10 Greatest Sci-Fi Fantasy TV Shows Of All Time

Published Jul 31, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT Laura Hurley has been writing about the entertainment industry for more than twelve years, after a decade as a content producer and editor at CinemaBlend after writing for WhatCulture and Examiner. Attending events like SCAD TVfest and San Diego Comic-Con over the course of her career, she has been immersed in the world of network, streaming, and cable TV. The sci-fi and fantasy genres have delivered some of the biggest hits in television history, ranging from the science-heavy Star Trek franchise to the fantastical Game of Thrones. Other shows manage to combine the two genres, with success stories going back to 1950s. While there have been enough standouts over the decades that it's not easy to narrow down the very best, some sci-fi/fantasy shows just stand out from the rest. Some sci-fi/fantasy shows do, of course, lean more heavily into one genre or the other, but the combination of categories has been generating hits ever since the black and white days of mid-20th century television. The approach is still going strong today, although the effects have certainly improved over the years. Television also has advantages over film when it comes to sci-fi/fantasy. A TV show has the time to really build a world for the characters, which isn't the case in a two-hour movie. Whether a series is set in the galaxy far, far away, the distant past, small-town Indiana, or anywhere else, TV is the place to be for some of sci-fi/fantasy's best. The Twilight Zone MovieStillsDB The Twilight Zone premiered nearly seven decades ago on CBS, with five seasons of episodes filmed in black and white. As an anthology series that ran from 1959-1964, each episode covered a different story that incorporated science fiction, fantasy, horror, and/or drama. Created and presented by Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone even featured future TV stars in the earliest days of their careers, including William Shatner, Robert Redford, Carol Burnett, and Leonard Nimoy. The series was rebooted three times after the series finale in 1964, but none successfully recaptured the magic of the original. The most recent revival, which ran for two seasons from 2019-2020, didn't last in the long term, despite Jordan Peele's role as an executive producer. Fortunately, the original version of The Twilight Zone is available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, as well as Tubi and Pluto TV. Battlestar Galactica MovieStillsDB Not many reboots or revivals will outshine the original, but Syfy's fresh take on Battlestar Galactica in 2004 was so stellar over four seasons that it ranks high on the list of best sci-fi shows of all time. There's much more to BSG than just science-fiction, and that's part of what sets it aside from the original, which ran for just one season from 1978-1979. The importance of religion in the reboot added a level of fantasy to the post-apocalyptic travels through space, and faith was key to the series finale when it came to Starbuck's fate. The Battlestar Galactica reboot also delivered an update on Cylons. They were more or less robots in the original series, but reimagined as flesh-and-blood beings that were nearly impossible to tell apart from humans. That approach allowed for standout performances from actors like Tricia Helfer as Number Six and Grace Park as Number Eight, among others, and created higher stakes for the characters in what could have otherwise been a standard sci-fi story. All four seasons are streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. The X-Files Courtesy: Everett Collection While there's no shortage of procedural TV shows that rely on the chemistry of two leads in 2026, The X-Files was revolutionary during its original run with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI Agents Mulder and Scully. The drama split its focus between the ongoing mytharc, which generally concerned aliens and conspiracies, and Monster of the Week episodes that pitted the agents against everything from vampires to serial killers to even a liver-eating mutant. That split allowed The X-Files to lean into sci-fi and fantasy, as well as a dash of horror from time to time. The show was even successful enough that it expanded into two feature films, one of which is being re-released as an R-rated movie in August. Duchovny and Anderson reprised their roles for a revival from 2016-2018, and the premise is being rebooted by Ryan Coogler for Hulu. Part of what allowed The X-Files to explore every facet of the sci-fi/fantasy genre was the length of the original nine seasons on Fox, which ran between 20 and 25 episodes. The X-Files is available streaming on Hulu now. Lost MovieStillsDB Lost seemed like it would slot into the action/adventure genre in the very beginning, when the focus was on surviving a plane crash on a deserted island, but it became so much more. Early on, it was hard to imagine how the ABC series would outdo the earliest reveals about The Others, but six seasons of a convoluted mytharc proved that it was possible. The series finale will likely always be divisive, but Lost proved that making bold decisions worked within the sci-fi sphere. Plus, long before Game of Thrones lopped off its main character's head and gained a reputation for killing off anybody, Lost was already dispatching with main characters in the earliest seasons. Lost's best episode, "The Constant," is still a tear-jerker, nearly two decades after it first put Desmond through the emotional wringer in 2008. All six seasons are streaming on Hulu. Doctor Who MovieStillsDB Doctor Who is arguably the best show in TV history when it comes to adapting