Battlestar Galactica Is No Longer TV's Greatest Space Opera Thanks To A 95% RT Hit

Published Sep 17, 2026, 5:01 PM EDT Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep." Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. Battlestar Galactica has long been hailed as the world's greatest space opera, but it has been surpassed in recent years by a show that has been praised by virtually everyone from audiences to astrophysicists. The greatest space operas of all time have reshaped the sci-fi genre, combining character-driven storylines with high stakes and expansive lore that covers more than just the world of the show, making us look at human nature in a different way. This is where Battlestar Galactica shines, exploring humanity through the lens of religion and destiny. The combination of human religion is a theme that is rarely explored in the sci-fi genre, as the concepts have often been thought to cancel each other out. However, Battlestar Galactica proves that this does not need to be the case, using the idea of faith in an entirely new way, with the central characters searching for a new home, believing one is out there. Still, Battlestar Galactica is not the only bingeable space opera masterpiece to air on TV, and other shows have surpassed it in key ways, with The Expanse being the most impressive of them all. The Expanse Narrowly Tops Battlestar Galactica As TV's Best Space Opera Image via MovieStillsDB The Expanse begins with a seemingly small missing persons' case with a film noir tone, but the show switches genres shortly afterward, revealing the opening mystery is just a small part of a much larger and more ambitious story concerning a dangerous bioweapon. The show incorporates elements of Star Wars' interplanetary wars, Babylon 5's political scheming, and Farscape's cultural exploration, while remaining distinct and without feeling derivative. The series has an impressive fanbase, with scientists and astrophysicists praising The Expanse for its realism. How The Expanse compares to Battlestar Galactica Title Year Seasons Rotten Tomatoes critics' rating Rotten Tomatoes audience rating Battlestar Galactica 2005 4 95% 94% The Expanse 2015 6 95% 85% The best scenes in Battlestar Galactica are masterclasses in character development, and the show's emotive core is one of the best things about it, even down to the ship itself. Battlestar Galactica is extremely detailed, with the ship clearly showing the damage it takes during previous storylines in the same way that a human being receives scars. Still, The Expanse beats Battlestar Galactica in terms of its ambitious worldbuilding, showing one of the most complex and intricate situations becoming a political powder keg with multiple layers of warring social classes even within the same planetary community. The Expanse might not have beaten Battlestar Galactica in Rotten Tomatoes audience ratings, but critics have placed the two shows on equal ground. That said, The Expanse's success does not make Battlestar Galactica any less of a masterpiece, and it could be argued that most space operas would not exist today without it, including The Expanse. Still, it is a testament to The Expanse's character writing, plot development, and visuals that it is often compared so favorably to the iconic sci-fi TV show. The Expanse Was Battlestar Galactica's Spiritual Successor MovieStillsDB Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse took different paths, with the former addressing philosophy while the latter focused on politics, but the two are so alike in tone that The Expanse is often seen as Battlestar Galactica's spiritual successor. Before Battlestar Galactica aired, most great sci-fi TV shows of the time tended to have a slick, clean, and futuristic look, while the show introduced a new approach, with the ship feeling lived-in, just as The Expanse would later do. This sense of realism was a drastic departure from previous trends and the tangled human politics added to the gritty, grounded tone. The fact that Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse followed the same sci-fi rules makes it easy to compare the two, but both are distinctly different, which allows each to be appreciated on its own terms. Battlestar Galactica's deeply mysterious ending still leaves fans asking questions today, while The Expanse's slightly less polished one has left viewers wanting more. With both shows relying on human nature in all its messiness rather than explaining difficult plot points away through aliens, they occupy a unique place as sci-fi icons, linked through their innovative approach. Release Date 2015 - 2022-00-00 Network SyFy, Prime Video Showrunner Naren Shankar, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby Cast Dominique Tipper Naomi Nagata The Expanse is a sci-fi series set in the distant future where humanity has spread out across the solar system, but the alliances between the three most potent governing bodies have reached a state of cold war. A mixed-up crew finds themselves at the center of a dangerous intergalactic conspiracy that threatens to bring war to the colonized worlds.