8 Most Perfect Sci-Fi Shows of the Last 5 Years, Ranked
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
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Over the course of the last five years, the world has been treated to several of the greatest science fiction TV shows it has seen at any point during the 21st century. From video game adaptations to stunning animated series to superhero shows, these are series which are undeniable proof that the genre is alive and well in the 2020s. From 2021 until the present, the quantity and quality of sci-fi shows offered has been nothing short of remarkable.
We're talking about massively acclaimed and award-winning prestige series like Severance, as well as pulpier and far more niche—yet equally exceptional—shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Indeed, the sheer diversity of sci-fi series that the last five years have put on display has been exceptional, making this a hell of a time to be alive as a fan of sci-fi television. Of course, it's nigh-impossible for any TV show to be truly and entirely without fault, but these shows come as close to perfection as a sci-fi series can possibly get.
8 'Fallout' (2024–Present)
The Fallout franchise is nothing less than a massive cultural landmark in the gaming space, a series which has completely re-defined the post-apocalyptic RPG genre time and time again. As such, when a television adaptation of the games was announced, expectations were instantly sky-high. So far, not only has Prime Video's Fallout met those expectations, it has arguably exceeded them.
It can already be called one of the best sci-fi shows of the 21st century, and it's indeed among the highest-rated science fiction shows of all time on IMDb. The production values are off the charts, the cast is filled with stars delivering some of the best work of their careers, and the writing should please fans of the game and newcomers alike. So far, it seems like Fallout has cracked the code to making a genuinely perfect video game adaptation, something that Hollywood had been struggling with for decades.
7 'Invincible' (2021–Present)
Created by Robert Kirkman and based on the eponymous comic book series he co-created with Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, Invincible is far and away one of the most perfect superhero shows of the last 10 years. There are many fans and critics, in fact, who strongly consider that the show improves on the source material in virtually every way that matters, resulting in an experience that comes remarkably close to true perfection.
There are those who may argue that the occasionally subpar animation is enough to make Invincible substantially imperfect, but the writing and voice acting are so stunningly flawless that it's abundantly easy for the animation to eventually even grow into a charm of its own. Subversions of the Superman trope are aplenty, but Invincible is one of the most brilliantly radical, layered, funny, and masterfully satirical in pretty much every sense.
6 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' (2022–Present)
Back when it launched in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was quite a financial success, but was so technically flawed that it was almost unplayable for a while. With time, though, CD Projekt Red's updates gave gamers one of the biggest redemption stories in the history of gaming. Today, the Cyberpunk franchise is a bona fide multimedia gem, and even for sci-fi fans who have never even played the game, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a must-see.
For one, it's one of the most visually stunning anime shows of all time, thanks to some of the most vibrant and kinetic animation the small screen has ever seen. It's a perfect standalone sequel that requires pretty much zero knowledge of the game, a hard-hitting tale that takes the usual strengths of the cyberpunk subgenre to wholly different levels. The writing is fantastic, the tone is unsparingly bleak, and with a second season fast approaching, now's about as perfect a time as any for sci-fi fans who haven't seen Edgerunners to dive right in.
5 'Scavengers Reign' (2023)
It's an absolute tragedy that Scavengers Reign was canceled after only one short-lived season, because this really is one of the best overlooked animated shows that deserves infinitely more attention. However, since the series was originally pitched as a self-contained miniseries, it's still an entirely satisfying experience with an entirely satisfying conclusion. As such, anyone who loves both science fiction and animation yet hasn't seen Scavengers Reign is seriously missing out.
Full of avant-garde sensibilities that make it one of the most special and unique animated shows that audiences have seen in years, Scavengers Reign contains—for one—some of the most complex, layered, and instantly engrossing world-building ever seen in a sci-fi show. Couple that with a powerfully human and nuanced tale about the complex relationship between humanity and the natural world, and it shouldn't be surprising why fans continue to beg and clamor for a second season of Scavengers Reign.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Star Wars Faction Do You Belong To? Rebels · Empire · Mandalorians · Crimson Dawn
Eight honest questions about how you actually are: how you feel about rules, where your loyalty goes first, what you do when somebody criticises you in front of other people. Answer them and we will tell you whose side you would really have ended up on. Four factions are recruiting: the believers, the organisation, the ones with a code, and the ones with a price.
✊Rebel Alliance(Andor)
🛰️The Empire(Original Trilogy)
🪖Mandalorians(The Mandalorian)
🌅Crimson Dawn(Solo)
01
How do you feel about rules at work? This one sorts people faster than anything else.
02
What is your relationship with money? Nobody answers this the way they think they will.
03
What makes you respect somebody? Whatever you pick, you apply it to yourself too.
04
How do you behave under real pressure? Your friends would probably answer this for you.
05
Where does your loyalty go first? Everybody has an order, even if they never say it out loud.
06
Somebody criticises you in front of other people. What happens? Be honest about the first thing you feel.
07
What does a good life look like in ten years? Pick the one you would actually be happy with.
08
What do you want more than anything else? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your side.
The Transmission Is Decoded Your Faction Is…
Four sides, four completely different answers to the same question about how a galaxy should work. Here is where you would have signed up, what it would ask of you, and what it would give you back.
Rebel Alliance
You belong with the side that has almost nothing and keeps going anyway. The Rebellion is not a glamorous posting, and anybody who tells you otherwise has not seen what it actually costs the people inside it.
- You are wired to notice when something is wrong and to say so, which makes you useful here and awkward almost everywhere else.
- Andor is the best thing Star Wars has made in years precisely because it shows the unglamorous half, which is the meetings, the paperwork and the people who never get a medal.
- Your kind of courage is the ordinary kind, done repeatedly, by somebody who is fully aware of the odds.
