Interstellar, which came out in 2014, includes some classic sci-fi tropes but also takes some bold risks thanks to Christopher Nolan’s vision. The story, which is partially based on science that is as real as it can be, follows a crew of astronauts who travel through a wormhole searching for a new home for mankind, which is on the brink of a destructive famine.
While Christopher Nolan’s career already included sci-fi thanks to The Prestige and Inception, not to mention the fantastical elements of the Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar was a more traditional science fiction movie in many ways. Incredibly well-received upon its release, Interstellar has established itself as one of one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. Since it fits perfectly within its genre, the elements that make Interstellar so compelling can be found in a great variety of other stories, from movies to television shows.
10
Firefly (2002)
A Timeless Classic
Firefly is a household name within the sci-fi genre despite its incredibly short run—only a single season with fourteen episodes. Still, the series garnered incredible success and has ascended to the status of cult classic, with a dedicated fanbase that keeps the story alive even more than twenty years after it was first released.
The show is set in the year 2517 and follows the crew of the spaceship Serenity, who come from all sorts of walks of life and who try to work together to make a living in the frontiers of their star system. Each of the nine characters is ultimately looking for something different, but their permanence aboard the Serenity turns the ship into a microcosm of humanity like all kinds of “boat media” usually do. Perfect for sci-fi lovers and for those who particularly enjoyed the dynamics between Cooper, Amelia, and the rest of the Endurance crew in Interstellar.
9
Silo (2023 – ongoing)
Sci-fi Underground
Silo, based on the book series of the same name by author Hugh Howey, is a relatively new entry in the world of television sci-fi but one that has already left its mark to the tune of wildly positive reviews. Selo is set in an unspecified future where a community of humans lives in a giant underground silo, which is supposedly the only thing keeping them all safe from a deathly “outside”.
While Silo takes place in an incredibly different setting than Interstellar—one underground, the other mostly in space—they share some tropes that are true sci-fi staples and can be found, one way or another, in all the stories that fall within this genre. Both shows also follow a main character that soon discovers the truth about a situation that they’ve always taken for granted—Matthew McCounaghey’s Cooper in Interstellar and Rebecca Ferguson’s Juliette in Silo.
8
Love, Death & Robots (2019 – ongoing)
Futuristic Anthology
Love, Death & Robots is a unique anthology series that spans a wide variety of genres, from horror to comedy to science fiction—with each episode relating to at least one of the three concepts in the show’s тιтle. Love, Death & Robots has three seasons so far, for a total of thirty-five episodes unevenly divided between the three, with a fourth one to come at a yet unknown date.
The first Volume of Love, Death & Robots consists of eighteen episodes, while Volume II and Volume III have eight and nine episodes each.
If you liked Interstellar’s robot companions TARS and CASE, then you might enjoy “Three Robots,” the first episode of Season 1, where the тιтular three robots wander through the remains of a long-destroyed city centuries after the fall of humanity, marveling at the traces of human life they encounter along the way. Those same three robots return in the first episode of Season 3, “Three Robots: Exit Strategies,” where they continue their investigation on the final days of humanity.
7
3 Body Problem (2024 – ongoing)
Meeting A Mysterious Alien Civilization
3 Body Problem is one of the sci-fi revelations of 2024, the latest adaptation of the incredibly popular Remembrance of Earth’s Past book series by Chinese author Liu Cixin. At the core of the story is the encounter that a group of scientists all over the world have with a mysterious alien civilization, something that obviously changes the course of human history. A premise similar to that of Interstellar, where Cooper travels through a wormhole that scientists believe has been put just beyond Saturn by an incredibly evolved species of beings who can manipulate time.
The story of 3 Body Problem then continues with several scientists reporting phenomenons that defy the laws of physics, and some of them soon come in contact with an alien civilization known as the San-Ti. These so-called Trisolarians live on a planet that the three-body problem makes almost inhabitable and are plotting to move and take over Earth.
6
Fallout (2024 – ongoing)
Sci-fi But Make It Post-Apocalyptic Western
Fallout is based on the video game of the same name and was another successful 2024 release, earning a total of seventeen nominations at the 76th Emmy Awards. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity lives in underground Vaults while the rest of the Earth has been turned into a wasteland where resources are hard to come by and ferociously fought over.
