It seems like dystopian sci-fi shows are one of the fastest-growing sub-genres of late. Dystopian shows have been popular for some time, dating all the way back to the early The Walking Dead days and with shows like Lost.
Sci-fi shows, meanwhile, have also been popular for decades. But combining the two? That’s a relatively new thing. Apart from shows like Studio One back in 1953 and its “Nineteen Eighty-Four” episode and, of course, iconic series like The Twilight Zone, sci-fi dystopia is a burgeoning space. A few specific shows from the last decade or so have really done it justice.
‘Paradise’ (2025–Present)
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What makes Paradise especially brilliant is that it doesn’t weave sci-fi into the plot until the second season. In fact, it doesn’t even reveal the dystopian reality until the end of the pilot episode. The show also functions as an action-packed political thriller, mashing so many genres into one, yet blending them so well.
The story in one of the best thriller shows released since 2020 takes place in an underground bunker where survivors reside. In Season 2, it flips back and forth between the bunker and Earth above, where things are very different from what the few thousands who were saved are led to believe. The sci-fi angle throws you for the loop, suggesting the upcoming final Season 3 will lean more heavily into this side and reinvent the show for another exceptional season to complete the story.
‘Fallout’ (2024–Present)
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Cryogenic chambers that keep people alive for centuries. Killer mutated insects called Radroaches. Fighters in heavily teched out robot armor. Undead ghouls roaming the streets. It’s all par for the course in Fallout, a post-apocalyptic drama based on the video game series of the same name.
With two seasons under its belt and another on the way, Fallout follows naïve young Lucy (Ella Purnell) as she emerges from her underground bunker for the first time and realizes that life outside is far different from the sheltered one she has lived. She teams up with The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) to achieve a common goal, but the dangers they meet are a combination of fractured human nature and creepy sci-fi. It’s so entertaining, even if you know nothing about the video games.
‘Silo’ (2023–Present)
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Another show where survivors from an apocalyptic event live underground. This time they’re in silos in Silo. The towering floors are separated by endless loops of stairwells and people are divided by class; ironically, one aspect of the world before that hasn’t changed. Everyone is led to believe that outside is a dangerous wasteland, proven through a projected image from a camera that reveals the immediate death of anyone who dares ask to leave. When Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) starts to question things, however, the beginnings of a potential revolution emerge.
Like Paradise, the sci-fi element doesn’t arrive in a big way until Season 3, when plenty of big revelations are presented for the story. But it is teased throughout. When the big reveal rears its head in the third season, however, you can’t help but sit at the edge of your seat, desperate to find out how the story ends. Silo is based on a series of novels by Hugh Howey, but the show has carved a modified path, which means even fans of the books get surprises.
‘Mr. Robot’ (2015–2019)
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With a heavy spotlight on tech, Mr. Robot combines the dangers of technology with the challenges of mental health. Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) is a talented and reclusive hacker who works for a cybersecurity company by day but uses his hacking skills to stop people from doing awful things at night. His main goal, however, is to take down the world’s biggest corporation, E Corp (he calls them Evil Corp), believing that a financial reset that wipes out debilitating personal debt is the only way to save humanity.
Mr. Robot dives deep into sci-fi as the story progresses and Elliot discovers things about himself and his group’s supposed leader, Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). He encounters cyberterrorist enemies, evil CEOs, and the dark implications of anarchy. The show is one of those series you benefit from watching twice.
- The Wachowskis’ 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film
Editing. - Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the
actors. - Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot,
recovering from neck surgery the whole time. - It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the
world in front of you.
- Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year.
- George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a
script. - The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and
real stunt performers. - Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024.
- Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth
nomination. - The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott’s 1982 original.
- Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever
he could. - Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the
two movies.
- Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and
Original Score. - Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan’s Tenet so he could score Dune instead.
- Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher
Walken. - David Lynch’s 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unmade one are both their
own legends by now.
- The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects.
- John Williams’ score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the
best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever. - Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both
seasons. - The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+.
