Netflix's Most Underrated Sci-Fi Series Is Officially Ending After 2 More Seasons

Published Oct 5, 2026, 2:02 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. One of Netflix’s best sci-fi shows is officially set to end after another two seasons, but luckily, this is not due to its under-seen status. It is undeniably hard for a sci-fi series to stand out on streaming in 2026. Even if viewers ignore the legendary Star Trek franchise entirely, Apple TV alone has Foundation, Severance, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Dark Matter, Silo, and Invasion to offer the discerning sci-fi fan. Meanwhile, Hulu has both The Handmaid’s Tale and its spinoff The Testaments, as well as the post-apocalyptic series Paradise. Speaking of post-apocalyptic shows, HBO has the video game adaptation The Last of Us, while Prime Video’s Fallout is arguably the best video game show to date. And this rundown doesn’t even take into account the many great sci-fi shows on Netflix, including the Stranger Things franchise, Travelers, Dark, Sense8, and the underrated cyberpunk classic Altered Carbon. As such, it arguably makes sense that some shows go under the radar. However, there are some titles that fail to find a massive mainstream audience despite boasting starry casts, notable creators, and a massive budget, and this is always a surprising development. For instance, 2024’s 3 Body Problem was the first project that former Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss made, and the Netflix series boasted stars like Eiza González, Benedict Wong, and Game of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham among its cast members. 3 Body Problem Is The Most Underrated Sci-Fi Series On Netflix Right Now Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb Based on Chinese novelist Liu Cixin’s trilogy of sci-fi novels Remembrance of Earth's Past, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is a dense, ambitious series with a complex story at its core. The show focuses on a broad spectrum of characters across the globe, including an interdisciplinary group of academics known as the “Oxford Five,” as they come to terms with an extraterrestrial’s first contact with humanity. Blending different historical periods, virtual realities, and high-minded philosophical musing with both urgent sci-fi action and trippy meditations on metaphysics, 3 Body Problem is the sort of sci-fi book that makes Interstellar or Arrival seem straightforward and simplistic. Considering how much the second Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, streamlined and simplified the original show’s sprawling, convoluted narrative structure, one might have anticipated 3 Body Problem taking the same approach to its source material. However, the Netflix series instead made an admirable stab at maintaining all the complexity and deep introspection of its source material, despite how much this risked alienating viewers. The daring approach technically paid off, since the series was a critical darling, but it could also explain why 3 Body Problem never became a massive mainstream breakout hit on the level of Game of Thrones. 3 Body Problem Is Fixed For A Season 3 Ending Image courtesy of Everett Collection Some of Netflix’s biggest shows ever, like tranger Things and Wednesday, are fairly straightforward in their storytelling, despite their large casts and extensive in-universe lore. 3 Body Problem, in contrast, is much closer to the Golden Age of Prestige TV, when shows like Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, and HBO’s Westworld told genuinely complex, challenging stories that weren’t always accessible or even all that comprehensible. This explains why 3 Body Problem’s big budget and star-studded cast were not, on their own, enough to make the show a massive mainstream success. Fortunately, Netflix has already committed to rounding out the show’s story with two more seasons, meaning 3 Body Problem will complete its adaptation of Remembrance of Earth’s Past regardless of the show’s level of mainstream recognition. This will likely come as welcome news to sci-fi TV fans, who have been burned before when it comes to classic shows getting canceled too soon thanks to their lack of immediate mainstream popularity. Rather than becoming another regrettable instance of this phenomenon, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem can promise a cohesive and complete story across its pre-planned three-season run. Release Date March 21, 2024 Network Netflix Directors Minkie Spiro, Jeremy Podeswa, Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung, Andrew Stanton Writers David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo, Madhuri Shekar, Rose Cartwright Creator(s) David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo