7 Recent Sci-Fi & Fantasy Masterpieces Better than Stranger Things

After nearly a decade of dominating popular culture, Netflix’s Stranger Things finally came to an end on New Year’s Eve. The massively popular sci-fi series finally said goodbye to Hawkins in an extra-long finale that largely wrapped up the series’ expansive and twisty story, but in the process left fans with just as many questions as answers, even going so far as to spawn its own conspiracy theories about if there was another, secret ending coming as a surprise, final twist. (Spoiler alert: there wasn’t.)

But now that Stranger Things is over, we can take a look back and realize that for as much as we enjoyed the often genre-blending five-season series, there are other recent sci-fi and fantasy shows out there that are just as good and even better, shows that maybe didn’t get quite as much hype. Here are seven such series, all masterpieces in their own way, that are definitely worth checking out.

7) Sense8

Created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski and running for just two seasons, Sense8 still stands as one of Netflix’s best sci-fi series ever. The series follows eight strangers from all around the globe who discover that they are “sensates” or people linked both mentally and emotionally. The group also finds that they are all being hunted by the sinister Biologic Preservation Organization that seeks to neutralize them.

While Sense8 is very different from Stranger Things, the two series do share some of the same themes. What makes Sense8 truly stand out, however, is that while it’s very much a sci-fi drama given the almost supernatural ability that the group shares, it’s at its core a show about identity, family, culture, and belonging. The series was unfortunately cancelled after two seasons, but did get a special, two-hour episode to wrap things up.

6) I Am Not Okay With This

Another Netflix offering, I Am Not Okay With This is a one-season coming of age series based on the graphic novel of the same name. The series stars Sophia Lillis as Sydney Novak, an emotionally troubled teenage girl who finds out that she has psychokinetic powers triggered by strong emotions. She tries to learn how to control her powers all while dealing with the complicated relationships and emotions of growing up, including the death of her father, a strained relationship with her mother, and budding romantic feelings for her best friend. The series ran for just one season.

While I Am Not Okay With This didn’t get a chance to fully dig into its stories — it ends on dramatic cliffhanger with Sydney using her powers in a horrifying way and later being approached by a mysterious man who says that everyone should be afraid of them — the series was already dipping its toes into some of the same themes that made Stranger Things so interesting. It simply had a more grounded feel to it, despite the superpowers of it all, that made it feel a lot more personal.

5) From

One of the best sci-fi horror series on television, From is one of the few shows on this list to currently be airing — the fourth season is expected to premiere sometime in 2026. From is set in a nightmarish American town that traps all who enter it all while keeping them in the dark about how and why they’re there. There’s also no escape from the town and, making things worse, every night is a fight to survive the terrifying nocturnal creatures from the surrounding forest.

From is honestly brilliant. It’s part sci-fi, part mystery, all horror and boasts a rich lore and complicated sort of puzzle box style mystery and some genuinely terrifying creatures. A lot more mature than Stranger Things (this one isn’t for kids by any stretch), From is twisty and unsettling and utterly captivating while also being strangely satisfying all at the same time.

4) Alice in Borderland

Another Netflix series, Alice in Borderland is a three-season Japanese sci-fi thriller that takes many of the same tropes found in Stranger Things and just goes much darker with them. The series follows a group of people who finds themselves trapped in an empty, parallel version of Tokyo where they are forced to compete as players in dangerous and fatal games. Making things even more terrifying, the type and difficulty of each of these games is represented by playing cards and each game is used to extend the player’s “visas” that, if they expire, result in the player being executed by lasers shot from the sky.

The show has drawn comparisons to The Hunger Games and Battle Royale, but the psychological aspect of things — and the concept of the twisted alternative version of Tokyo, makes it a deeply fascinating series that, in some ways, makes the Upside Down look ordinary.

3) Riverdale

You probably did not expect to see Riverdale on this list and if you had only thought about the first season of The CW’s loose Archie Comics adaptation, you’d be right to question its inclusion. However, the deeper you get into Riverdale, the more sci-fi, the more fantasy, and the more complex and twisted the show becomes. Over its seven seasons, Archie Andrews and his friends deal with everything from murder mysteries, cults, parallel realities, serial killers, and even an entire time jump to the 1950s that creates an entirely different timeline. There is, quite literally, nothing that Riverdale doesn’t take on.

While the series is at times very campy and over-the-top, it’s also surprisingly well made. The crazier the storylines, the better the series gets and while the series is absolutely absurd — the whole final season and explanation for it is a wild, wild ride — it’s easily one of the most unsettling and inventive series ever made. Yes, it is really that good. We can say that now, three years after its finale.

2) Dark

The German sci-fi mystery thriller Dark might just be one of the best television series of the 21st century to date. Set in the small town of Winden, Dark centers around four families in the small town of Winden who are seeking the truth following a child’s disappearance. They end up unraveling a sinister time travel conspiracy spanning multiple generations. It’s twisty, complex, and makes some of the best use of the idea of bootstrap paradox you’ll ever see.

Dark is complex. Over the course of the three seasons, viewers are taking into multiple timelines both past and future as well as a parallel world that is tethered to the first and, even with all these complicated threads, it all loops back together to work to create one cohesive story. It’s also a rare show where the sci-fi elements are a core part of the DNA, not just a jumping off point or a plot element. It’s an absolutely unmissable show.

1) The Power

Based on Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name, The Power aired for just one season on Amazon Prime Video in 2023. The premise of the series is that the world of The Power is our world, but there is one twist of nature: without warning all teenage girls in the world develop the power to electrocute people at will. This sudden shift upends the social order, paving the way for women to become the dominant sex, especially as the younger women learn that they can awaken the power in older women.

Any kind of change in the status quo leads to pushback and The Power explores some of that, as well as what happens when the oppressed finally have the power to fight back. While the series didn’t get a chance to really fully develop, the one season it did get is fascinating and fantastic and absolutely worth checking out.

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