lost in Space” goes for a long-form survivalism angle. The family drama is still the focus, as is the unpredictable presence of Dr. Smith (Parker Posey), but the harshness of unfamiliar environments is emphasized. This is “Lost in Space” for the “Lost” crowd, bringing a sense of mystery in the face of the unknown. An engaging and modernized departure from the original series, the Netflix version of “Lost in Space” leans harder into the science part of “sci-fi.”

One of the most thrilling live-action Japanese series in recent years is “Alice in Borderland,” adapting the manga by Haro Aso. The show has Ryōhei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Yuzuha Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) trapped in an alternate and largely empty vision of Tokyo. Arisu and Usagi must endure a series of increasingly deadly games if they hope to survive and make their way back home. The games themselves are based around French-suited playing cards, with the Joker-themed games being the most lethal of them all.

“Alice in Borderland” is not dissimilar from the South Korean series “Squid Game,” but leans more into its premise’s sci-fi possibilities. The foreboding Tokyo setting and sadistic set of games give the show an atmosphere that beautifully establishes the mood. The series also moves at a steady pace, with its game-centric setup keeping audiences engaged as it drives the plot forward. Stylishly executed and with a solid pair of lead actors center stage, “Alice in Borderland” is among the best Netflix original series produced in Japan, regardless of genre.

Fan-favorite actor Alan Tudyk gets a zany starring role worthy of his talents with the comedy series “Resident Alien.” Tudyk plays multiple roles throughout the show, but primarily plays an extraterrestrial who takes on the human identity of small-town doctor Harry Vanderspeigle. Hiding out in the mountain-based town of Patience, Colorado, Harry initially plans to eradicate humanity for his alien overlords but comes to love the species. This development leads Harry to defend the planet from other alien threats, often working with his human best friend Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko).

While Tudyk is the undisputed star of the show, “Resident Alien” grows to highlight its wider ensemble cast as it progresses. The show balances its screwball gags and character-based dramatic moments well, reminding audiences of the emotional stakes behind the story. This is especially apparent in the “Resident Alien” series finale, satisfyingly closing out four seasons of storytelling while leaving room open for a potential future reunion. An easygoing sci-fi comedy with plenty of heart, “Resident Alien” is a funny and intimate crowd-pleaser.

Before starring in “Poker Face,” actor Natasha Lyonne completely reinvigorated her career with the Netflix original series “Russian Doll.” Lyonne plays Nadia Vulvokov, a software engineer in New York City, celebrating her 36th birthday in the show’s first season. Nadia finds herself caught in a temporal loop, reliving the same day over and over again, dying at the end of every cycle. The second season has Nadia caught in another time warp, this time trapped in her mother’s body while she’s pregnant with Nadia in 1982.

On the surface, “Russian Doll” feels like a modern riff on “Groundhog Day” with a more lethal premise. But the science fiction elements are more pronounced here, as well as the show balancing more heartfelt drama with its comedy. A lot of the latter quality comes from a fantastic performance from Natasha Lyonne, a cynic who grows through reliving a cycle of death and rebirth. A time loop story with a refreshing sense of humor about itself, “Russian Doll” is one of the funniest sci-fi shows around.

Premiering on The CW in 2014, “The 100” loosely adapted author Kass Morgan’s sci-fi young adult novels into a gritty survivalist tale. The story starts with an orbital space station sending 100 juvenile delinquents to Earth to see if the planet’s surface can support human life again. The group discovers that not only is Earth habitable, but that primitive tribes already populate the landscape. However, as more factions become involved, the ensemble’s hopes for a second chance give way to brutal violence and drastic measures to survive.

“The 100” was the most graphically vicious show on The CW during its seven-season run, packed with numerous gruesome deaths. But for as bloody as the show gets, it never loses sight of its characters and their rough-and-tumble evolution. That makes every sanguine plot twist and fan-favorite character demise all the more heartbreaking and effective as they roll out. Now’s the perfect time to delve into “The 100” if you missed it during its initial broadcast run, where it earned legions of passionate fans worldwide,

The 2022 British sci-fi series “The Lazarus Project” offers a unique twist on the time loop sub-genre, positing that a fraction of the population is aware of temporal loops. Protagonist George (Paapa Essiedu) periodically finds time resetting to July 1, 2022, though no one else around him notices. Finding other people like him, George and this newfound group use their knowledge to prevent apocalyptic events by deliberately resetting time when they fail. However, when George’s wife Sarah (Charly Clive) is killed in a loop, his selfish actions to reset time accordingly come with their own far-reaching consequences.

