Netflix’s massive library is a treasure trove of hidden gems that never found the mainstream audience they deserved. While series like Stranger Things or Black Mirror have dominated the conversation, some of the streaming giant’s best science fiction shows have thus far flown under the radar. Yet, it can be hard to wade through the hundreds of new titles Netflix adds annually, not to mention shows added in previous years, to find the needles in the haystack that are actually worth your time.
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Thanks to lackluster marketing campaigns, subtitles as a barrier to entry, or just bad timing, the sci-fi outings on this list are among Netflix’s best-kept secrets. For viewers willing to dig deeper into Netflix’s catalog and occasionally venture beyond the English-language comfort zone, these series offer thrilling and satisfying experiences with the same depth and production value as other popular shows in the genre.
7) Biohackers
In this German thriller, medical student Mia Akerlund arrives at Freiburg University with an ulterior motive. As Mia maneuvers her way into the inner circle of Professor Lorenz, a renowned biologist conducting cutting-edge research, it soon becomes clear she’s actually investigating a family tragedy connected to the professor’s work.
Biohackers is a striking and accurate portrayal of synthetic biology and genetic experimentation, with the journal Science even noting the authentic portrayal of the labs. The show explores its topic of modification through some visually stunning sequences featuring bioluminescent plants, underwater breathing pills, and implanted microchips. The pithy six-episode seasons make it highly bingeable, and the chemistry between the leads, Luna Wedler and Adrian Julius Tillmann, is excellent. Despite comparisons to Dark (due to both being German sci-fi), Biohackers is its own thing entirely.
6) Travelers
From Stargate veteran Brad Wright, this unique time travel narrative sidesteps the usual paradoxes and doesn’t lean on SFX. Hundreds of years in the future, humanity faces extinction, and survivors have discovered how to transmit human consciousness into the past. These travelers, led by FBI agent Grant MacLaren (Eric McCormack), inhabit the bodies of people in the 21st century at the exact moment before their recorded deaths, essentially hijacking hosts to carry out missions designed to prevent humanity’s collapse. Yet one of the most complex parts becomes maintaining the complicated personal lives of the people they’ve replaced.
Travelers boasts a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for its first two seasons, with critics praising its tight writing and the cast’s ability to convincingly portray both their future selves and completely different people. The series grew increasingly ambitious over the course of three seasons. While Netflix cancelled the show after season three, creator Brad Wright crafted a finale that offers a satisfying conclusion.
5) Osmosis
Set in near-future Paris, this French sci-fi series speculates on the advantages and consequences of sophisticated dating apps with algorithms designed to access the recesses of your mind. Siblings Esther and Paul Vanhove have developed a revolutionary dating technology that uses an implant to scan users’ brain data and neural patterns to identify their perfect soulmate. As the company prepares to launch after a rushed beta test, the series follows several participants whose lives become entangled with the technology.
Osmosis is yet another show to earn a perfect critical approval rating on RT despite remaining almost completely unknown to most Netflix subscribers. Reviewers consistently praised its nuanced approach to tech and human connection, with The Verge noting that the show treats its premise with unusual sophistication, avoiding the easy distinction between dystopia and utopia. Unlike Black Mirror‘s often nihilistic view of technology, Osmosis explores both the promise and peril of outsourcing human connection to algorithms. While Netflix cancelled the series after one eight-episode season, leaving a few threads unresolved, it’s still worth a watch as a self-contained, speculative look at modern love.
4) The Eternaut
Based on the iconic Argentine graphic novel from 1957 (considered a foundational text of apocalyptic science fiction), this 2025 Netflix series brings El Eternauta to life. When a power outage sends Buenos Aires into chaos, Juan Salvo is separated from his daughter. Then, when toxic snow begins falling (killing anyone it touches), Juan and a few other survivors must navigate the deadly landscape in jury-rigged gear, searching for their loved ones while uncovering the sinister truth behind the mysterious snowfall.
