'The Martian' Meets 'Interstellar' in Netflix's 10-Episode Sci-Fi Drama Made for Your Next Binge

Published Nov 15, 2026, 7:43 AM EST

Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a New York–based journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, where she is an Associate Editor, and The U.S. Sun, where she previously served as a Senior Consumer Reporter.

She specializes in network television coverage, delivering sharp, thoughtful analysis of long-running procedural hits and ambitious new dramas across broadcast TV. At Collider, Amanda explores character arcs, storytelling trends, and the cultural impact of network series that keep audiences tuning in week after week.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is bilingual and holds a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies from the University of New Haven.

Getting to Mars is hard enough, but leaving everyone you love behind might be even harder. Netflix's Away takes the idea of a mission to the Red Planet and fleshes it out on a more personal level by following a crew of astronauts as they try to make history while managing their relationships and obligations at home. The 10-episode science-fiction series, which stars two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, will likely appeal to fans of The Martian's survival aspect and Interstellar's family-oriented storytelling. Plenty of complications arise aboard the spacecraft, but some of the show's hardest moments happen millions of miles away.

Created by Andrew Hinderaker, Away premiered on Netflix in September 2020. Although the series was canceled after its first season, its 10 episodes tell a largely self-contained story about the first crewed mission to Mars. The journey takes three years, and the people aboard have much to lose before they reach their destination, making for a different kind of space drama that draws as much interest from people watching from Earth as from the astronauts traveling through space.

'Away' Follows the First International Mission to Mars

Image via Netflix

Swank stars as Emma Green, a NASA astronaut selected to command the Atlas, a spacecraft carrying an international crew on humanity's first mission to Mars. Joining her are Indian pilot and medical officer Ram Arya (Ray Panthaki), Chinese chemist Lu Wang (Vivian Wu), Russian cosmonaut Misha Popov (Mark Ivanir), and British botanist Kwesi Weisberg-Abban (Ato Essandoh). They come from different backgrounds and have varying levels of experience, but they share the significant responsibility of getting to Mars alive.

Emma's appointment as commander is hardly straightforward, as some crew members question her leadership after an early emergency aboard the Atlas, leaving her to earn their confidence while managing the demands of an increasingly dangerous expedition. They also face the challenge of keeping everyone alive for three years in a confined spacecraft. Equipment malfunctions, medical emergencies, and problems with the ship's essential systems put the mission at risk, forcing the astronauts to rely on one another even when their personal differences get in the way.

One of the mission's most compelling aspects is its international nature. Every astronaut goes through a unique set of experiences that influence their relationships throughout the mission. Misha is a seasoned space traveler, with a lot of turbulence in his personal life as the price of his success. Kwesi is a newcomer to astronautics, with knowledge of botany and some faith beliefs that influence how he sees the mission.

Hilary Swank's Space Mission Has an 'Interstellar'-Sized Family Problem

Image via Netflix

Although this book has a central theme of the technological obstacles of space travel, much of the content focuses on events on Earth. Here, Matt Logan (Josh Charles), Emma's husband, and their daughter, Alexis “Lex” Logan (Talitha Bateman), must learn to cope without Emma. Matt is an ex-astronaut who was unable to join the expedition due to his medical problems and suffered a stroke shortly after Emma's departure. As a result, the family faces issues beyond the distance between Earth and Mars. Recovery includes both the difficult rehabilitation process for Matt while Lex is doing everything in her power to deal with the experiences of being a mother without her mother and caring for her father. All Emma can do is accept that, unfortunately, she cannot simply abandon the mission every time something goes wrong at home.

Christopher Nolan's Interstellar explores the emotional consequences of space exploration through a father and daughter separated by an extraordinary journey. Away approaches a similar idea from a different family dynamic, with a mother attempting to reconcile her professional ambitions with her responsibilities as a parent. The separation is difficult for everyone involved, and the series gives those feelings considerable room to develop.

Of course, viewers looking for the relentless action of The Martian should adjust their expectations. Away has its share of emergencies, including a damaged solar panel and a failing water reclamation system, but it often prioritizes the crew's emotional lives over the mechanics of survival. That's a deliberate choice, although it occasionally comes at the expense of the show's pacing.

Netflix Canceled 'Away' After One Season, But the Mission Has an Ending

Image via Netflix

One thing prospective viewers should know before settling in for all 10 episodes is that Away will not return for Season 2; Netflix canceled the series in October 2020, just weeks after its premiere. The decision was reportedly tied to production costs, with individual episodes costing about $6 million, despite the show's early streaming success.

The good news is that the first season does give a certain amount of closure. The Atlas arrives at Mars, and the crew manages to pull through with the main mission goals. Although some characters have unresolved issues and contradictions that could be developed in the second season, they still get enough closure related to the mission itself.

For anyone who is interested in a show about astronauts who spend as much time thinking about their loved ones as performing operations in outer space, Away is unsurprisingly worth watching. The show may struggle with pacing and its emotional core, and some of the emotional backstory may feel too sweet. Nevertheless, Swank and the other actors give the series a personality you can't help but appreciate.

Away