to major changes, which is why the British time travel series has been airing new episodes off and on since 1963. The main character has been played by many different actors over the past fifty years since starting in black and white. All the Doctor needs in order to continue adventuring through time and space is the TARDIS. The survival of Doctor Who doesn't depend on how long the lead is willing to continue playing the Doctor, and the 2005 reboot even crossed the pond to become a hit with audiences in the United States. Of the modern era, David Tennant's Tenth Doctor and Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor are generally considered the most popular, but the show is now on an indefinite hiatus after Ncuti Gatwa's controversial regeneration. The classic seasons can be found streaming on Tubi and Pluto TV, while the 2023-2025 releases are streaming on Disney+. The Prisoner MovieStillsDB Not many shows can be considered revolutionary with a run of just 17 episodes, but The Prisoner earned that status with its one and only season run on ITV from 1967-1968. Patrick McGoohan starred as Number Six, a British Intelligence officer who found himself living in a mysterious location known as The Village. The mysterious settlement included a recreation of his home, and Number Six was surrounded by fellow spies in The Village. The show's format of Number Six solving mysteries, only to stumble into new ones, would go on to inspire later shows like Twin Peaks, Alias, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. Originally broadcast in the U.K. in black and white, The Prisoner was actually filmed in color, and released as such in the United States. The color version is available streaming on Prime Video, Tubi, and The Roku Channel now. From Credit: Chris Reardon/MGM+ While many of the best sci-fi/fantasy TV shows of all time were created decades ago, MGM+'s From ranks among the best before it has even concluded its run. Starring Lost's Harold Perrineau, From follows characters who are trapped in a nightmarish town against their will. Creatures attack from the forest at night, and the characters have to solve the mysteries within the town if they have any hope of escape. While the premise sounds somewhat similar to Lost, From has certainly distinguished itself in the genre, and the show has the opportunity to completely stick the landing. MGM+ renewed the drama for a fifth and final season, and executive producers John Giffin, Jeff Pinkner, and Jack Bender promised that they "will get the chance to see our story to its conclusion" in a joint statement. The fifth and final season will arrive in 2027, while the first four seasons can be found streaming on MGM+. The Mandalorian Credit: Disney+ via MovieStillsDB The Star Wars franchise is flush with TV shows by this point, including The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and Skeleton Crew, but The Mandalorian is the one that deserves credit for proving that the galaxy far, far away can work wonderfully in live action on the small screen. While opinions vary about the second and third seasons of The Mandalorian, the first season stands strong on Rotten Tomatoes with 93% among critics and fans. Not only did The Mandalorian prove that live-action Star Wars could be extremely popular on TV, but it demonstrated that the franchise could succeed outside the usual format with Force users as the heroes. While the Star Wars movies have always been space operas, The Mandalorian is a space Western. Not many shows are successful enough to expand into feature films, but the series did just that in 2026 with The Mandalorian and Grogu. While the movie isn't streaming just yet, the three seasons of the show are on Disney+. Firefly MovieStillsDB The odds were stacked against Firefly earning a strong sci-fi legacy with just 14 episodes over a single season, but love for the show has endured well after Fox cancelled it. Joss Whedon's space Western earned such a following in the wake of its cancellation that many viewers still associate Nathan Fillion more with Firefly than with Castle or The Rookie, the former of which ran for eight seasons and the latter is on hiatus until its ninth season. In addition to Fillion starring as Mal, Firefly featured Gina Torres as Zoe Alleyne Washburne, Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne, Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra, Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, Jewel Staite as Kaylee Frye, Sean Maher as Simon Tam, and Summer Glau as River Tam, among others. Serenity, a feature film, followed the cancellation of Firefly in 2005, and an animated Firefly revival is in the works. For now, the live-action series can be found on Hulu. Stranger Things Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Stranger Things started out as a relatively small show, which was mostly hyped as the vehicle for Wynona Ryder to come to television. Nearly ten years later, the sci-fi/horror series came to an epic conclusion that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The series finale's ending for Eleven will likely always remain controversial, but there's a reason why it became a smash hit in the first place. The first two seasons in particular made the most of the spooky setting in Hawkins. Dr. Brenner was arguably the most evil villain of the entire series, despite being a human rather than an Upside Down monster. It also launched actors like Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, and Sadie Sink into stardom, as well as shone the spotlight on David Harbour years into his career. Its legacy may be tarnished by the controversial ending for now, but Stranger Things easily ranks among the best in sci-fi/fantasy TV.