8-Part Sci-Fi Masterpiece On Netflix Is Like Terminator & Ghost In The Shell Combined

Published Oct 6, 2026, 2:31 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Although Netflix’s stunning animated sci-fi series feels like a blend of Ghost in the Shell and The Terminator, the show didn’t get the mainstream acclaim it warranted when the series first premiered back in 2024. Not all of Netflix’s projects gain the recognition that they deserve. For every massive breakout hit like Stranger Things, there are shows like 1899, an ingenious time-twisting sci-fi mystery that was canceled after a single season despite promising reviews. Although 1899 came from the creators of the acclaimed earlier Netflix sci-fi drama Dark, even that hit’s cult success wasn’t enough to keep the Mystery Box series alive for more than one outing. Similarly, even though Netflix’s Altered Carbon was arguably the best cyberpunk TV series to date, the show only lasted two seasons before it was canceled. As such, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one 2024 sci-fi show from the streaming service remains underrated two years after its release. That said, the fact that Terminator Zero is part of the larger Terminator franchise makes this a little more unexpected. Set in Japan in 1997, Terminator Zero focuses on Malcolm Lee, previously introduced in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. A scientist working on an AI designed to combat Skynet, Lee finds himself the target of Timothy Olyphant’s Terminator, sent from the future to kill him. Fortunately for Malcolm, the resistance solider Eiko arrives from 2022 to protect him and his children from the cybernetic villain. Terminator Zero Is The Best Terminator Project Since Judgment Day If this plot sounds a little knotty and complex, luckily, it isn’t. Like The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator Zero manages to ensure that the intersecting, overlapping timelines of the sci-fi franchise never become too byzantine to follow. However, the trippy, lush visuals of the series, along with its propulsive narrative, do mean that Terminator Zero feels as immersive and impressive as the more complex Ghost in the Shell movies. The strongest Terminator movie or show since Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator Zero is up there with the upcoming Blade Runner 2099 and Neuromancer as one of the most ambitious cyberpunk series of the 2020s. The series was deservedly critically acclaimed upon release, chiefly because the eight-episode series avoided the many issues that plagued the live-action sequels of the franchise. 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines unwisely gave the franchise a lighter, more playful tone, one that clashed terribly with the movie’s bizarrely brutal and abruptly downbeat ending. 2009’s Terminator: Salvation was a full-blown reinvention of the franchise that missed out on the thrilling “Race to avoid the apocalypse” story of the first two movies entirely, since the post-apocalyptic thriller took place decades after Skynet wiped out almost all of humanity. Why Terminator Works Better As A TV Series Than A String Of Movies Image via MovieStillsDB 2015’s Terminator: Genisys was absurdly convoluted and introduced an entire new timeline for the franchise, while 2019’s equally misguided Terminator: Dark Fate hardly helped matters when the reboot introduced another, entirely separate fourth timeline. In contrast, the underrated live-action TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a surprisingly strong addition to the franchise in 2008. The two-season run of this spinoff proves that the Terminator franchise is unexpectedly comfortable on the small screen. There, its complex time travel storylines have room to breathe. The movies of the series made the Terminator timeline increasingly hard to follow, with each new project feeling the need to start anew for new viewers. In contrast, as evidenced by other hits like Netflix’s aforementioned Dark, Lost, Travelers, and Bodies, time travel TV shows have more room to make sense of their chronology. This explains how Netflix’s Terminator Zero became the Terminator franchise’s best outing in over a decade when the show arrived on the streaming service. Release Date 2024 - 2024-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Mattson Tomlin Cast Yuuya Uchida Malcolm Lee (voice) Toa Yukinari Eiko (voice) Directors Masashi Kudo Writers Mattson Tomlin Franchise(s) Terminator Creator(s) Mattson Tomlin