- The Alliance wins because enough people decided separately that they were finished being quiet about it.
The Galactic Empire
You belong to the machine, and the uncomfortable truth is that the machine mostly runs on people who are competent, orderly and convinced they are doing their job properly. Very few of them think of themselves as villains.
- You want structure, clear expectations and a way to measure whether you are doing well, none of which the other three factions can offer you.
- The Empire is frightening because of how ordinary it is on the inside, which is the single smartest thing Star Wars has ever done with it.
- Your risk is the quiet one, which is looking at something wrong and deciding it is somebody else's department.
- You would be genuinely good at this, and that is exactly the part worth thinking about.
The Mandalorians
You belong to the people who lost their planet and kept their code anyway. Mandalorian culture is not a nationality so much as a promise, and anybody who makes that promise and keeps it is one of them.
- You are loyal to people rather than to institutions, which is why an organisation chart has never once told you who you actually owe.
- A code only counts when it costs you something, and you are the sort of person who would pay rather than bend it.
- Mandalorians spend the whole saga arguing about what being one even means, and that argument is far more interesting than the armour.
- The Mandalorian and Grogu took the creed to cinemas over Memorial Day 2026, the first Star Wars film in seven years.
Crimson Dawn
You belong to the syndicate, where nobody wastes your time pretending the galaxy runs on ideals. Crimson Dawn deals in leverage, and it is the only faction on this list that would tell you so to your face.
- You read a room for who owes what, and you are usually right, which is a talent that makes people slightly wary of you.
- Qi'ra is the most interesting thing to come out of Solo, because she is the one character who learned the actual lesson about power.
- You would rather be the person setting the terms than the person being told what the terms are.
- The catch is simple enough. In a syndicate, everybody is leverage, including you, and the smart ones never forget that part.
4 'Mouse' (2021)
K-dramas have been around since the 1950s, but it wasn't until the early to mid-1990s that Korean TV shows started to become popular outside of South Korea. Enter the last five years, which have offered some of the best and most worthwhile K-dramas of the 21st century so far, including the sci-fi psychological thriller Mouse. For people who love K-dramas with tons of plot twists, this one's a bit of a must-see.
It's a brilliant piece of high-concept sci-fi hinging on a single, instantly gripping moral dilemma: What if we could identify psychopathic genes in a fetus with 99% accuracy before birth? Mouse tests the various consequences of such a technology with profound complexity, boosted by a powerhouse performance by Lee Seung-gi and a fascinatingly complex moral core.
3 'Arcane' (2021–2024)
Sci-fi fans who somehow think that cartoons and animation in general deserve less respect than live-action sci-fi, or that it's a medium that's incapable of living up to the genre's full potential, have very clearly never watched Netflix's Arcane. It's one of the highest-rated animated TV shows of all time on IMDb, and deservedly so. After all, it's one of those Netflix sci-fi shows where every episode's a masterpiece.
Who could have possibly predicted that a television adaptation of League of Legends, of all games, would end up offering such an emotionally riveting and visually stunning show? What's best, one doesn't need to have any familiarity with the source material beforehand in order to appreciate Arcane's perfection. With some of the best animation, music, voice acting, and writing that animation has seen throughout the last five years, what's not to love?
2 'Severance' (2022–Present)
Mystery box shows are those that are entirely built around long-standing mysteries and a constant barrage of plot twists, and every generation gets their own pop-culturally massive mystery box sensation. Where the '90s had The X-Files and the 2000s had Lost, the 2020s get Severance, which can already be counted among the greatest mystery sci-fi series of all time. For every question that it decides to answer, it brings up at least another two fascinating mysteries.
A constant air of mystery and a satisfyingly constant wave of twists aren't the only things that make Severance one of the most suspenseful shows since 2020. However, nor are they the only factors that make it arguably perfect. The acting is top-notch, the production values are exceptional, and the show's flawless balance between hard-hitting drama and dark comedy is an absolute delight. Will Severance continue to be perfect and repeatedly stick the landing going forward? Only time will tell. But for now, it's hard to make an argument that it's not one of the most perfect shows currently streaming.
1 'Andor' (2022–2025)
There aren't very many perfect sci-fi shows with five seasons or less, but Andor is undoubtedly one such previous gem. A spin-off prequel of a spin-off prequel didn't exactly sound like a particularly exciting idea when the project was announced, but in the end, Andor turned out to be the best piece of canon Star Wars media that fans of the galaxy far, far away have seen since Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm.
The wonderful, immensely admirable thing about Andor is that it's perfect on multiple levels. It functions perfectly as a potently slow-burning, thematically scathing critique of fascism and authoritarian abuse of power. It also functions perfectly as a surprisingly emotional character drama with some of the most enthralling arcs that the franchise has seen in years. And it also functions perfectly as a Star Wars show, despite having no lightsaber battles and leaning more heavily toward politics and thriller elements than pure action. All in all, it's the most perfect sci-fi show of the last five years.
Andor
- Release Date
- 2022 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Disney+
- Showrunner
- Tony Gilroy
- Directors
- Susanna White
-
Cassian Andor
-
Luthen Rael
- Writers
- Dan Gilroy
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 2
- Producers
- Diego Luna, Kate Hazell, Kathleen Kennedy, Tony Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Toby Haynes, Michelle Rejwan
- Characters By
- George Lucas
- Creator(s)
- Tony Gilroy
- Filming Locations
- United Kingdom
- Main Characters
- Cassian Andor, Mon Mother, Luthen Rael, Bix Caleen, Dedra Meero, Syril, Maarva, Saw Gerrera
- Producer
- Kate Hazell, Kathleen Kennedy, David Meanti, Stephen Schiff
- Number of Episodes
- 12
- Streaming Service(s)
- Disney+
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