HBO’s Forgotten 12-Episode Sci-Fi Thriller Is One of Television’s Most Unsettling

Image via HBO Max Published Nov 13, 2026, 2:27 PM EST Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, covering the most-talked-about stars, movies, and TV shows. Before joining Collider, she was a Digital News Writer at People Magazine and served as Associate Editor at SheKnows, where she honed her expertise in celebrity coverage and entertainment journalism. A proud Latina from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Giovana graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She has interviewed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brenda Song, and is known for her encyclopedic knowledge of film, TV, and pop culture. Sign in to your Collider account When a show decides to add time travel to its storytelling, the project becomes all the more ambitious. After all, while there have been many successful time-travel shows over the years, including Doctor Who, Dark and 11.22.63, a series with time travel needs to account for parallel timeframes, time travel mechanisms and rules, historical costume design and production, and much more. Luckily, however, the tall order wasn't enough to stop HBO Nordic's first Norwegian original series, Beforeigners, from swinging for the fences. Premiering on August 21, 2019, the two-season series Beforeigners approaches time travel in a way that feels fresh, interesting, and more relevant than ever. And, after scoring an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for Season 1, based on five critic reviews, the series proved that the concept was worth exploring, especially with the ever-evolving chemistry with its main characters. What Is 'Beforeigners' About? Set in the near future in Oslo, Norway, Beforeigners starts off with a new and unprecedented phenomenon in which powerful flashes of light occur in the ocean and people from the past mysteriously reappear. These people, who are nicknamed "beforeigners" and "timeigrants," come from three distinct time periods: the Stone Age, the Viking era and the late 19th century. As they seek refuge in present-day society, they struggle to adjust and assimilate to their new reality, while Oslo grapples with the social, political, and cultural tensions their arrival creates. COLLIDERInteractive Long-range scan active Movies/Science Fiction/Survival Assessment Collider Survival Assessment Which Sci-Fi WorldWould You Survive? 8 questions · 5 worlds · one honest verdict Five of the great screen futures, and not one of them is built for comfort. Answer eight questions about instinct, loyalty and the line you would cross, and the scan will tell you which one you would still be standing in. Worlds in range ▦︎The Matrix ◈︎Mad Max ◑︎Blade Runner ▲︎Dune ✦︎Star Wars Begin the scan Question 01 of 08INSTINCT The world as you know it ends overnight. What is your first move? No wrong answer. There is a wrong hesitation.AFind out what is really going on behind all of it BGrab a vehicle and as much fuel as you can carry CKeep your head down and show up to work anyway DLearn the rules of whoever is in charge now EFind other people and start organizing ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 02 of 08RESOURCE You can stockpile exactly one thing. What is it? Choose carefully. You are not getting a second run.AInformation nobody else has BFuel CClean money and cleaner documents DWater EA ship that can get you off-world ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 03 of 08THREAT Which kind of enemy scares you the most? Be honest about what keeps you up.AOne that can be anywhere, wearing anyone's face BA convoy of people who want what you are carrying CSomeone who looks exactly like you DA rival family that has been planning your downfall for generations EAn empire with unlimited resources and no patience ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 04 of 08AUTHORITY How do you handle the people in charge? Every world has them. Even the ones that pretend otherwise.AAssume they are lying and work around them BNobody is in charge where I am CFollow the orders, file the report, stay invisible DStudy them, get close to them, outlast them EJoin whoever is fighting them ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 05 of 08ENVIRONMENT Pick the place you would rather wake up in: You will be there a while.AA grey city that feels slightly too perfect BAn endless desert highway CA rainy neon street at three in the morning DA dune sea with a fortress on the horizon EA crowded spaceport full of strangers ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 06 of 08ALLIANCE Who do you want standing next to you? Pick one. You only get one.AA guide who knows far more than they are telling you BOne person you trust and nobody else CNobody. You work alone DA loyal circle you grew up with EA crew of misfits who argue the whole way ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 07 of 08MORALITY Which line would you cross to survive? Everybody crosses one.ALying to the people closest to you BTaking what you need by force CLooking the other way DPlaying a long game that costs other people dearly EBlowing something very expensive up ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 08 of 08PURPOSE What are you really fighting for? Last question. Make it count.AThe truth, whatever it turns out to be BTomorrow. Just tomorrow CSomething that finally feels like a real life DYour family's name EEveryone who cannot fight for themselves ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Run the scan Scan completeYou would survive ▦︎ The Matrix The Resistance, Zion You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. You would survive The Matrix because you were never fully sold on the version of reality you were handed. You notice the seams. You ask the second question. In a world built to keep people comfortable and incurious, that instinct is the whole fight, and it is why Morpheus would have found you long before you found him. From the Collider file The Wachowskis' 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film Editing. Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the actors. Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot, recovering from neck surgery the whole time. It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the world in front of you. Red pill energy Pattern spotter Built to question ◈︎ Mad Max The Wasteland Oh, what a day. What a lovely day. You would survive the Wasteland because you do not waste energy mourning the world that ended. You move, you improvise, and you are very good with whatever is bolted to the thing in front of you. Furiosa would let you drive. That is not a compliment anybody earns easily. From the Collider file Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year. George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a script. The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and real stunt performers. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024. Keeps moving Improviser Good with engines ◑︎ Blade Runner Los Angeles, 2049 All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. You would survive 2049 because you know how to be small in a very loud city. You keep your head down, you do the job, and you hold onto one private thing that belongs only to you. That quiet stubbornness is exactly what both Deckard and K run on, and it is what keeps either of them going when the case stops making sense. From the Collider file Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth nomination. The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott's 1982 original. Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever he could. Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the two movies. Keeps her head down Private Noir soul ▲︎ Dune Arrakis Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. You would survive Arrakis because you think in decades while everyone around you thinks in weeks. You read the room, you learn the customs, you wait. The desert does not reward speed. It rewards people who understand that patience is a weapon, which is the one lesson the Fremen never had to be taught. From the Collider file Denis Villeneuve's Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and Original Score. Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan's Tenet so he could score Dune instead. Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken. David Lynch's 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky's unmade one are both their own legends by now. Plays the long game Reads the room Patient ✦︎ Star Wars A Galaxy Far, Far Away Rebellions are built on hope. You would survive the galaxy because you never try to survive it alone. You collect people. You end up in the middle of other folks' problems and you stay anyway. Every version of this story, from the Falcon's crew to the Ghost's, runs on somebody exactly like that holding the group together. From the Collider file The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects. John Williams' score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever. Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both seasons. The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+. Collects people Shows up Hope merchant Compatibility readout · top three 1 2 3 ↻ Retake the quiz Copied to your clipboard Scan filed byCOLLIDERCollider.com · The Sci-Fi Desk Six years after the first arrivals, burned-out police detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) is partnered with Alfhildr (Krista Kosonen), a former Viking warrior who has just become the first beforeigner to join the police force. Together, they're assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman with Stone Age tattoos, aka a beforeigner herself, whose mysterious death appears anything but ordinary. As the case unfolds, the unlikely partners begin to unravel a larger conspiracy that suggests the mysterious arrivals may be connected to something far bigger than anyone imagined. 'Beforeigners' Is an Unsettling and Compelling Thriller Image via HBO From the synopsis alone, it's clear that Beforeigners has a lot of ground to cover. Not only does it build a near future Oslo, and later inject it with members of its past, but the series also follows a murder mystery that's connected to a much larger picture. "Somehow, this high-concept Norwegian TV series that blends time-travel science-fiction with buddy cop, murder mystery, and police procedural actually works," wrote one review of the series. And, like the 100% score for Season 1 suggests, the series blends these genres in a way that feels gripping, unexpected and nail-biting. Notably, by using the beforeigners as a metaphor for real-life immigration and xenophobia, the show also delivered hard-hitting social commentary that doesn't feel forced or jaded. By Season 2, the series earns a bigger scope and setting, all while keeping the chemistry between main stars Broch and Kosonen, and their personal struggles as the heart of the show. "The show isn't as intimate in scale now as in its opening season, but Beforeigners does understand the power in a high-premise sci-fi concept," one review wrote. A brutal murder in Oslo raises the possibility that Jack the Ripper has traveled to the present, all while political tensions continue to rise between modern society and the growing beforeigner population. In addition to Broch and Kosonen, Beforeigners also stars Stig R. Amdam, Ragnhild Gudbrandsen, Ylva Bjørkaas Thedin, Nader Khademi, Lavrans Haga, and Kyrre Haugen Sydness, among others. With that said, while Beforeigners came to an end after Season 2, the series is a treat for sci-fi and murder mystery lovers alike. By setting the murder in a not-so-distant future that's been plagued with mysterious time-travel, the series interestingly blends genres while focusing on two endearing yet troubled police officers in their search for truth. Their dynamic alone is enough to make the series worthwhile, and it's only the tip of the iceberg. Release Date 2019 - 2022-00-00 Network HBO Nordic, HBO Max Directors Jens Lien Writers Anne Bjørnstad Cast Nicolai Cleve Broch Lars Haaland Krista Kosonen Alfhildr Enginsdottir Creator(s) Anne Bjørnstad, Eilif Skodvin