These Netflix Sci-Fi TV shows will keep you on the edge of your seat

Stranger Things caught on like wildfire when the genre series quietly premiered its first season on Netflix in 2016. What started as a tribute to ’80s cinema, with references to ET, Dungeons & Dragons, Goonies and the work of Stephen King, has become a layered and compelling sci-fi adventure. The show follows a group of children in Hawkins, Indiana, who, after meeting a mysterious girl they call Eleven, discover a sinister dimension hiding just beneath their feet. Government cover-ups, demonic hell beasts and a cast of beloved misfit characters make up this tour-de-force genre series.

Created by Game of Thrones alumni David Benioff and DB Weiss, along with The Terror showrunner Alexander Woo, 3 Body Problem is based on the Hugo Award-winning novel by Liu Cixin. The high-concept sci-fi series connects a turning point in 1960s China to the present, where a group of scientists face an emerging global threat unlike anything humanity has ever seen before.

Inspired by the comic book created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, the series follows a group of adopted superhero siblings raised to save the world. From time travel to saving humanity from multiple apocalyptic events, the continuing adventures of the dysfunctional Hargreeves turn expected genre tropes on their heads. It’s weird, unusual, hilarious and poignant.

Supacell takes the well-known superhero story and flips the script. The series follows four black people living in South London who suddenly develop superpowers. What connects each of them to their new skills is their family’s history of sickle cell disease – a common hereditary condition. Using genre as a narrative foundation, the show delves into the human drama unfolding between these characters while highlighting relevant cultural themes such as racism, human trafficking, and predatory healthcare practices.

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror set the standard for what a modern genre anthology series can do. Each story in the series, which currently has six seasons and an interactive, standalone movie worth checking out, takes place in a near-future world where technology has transformed humanity in beautiful, strange, and terrifying ways. influenced. From uplifting to horrifying, Black Mirror is a brainteaser of a television show that will keep you thinking long after the credits roll.

They broke the mold when they created The OA. The two-season series created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij follows the story of Prairie Johnson (Marling), a young blind woman who, after being missing for seven years, returns to her family with her sight restored. Where was she all these years? How can she see? Parallel existence in multiple dimensions, that’s how it is. Okay, that answer barely scratches the surface of this extremely unique and layered program. Come for the Quantum Physics, stay for the interpretive dance routines.

Like Stranger Things, Dark begins with the unexplained disappearance of a child. Instead of another version of Upside Down plaguing the town, the German series turns to time travel to explore how a family and community can be affected by the event of a child going missing. A noir slow burn that leans heavily on the horrors of generational trauma, Dark lasted three seasons on Netflix. It will definitely get under your skin.

Created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar – the same duo who brought Dark to Netflix – 1899 follows a group of passengers on a ship bound for New York at the turn of the century. However, this is more than your average period piece. Once things get going, the show throws time travel, multiple dimensions, reality simulations, and other bits of sci-fi madness onto the screen. It may not have gotten a season 2, but there’s still a lot of genre goodness to think about.

In Parasyte: The Gray, alien parasites land on Earth and begin turning people into shape-shifting monsters. To combat this growing Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style threat, survivors – known as ‘The Grey’ – rise to save humanity and the planet. Inspired by Hitoshi Iwaki’s manga, this Korean series will satisfy any horror and science fiction fan.

Matrix creators Lilly and Lana Wachowski teamed up with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to bring Sense8 to Netflix. The supernatural drama follows eight random people from around the world who discover they are emotionally and mentally connected. Labeled ‘sensates’, the group learns from each other while literally being forced to walk in each other’s shoes and learn new and exciting skills. Things wouldn’t be complete without the presence of a shadowy organization hunting them all down. Over two seasons, the program explored current issues of gender, sexuality and identity, blending genres such as telenovela, K-drama, Bollywood and Euro-noir as it hops around the world.

Based on the book by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon exists in a future world where consciousness can be transferred from one body to another. Joel Kinnaman played the role of ex-soldier Takeshi Kovacs in the first season. His mission to solve a murder evolves into a journey of self-discovery as he tries to track down his lost love and answers about his past life. Season 2 stars Anthony Mackie to further the cyberpunk noir story.

Combining different animation styles with live-action, Love, Death + Robots is an anthology unlike many others. The series, which has drawn comparisons to Black Mirror, delves into a host of standalone stories that explore a world where sentient robots, creatures, and other similar beings have more humanity than humanity itself.

Taking the 1965 series as inspiration, this Lost in Space follows the Robinson family on a space mission to colonize a new planet as humanity teeters on the edge of the abyss. The show is heavy on the family drama, which can be off-putting at times. But thanks to sociopolitical conflict, a cool alien robot friend, and the wonderfully evil Dr. Smith by Parker Posey, the show holds up.

Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star in this stunning drama from Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) and Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers). The 10-episode series follows Annie (Stone) and Owen (Hill) as they participate in a drug trial for a drug that will reportedly cure all their problems. As you can probably guess, that’s not the case. Stone and Hill look like they are having a lot of fun throughout the program as they get to try out different characters. The addition of Sonoya Mizuno, Justin Theroux and Sally Field to the cast makes this an underrated gem worth your attention.

For its first three seasons, Manifest was an NBC original. After it was canceled by the network, Netflix stepped in to revive the series. The story follows the passengers of Flight 828, who arrive at their destination five years after departure. The survivors experience premonitions and visions that help them save others from disasters yet to happen. It’s a bit like Lost and Final Destination had a baby.

Eric McCormack leads this sleek sci-fi series that follows a group of “travelers” who send their consciousnesses back to different periods in time to different hosts nearing the end of their lives, with the goal of minimizing the impact of their deaths on the future. After three seasons, Netflix pulled the plug on this fascinating, character-driven series.

Based on Haro Aso’s manga, Alice in Borderland follows a group of characters in a parallel version of Tokyo who are forced to compete in a series of twisted games to stay alive. This battle royale-style thriller will appeal to fans of life-or-death competitive titles such as Squid Game, The Hunger Games and of course Battle Royale.