22-Episode Philip K. Dick Sci-Fi Series Successfully Improves A '90s Classic

Published Oct 24, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT Tom is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, with expertise covering everything from hilarious sitcoms to jaw-dropping sci-fi epics. Initially he was an Updates writer, though before long he found his way to the TV and movies team. He now spends his days keeping Screen Rant readers informed about the TV shows of yesteryear, whether it's recommending hidden gems that may have been missed by genre fans or deep diving into ways your favorite shows have (or haven't) stood the test of time. Tom is based in the UK and when he's not writing about TV shows, he's watching them. He's also an avid horror fiction writer, gamer, and has a Dungeons and Dragons habit that he tries (and fails) to keep in check. Few 20th century authors have inspired as many cult classic sci-fi movies and TV shows as Philip K. Dick. His stories turn unreliable concepts like memories, artificial people, and oppressive societies into experiences that leave uncomfortable questions behind. Series from the last decade or two like 2015's The Man in the High Castle and 2017's Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams have demonstrated how well-suited the author's work is to the small-screen. However, an earlier attempt arrived back in 1999, when Total Recall 2070 took a familiar movie title in a surprisingly different direction. Across 22 episodes, Total Recall 2070 reworked the world of Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 Total Recall movie to be the backdrop of a futuristic detective series. Both trace their origins to Dick’s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, and though Total Recall 2070 never became a runaway success, its mixture of corporate conspiracy, manipulated memories, and uneasy human-machine relationships had considerable potential. Decades later, Prime Video’s upcoming Blade Runner 2099 is revisiting remarkably similar creative territory. Set to arrive on Prime on November 25, Blade Runner 2099 extends another cinematic interpretation of Philip K. Dick’s work into television. 1982’s Blade Runner is famously based on Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, so its success could give Total Recall 2070 a welcome reassessment. Rather than remaining a failed TV offshoot of a beloved classic sci-fi movie, Total Recall 2070 might emerge as an early demonstration of how much storytelling Philip K. Dick-inspired cinematic worlds could support beyond their original movies. Total Recall 2070 Was Actually Pretty Good Total Recall 2070 isn’t one of the most well-known 1990s sci-fi TV shows, even among the decade’s cult classics, and it’s sadly not hard to see why. Despite having a title tied to a recognizable movie and an intriguing setting that could easily have supported years of science fiction-flavored mysteries, it lasted just one season before being canceled (and not necarrily unfairly so). It’s also not an immediately obvious candidate for hidden gems waiting to be rediscovered, either. Its effects have aged, and its police procedural framework sometimes makes an unsettling future feel disappointingly routine. Still, while those shortcomings help explain its obscurity, they don’t mean it’s a bad show. It’s not perfect, but there’s still a lot to love about Total Recall 2070. For example, the sci-fi buddy cop dynamic between detective David Hume (Michael Easton) and his android partner, Ian Farve (Karl Pruner), makes for surprising thematic depth. Hume’s hostility toward androids makes their partnership immediately uncomfortable, while Farve’s emerging complexity steadily undermines that prejudice. Investigations involving artificial memories and powerful corporations add a unique cyberpunk flavor to the tried-and-tested emotional arc of a cop learning to trust a new colleague. The grounded interpersonal drama between Hume and Farve and the cases they crack help Total Recall 2070 become a satisfying expansion of the world of Total Recall, too. The original movie makes manipulated identity the engine of an explosive adventure, and the TV show format allows for deep exploration of the implications of that technology. Memory tampering becomes a social problem rather than something confined to one man’s extraordinary predicament. What’s more, it also has a lot of aesthetic and thematic ties with Blade Runner, so much so that many fans consider it closer to the 1982 cyberpunk movie than the 1999 Arnold Schwarzenegger film from which Total Recall 2070 draws its title. It may never be considered one of the greatest sci-fi series of the 1990s, but it’s still hugely satisfying viewing for Philip K. Dick enthusiasts especially, and those that don’t know his work will still find plenty of endearing moments too. History Is Repeating Itself On Prime Video The significance of Total Recall 2070 exceeds the overlooked 1990s TV show's brief lifespan. The series made an ambitious attempt to turn the dense ideas behind a recognizable cinematic property into an ongoing television world decades before TV sci-fi spinoffs were commonplace. The familiar title offered an audience entry point, while fresh characters allowed the writers to explore its world with more depth than the movie. Arriving nine years after Total Recall, it sought to extend an established film’s appeal rather than accompany a simultaneous theatrical release. Decades later, Blade Runner 2099 on Prime Video is essentially doing the same thing. Developed by showrunner Silka Luisa, with Blade Runner director Ridley Scott executive producing, it uses the established setting of the franchise for a small-screen sci-fi detective story. Its central partnership brings together fugitive Cora (Hunter Schafer) and dying replicant Olwen (Michelle Yeoh), with a dangerous investigation connecting their futures. Already the central partnership in Blade Runner 2099 gives it parallels to Total Recall 2070 beyond being extensions of Philip K. Dick-inspired movies. Both shows place human and artificial characters together inside a detective story, making questions about identity part of their working relationship. If it’s successful, Blade Runner 2099 will prove that Total Recall 2070 was simply a great idea that arrived far too early. It wouldn’t change the fact that the cancellation of Total Recall 2070 after one season doesn’t feel like a shock. Even its most devout fans would struggle to argue that it fully lived up to the potential of its central idea. However, the idea itself and the ambition in attempting to bring it to life way back in the 1990s would gain some long-overdue recognition if Blade Runner 2099 is a hit. Long before streaming embraced cinematic and cerebrally complex science fiction, this overlooked series understood that Philip K. Dick’s visions of the future contained far more stories than a single film could tell. Release Date 1999 - 1999-00-00 Network CHCH-DT Directors Jorge Montesi, Mario Philip Azzopardi, David Warry-Smith, Mark Sobel, Terry Ingram, Rod Pridy, Fred Gerber, George Mendeluk Writers Jeff King, Art Monterastelli Cast Sara Botsford James Calley Matthew Bennett David Hume Michael Easton Olan Chang