‘Severance’ (2022–Present)
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Severance is one of the best shows of the last five years, a sci-fi psychological thriller about Mark Scout (Adam Scott), a man who undergoes an experimental procedure to divide his memories. The goal is to get through a mundane job without being consumed by grief over the death of his wife. But Mark’s “innie” and “outie” are still technically the same person, even if they know nothing about one another.
The show gets bizarre yet gripping as it further explores the concept of personal agency, and the nefarious plans of Lumon Industries, the biotechnology company that performs these procedures. It’s an intense thriller show worth watching over and over, obsessing over every detail in Reddit forums with other fans. Both seasons will have you wide-eyed, Season 2 especially upping the ante. By the end of both seasons to date, you’ll be screaming at the TV.
‘Black Mirror’ (2016–Present)
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Unequivocally the best sci-fi dystopian show of this generation, Black Mirror tells a unique story in every episode of its anthology format. There are admittedly some weak episodes among the bunch, but even the weakest ones are better than the totality of some other shows of the genre. And the best ones? They will blow your mind.
Black Mirror serves as a cautionary tale, a warning of the dangers of rapid technological innovation and our reliance on it. From AI to social media, the monetization of everything, parental controls, and more, each speculative fiction story is like a piece of art. Often, you don’t quite understand the point until towards the end, leaving your jaw on the floor. That’s especially so with some of the episodes from early seasons, like Season 2’s “Be Right Back,” fan favorite Season 3’s “San Junipero,” and the horrifying Season 3 episode “Shut Up and Dance.”
‘Pluribus’ (2025–Present)
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Image via Apple TVFrom the mind of Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, Pluribus explores the sci-fi and dystopian angle from a completely new lens. The world as we know it has come to an end. But survivors have become part of a hive mind. They aren’t out to murder and maim, they want to create a utopian society. Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) is one of only a few survivors who are immune to the virus, and she has no interest in joining. It’s a race against time to stop the madness before the hive mind uses its vast knowledge to figure out how to bypass her immunity.
Pluribus is subtle. There aren’t flashy scenes. It’s mostly dialogue driven with compelling discussions that make you ponder if individuality is more important than literal world peace. Is world peace really achievable anyway, and at what cost? Plus, there’s the big question of what caused this virus in the first place. The answer leads to somewhere in the stars and potential other life forms.
‘Raised by Wolves’ (2020–2022)
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Sometimes, the best shows in the eyes of viewers aren’t necessarily the ones that continue beyond a few seasons. Such is the case with Raised by Wolves, which debuted to positive reception, was even more revered in Season 2, then was shockingly canceled by HBO Max. Even so, the sci-fi drama is still worth your time.
Set in the future following the destruction of Earth, Father (Abubakar Salim) and Mother (Amanda Collin) are androids raising human children on their home planet. A colony of human survivors is forming on Kepler-22b, but political and social views don’t always align. This threatens the entire race and leaves the androids struggling to figure out how to deal with this foreign species. The show is so original, wonderfully exploring not only dystopia and sci-fi, but the implications of religion and integration with a completely different world. It’s one of the best shows that’s no longer available to stream.
‘Upload’ (2020–2025)
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Unlike the others, Upload takes a more comedic sci-fi slant. Though it’s not a traditional end of the world scenario, it’s a story about what happens when the world ends for specific people. Before you die in this future world, you can decide to have your consciousness uploaded to an afterlife community, like a retirement home for the dearly departed. But the system has become heavily monetized as corporations fight to sell their communities as the best, or most affordable. While there, people in their host bodies are inundated with virtual purchase options, their guilty living relatives compelled to buy more credits to show their love by ensuring their dead relatives are able to “live” in comfort.
At the heart of Upload is the story of life and philosophical questions about its finality. Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) is uploaded by his wealthy girlfriend before he dies from injuries sustained in a car crash. Now, he’s forever tied to her purse strings. Heavy on sci-fi, we see humans communicating with the dead through VR headsets and holograms. The story grows to explore how humanity has been able to make this happen and the societal and greed-fueled implications of those who stand to benefit. Upload is a charming, sweet show. It’s one of the best Prime Video shows everyone has been sleeping on.
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