The flavors of sci-fi in Fallout and Interstellar are considerably different, but they do have some common traits. There’s the fact that a scarcity of resources is a key element of the worldbuilding for both stories, for starters, as it is in many other sci-fi universes. Then there’s the familial emotional tension, with Fallout’s main character Lucy looking for her father through the wasteland just like Murphy never really stops waiting for Cooper in Interstellar.
5
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 – 1994)
Sci-fi Royalty
The Star Trek narrative universe probably needs no introductions. Star Trek contributed to making sci-fi the genre it is today and is pretty much a pillar of pop culture, with a great variety of stories spanning several years and several crews of the fictional United Federation of Planets. Created by Star Trek ideator Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek: The Next Generation acts as the immediate sequel to The Original Series.
The show takes place on the USS Enterprise-D, named after the iconic starship manned by Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock. Its crew, led by Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard and Jonathan Frakes’ Commander Riker, is busy exploring the galaxy’s Alpha and Beta quadrants, encountering all manners of creatures and adversaries during its travels. The Next Generation is sci-fi at its most classical and something that Interstellar definitely took inspiration from.
4
Dark (2017 – 2020)
Mysterious Time Travels
Dark is a German series that became quite the phenomenon during its three-season run, earning praise left and right for its complex themes and brilliant technical side. The story is set in a fictional German town, where the disappearance of a child sets in movement a sinister chain of events that lead the show’s main cast of characters to uncover a generations-long conspiracy that would lead to an Apocalypse.
It might seem like Interstellar has little to share with Dark, but both stories rotate around one key storytelling element, time travel and all that derives from it from alternate realities to loops. Both shows also utilize a wormhole as the “device” that makes time travel possible. In Interstellar, the wormhole Gargantua is located just after Saturn and is believed to have been put there by a species of five-dimensional beings, while the wormhole in Dark is located in a complex system of underground tunnels under the local nuclear power plant.
3
Foundation (2021 – ongoing)
Grandiose Space Opera
Foundation is loosely based on the book series of the same by sci-fi pillar Isaac Asimov, even though the show takes many liberties when it comes to the source material’s characters or plot. Still, the result is one of the best sci-fi shows of recent years, filled with complex characters and intricate policies. Just what one would expect from a show set in a space empire that has been ruled for centuries by the same man, cloning himself over and over again.
While the tone of Foundation is pretty different from that of Interstellar—the former being pure space opera while the latter is still somewhat grounded in realism—they both have the same driving force behind their plots, which is actually a pretty evergreen trope when it comes to sci-fi. In both stories humanity is poised on the brink of catastrophe, something that urges scientists in both narrative universes to strive towards finding a solution before it’s too late.
2
For All Mankind (2019 – ongoing)
An Alternative Look At History
For All Mankind is sci-fi that is more in the vein of Interstellar than other тιтles on this list, a story still grounded in realism even though it then evolves in impossible directions. While Interstellar looks to a relatively close future, For All Mankind gives its audience an insight into a possible alternative past where not only did the space race never end but where the Soviet Union managed to be the first to put a man on the Moon.
In this alternative version of history, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first man on the Moon. Leonov really existed, and he really was the cosmonaut selected to land on the Moon before the Soviet space program canceled the mission.
The show starts in 1969 when Soviet cosmonauts land on the Moon first and so deal a terrible morale blow to NASA. The United States then doubles its efforts in catching up, both technologically and socially, with each of For All Mankind’s four seasons showing where the race is at after a ten-year gap—so the Eighties, the Nineties, and the 2000s, with season 5 expected to take place in the 2010s.
1
The Expanse (2019 – 2022)
Social Tensions Within The Milky Way
Based on the book series of the same name by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse is one of the best examples of modern sci-fi done in the most classical of ways, with humanity living beyond the borders of its home planet but dealing with the same problems it has always dealt with for most of its history. Humanity which is divided into three main powers—the United Nations of Earth and Luna, the Martian Congressional Republics, and the Outer Planets Alliance, made up of colonies scattered in the asteroid belt and on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
The show, which is a great pick for fans of Interstellar, has a wide cast of characters, all with their own motivations that will inevitably be revealed to be interconnected. There’s Christen Avasarala, a member of the United Nations Security Council who navigates the galaxy’s complicated politics; detective Josephus Miller investigating the disappearance of rich socialite Julie Mao; ship’s officer James Holden who comes into possession of an advanced Martian gunship together with his crew.