The Netflix series succeeds in both modernizing and honoring the source material’s allegories on foreign interference and authoritarian control. Ricardo Darín delivers a brilliant performance as Juan, an everyman thrust into severe circumstances. Critics have compared The Eternaut to The Last of Us and Station Eleven, praising its character-driven approach and gorgeous cinematography. While the first season’s pacing is a little slow, each installment ends with a twist or tidbit that compels you to watch more. Though originally planned for more seasons, the first season works as a complete arc, giving viewers a satisfying endgame.
3) Sense8
From Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski (alongside Babylon 5 writer J. Michael Straczynski) came this ambitious Netflix original. Eight strangers from across the globe suddenly discover they’re linked as “sensates,” able to share thoughts, skills, and experiences across distances. Nomi, a hacktivist, can suddenly access the fighting skills of Sun, a Seoul businesswoman competing in underground matches. Will, a Chicago cop, shares instincts with Wolfgang, a Berlin safe-cracker. As they learn their connections, they also discover they’re being hunted.
Admittedly not as underrated as others on this list, Sense8 earned a devoted cult following for its representation of LGBTQ+ characters, even winning the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama. Filmed on location across multiple continents with high production value, each episode showcases the Wachowskis’ visual flair. While Netflix cancelled the show after season two, a fan campaign convinced the platform to produce a feature-length finale that provided closure to the story. Thanks to the finale, Sense8 is definitely worth the time investment for any high-concept sci-fi fans.
2) 1899
When passengers board the steamship Kerberos traveling from London to New York at the turn of the century, they expect the voyage to take them to their new lives in America. Instead, Dr. Maura Franklin and the other emigrants encounter the Prometheus, a sister ship that vanished months earlier, drifting empty in the middle of the ocean… except for one boy. As the Kerberos investigates, strange happenings start up: passengers have visions, the ship’s corridors seem to shift, and deadly secrets from each traveler’s past resurface. Reality becomes unreliable as the series morphs from period drama to high-stakes mystery box.
Created by the masterminds behind Dark, Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar returned with Germany’s most expensive TV production, complete with gorgeous period sets. While not hard sci-fi, 1899 pivots in unexpected directions, and the final twist completely recontextualizes everything. Initially planned for multiple seasons, Netflix cancelled the show after one. However, the eight-episode run remains worth a watch. For viewers who loved Dark or enjoy shows like Severance and Westworld, 1899 contains a mix of historical fiction, sci-fi, and layered philosophy within its puzzle-box.
1) Maniac
In an alternate-reality New York City, two strangers volunteer for a pharmaceutical trial that promises to cure any mental illness. Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone), a woman addicted to drugs that let her relive memories of her deceased sister, joins the trial to score more pills. Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), the troubled son of a wealthy family struggling with delusions, volunteers, hoping to find meaning and purpose. Under the guidance of the strange Dr. Mantleray and his depressed supercomputer, the trial subjects experience shared drug-induced fantasies that manifest as entirely different genres, including 80s Long Island crime caper, 40s séance mystery, and Lord of the Rings-style fantasy quest, each reflecting the participants’ deepest traumas and desires.
Directed by True Detective Season 1’s Cary Joji Fukunaga and written by The Leftovers’ Patrick Somerville, Maniac reunited the Superbad co-stars for the 10-episode limited series. Critics from Rolling Stone, TIME, and The New York Times praised the show’s surreal imagination, with many comparing it to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Unlike the slow burns on this list, Maniac moves quickly despite its scope. Yet for some reason, the show remains criminally underseen and underrated as an original outing for the platform. Though bizarre, Maniac’s sci-fi elements translate beautifully into a meditation on human connection that’s unlike anything else on Netflix. For those who appreciate surrealism and genre-defying sci-fi, Maniac is an unforgettable gem.
What other underrated Netflix sci-fi shows deserve more attention? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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