Spanning two seasons, “The Lazarus Project” meshes an end-of-the-world scope with grounded humanist stakes despite its time-bending premise. Essiedu brings a lot of that moral conflict to life, instilling both tension and pathos into the story. That emotionally raw edge helps set the series apart from its contemporaries, making the proceedings feel that much more vital and authentic. Be sure to give “The Lazarus Project” a chance if you overlooked its initial release.

Long before she was the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s She-Hulk, Tatiana Maslany’s breakout role was on the BBC America series “Orphan Black.” Maslany plays Sarah Manning, a British con artist who discovers that she’s part of a line of identical clones. This revelation is made all the more lethal when Sarah realizes that someone is actively hunting her and her clone sisters, trying to kill them all. This leads to a global game of cat-and-mouse, with Sarah and the clones pursued by both the authorities and a cult that sees the clones as an abomination.

“Orphan Black” really is a showcase for Maslany’s acting talents, who demonstrates her impressive range playing Sarah and her clones. This distinction only grows as the show progresses, with plenty of horrific deaths punctuated along the way to raise the stakes. This enhances the plot twist-heavy story as it unfolds, keeping viewers on edge to see where it’s all going next. A masterful execution of what could’ve been a thoroughly campy premise, “Orphan Black” is a tightly plotted conspiracy sci-fi thriller.

One of the best Netflix original series to come out of Europe is 2017’s “Dark,” which is primarily a German production. The show centers on a German town where children begin mysteriously disappearing across four families in four different time periods. The subsequent investigation reveals that there is a temporal wormhole beneath a local nuclear power planet, linking these different generations. More than just involving the fate of vanishing children, the story expands to include the apocalypse from this town’s perspective.

With its time-bending scope and a foreboding small-town paranormal mystery, “Dark” feels like a German mix of “Stranger Things” and “Riverdale.” This is a family-based sci-fi noir with an impressive scale, where the apocalypse is only where things just get started. True to its title, the show is darker than its American counterparts and more narratively ambitious. A captivating watch and ingenious in how it plays with its generation-spanning premise, “Dark” is best viewed with as little prior knowledge of its story as possible.

As much as it may feel venerated decades since its premiere, “Lost” truly was one of the most original and spellbinding shows of the 21st century. The series revolves around an airliner crashing on a remote island, with the survivors discovering their environment has more secrets and mysteries than they thought. This includes another community of survivors, an ominous bunker, and a smoke monster linked to the survivors. The group not only does their best to survive and find a way off of the island, but also learn about the true nature of this sinister locale.

“Lost” is the master of slow-burn storytelling, offering the audience enough conflict in the present while exploring its central mysteries. The show maintained a focus on character-driven drama with an increasingly complicated puzzle that drove the story forward, with numerous shocking twists keeping audiences guessing. This culminated in one of the most buzzed-about series finales in recent memory, delving into the story’s themes about the acceptance of fate. “Lost” inspired numerous high-concept shows in the wake of its success, but that initial 2004 series remains unbeatable.

The heir apparent to the sci-fi anthology legacy of “The Twilight Zone” is the star-studded show “Black Mirror.” Premiering in 2011, the British series also features a line of standalone, plot twist-driven stories that serve as a commentary on contemporary society. Most of the episodes largely deal with humanity’s complicated and evolving relationship with technology, especially regarding its growing dependency on it. This ranges from elaborate virtual programs with sinister implications to people being targeted by unwanted surveillance tech.

Like any anthology series, “Black Mirror” runs the gamut on how effective its stories are with each standalone episode. The first four seasons of the series especially consistently knocked it out of the park, offering thought-provoking premises. This isn’t to say that the later seasons are noticeably weaker, but there is a narrative freshness to its earlier stories. A modern reinvention of what something like “The Twilight Zone” could be, “Black Mirror” is the perfect anthology show for the Information Age.

There was no way that “Stranger Things” wasn’t going to make this list, and it was always going to appear near the top. The 2016 series is not only a love letter to 1980s pop culture but one of the most engrossing shows of the past decade. The story is centered around the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the mid-’80s, which has a secret government lab hidden away from the community. When a mysterious girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) escapes from the facility and links up with a group of local boys, the town is changed by escalating paranormal activity.

“Stranger Things” combines weird science and Cold War paranoia with ’80s horror tropes to great effect, becoming one of Netflix’s most popular properties ever. There is a blockbuster cinematic quality to the series that only grows significantly with each season as it leans into its extra-dimensional stakes. But what grounds even the most outlandish plot developments is how much the story gets the audience invested in its ensemble cast of young characters. An absolute triumph that has thrilled millions worldwide, “Stranger Things” feels like event television every time a new season is unveiled.