10 Best Sci-Fi Shows To Binge Right Now (October 2025)

When most people think of October entertainment, they think of all things spooky and for good reason. Halloween is just around the corner, fall is in full swing, and October is traditionally a great month to settle in for thrills, chills, and scares when it comes to movies and television. Yet, horror and spooky things aren’t the only genres that are right at home in the fall. Sci-fi is another great genre that audiences turn to when looking for a good binge watch. The genre takes viewers into complex and interesting new worlds, pushing the limits of science and technology, and telling rich tales of the human experience all wrapped up in the unknown. Sometimes, sci-fi offers up those spooky vibes, too, making it a genre that has something for everyone.

That “something for everyone” quality makes streaming platforms a treasure trove for sci-fi fans. Across numerous platforms, there are lots of shows that viewers can settle in to binge, letting themselves get lost in worlds unlike anything found on Earth or taking them into dark versions of our own world to explore what it means to be human. Here are ten of the best sci-fi series that audiences can binge this month, covering everything from uplifting stories of hope to complex stories of survival in the face of mysterious and catastrophic change.

10) Station Eleven (HBO Max)

As a series about life after a devastating global pandemic, Station Eleven initially debuted at the wrong time. Its release in 2021 came just as our own world was still grappling with a devastating ongoing pandemic, but the live-action adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s best-selling novel is worth revisiting and it’s just short enough with just one, 10-episode season, it’s an easy weekend watch. Set 20 years after a flu pandemic caused civilization to collapse, the story follows a group of travelling performers who encounter a dangerous cult who, unknown to them, is tied to one of the members.

While revisiting pandemic stories might seem like a downer, Station Eleven is very much a must-watch because it’s less about the disaster that befell humanity and more about the power and beauty of art and the wonder of human connection, even across disaster and decades. It’s a show that is less about suffering and more about hope, something that we don’t often see enough of in sci-fi movies and is also something we could all use a little bit more of.

9) Upload (Prime Video)

Another surprisingly uplifting sci-fi series, Upload is set in a near-future where people who have recently died can be uploaded into an afterlife of their choosing. The series stars Robbie Amell as a computer programmer who soon comes to realize that his luxurious afterlife isn’t exactly what it seems and that his premature death may not have been an accident after all.

Upload is a bit of a rare gem among sci-fi series. While the “upload” technology and its near-future setting put it firmly in sci-fi territory, it’s also funny and romantic and even veers into action territory as the story progresses. The series also poses some interesting questions about life, death, and the intersection of technology into some of the most intimate and foundational aspects of the human experience but does so in a way that never feels bleak. Upload also just released its fourth and final season in August so sitting down to binge this one gives you a complete experience, one without mysterious cliffhangers or a long wait for a new season.

8) The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

It might be a little controversial to put The Handmaid’s Tale on a “sci-fi” list. After all, even author Margaret Atwood has said that the novel the series is based upon is speculative fiction, but a case can be made. The Handmaid’s Tale is a near-future dystopia set in a totalitarian former United States where women have been stripped of their rights and those who are fertile are made into Handmaids and forced into child-bearing slavery. While the series lacks the advanced technology that is often a hallmark of science fiction, it does feature some elements of the genre, specifically in how it explores social sciences after extreme change. After all, social science is still science and exploration of outcomes of social, political, and even environmental change are key to science fiction.

While The Handmaid’s Tale may not be a traditional sci-fi story, and it is also on the bleak side of things given the experiences of the women in the story, particularly protagonist June (Elisabeth Moss), the series is very well-written and engrossing and while it does have darker themes, the story of rebellion and the show’s feminist themes are timelier than ever. It’s also a complete series, with the sixth and final season having recently been released and a spinoff is also on the way.

7) Bodies (Netflix)

Based on a graphic novel of the same name from DC’s Vertigo imprint, Bodies ran for just one season of eight episodes, making it perfect for a binge watch — and the story makes it worth it. A dead body appears in the Whitechapel area of London in four different years, 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. The investigations in each time become interlinked and the four very different police officers soon find themselves dealing with a bigger conspiracy than they could have ever imagined.

Bodies takes the idea of a murder mystery and gives it an incredible sci-fi twist. It’s something that makes the series deeply fascinating as it’s less about the mystery and more about the cycles that each of the officers are in, exploring how while times may change, some things do not. It’s an impressive feat of storytelling, which each time period maintaining its own unique elements as though they are their own stories. It’s simply a fantastic watch.

6) The Ark

Set 100 years in the future, The Ark follows the Ark One spacecraft taking a group of colonists from the devastated earth to a new home on Proxima Centauri B. Unfortunately, a catastrophic event en route kills almost the entire technical crew of the ship and all of its senior officers, forcing the survivors to figure out how to not only maintain the ship, but make it to their destination. The series currently has two seasons with a third on the way.

While The Ark may not be a critical success in the way some of the shows on this list are, sci-fi fans looking for a Stargate sort of vibe won’t want to miss this one. There’s also something to be said about sci-fi that isn’t overly serious, and The Ark fits that bill. By putting its characters in an extremely high-stakes fish out of water situation, The Ark delivers on plenty of interpersonal drama and intrigue in the story. Think of it as a fun space opera with seriously high stakes. It’s a lot of fun and an easy watch and the story gets better the deeper into the series you get.

5) The Expanse (Prime Video)

Considered by many to be one of the best sci-fi series of the 21st century, The Expanse ran for six seasons for a total of 62 episodes and it’s length is largely why it’s landed at the middle of our list — it will take you a little time to binge and it is time you will want to take because it’s a dense, complex series that is completely worth it. The series is set in the future where humanity has colonized the Solar System. A group finds themselves at the center of a conspiracy with the fragile peace of the system at risk. It’s a tale of geopolitical turmoil and existential crisis and it’s brilliantly done.

The Expanse is a series that, while science fiction, is far more than just its premise. It uses the science fiction frame to explore very human themes, like oppression, discrimination, poverty, and politics and it also blends themes from other genres to keep things interesting. There’s mystery thriller elements, as well as Western themes with the frontier aspect of the setting. It’s richly detailed, very well written, and has just enough scientific realism to elevate the entire experience. It’s truly a must-watch.

4) Alien: Earth (Hulu)

The newest series on this list, Alien: Earth brings horror into this sci-fi list with the first television series in the Alien franchise. Set two years before the events of the original Alien film, the series follows a spacecraft carrying deadly alien lifeforms that crashes into Earth and a hybrid woman along with a team of soldiers have to get things under control. Given that this is an Alien project, you can only imagine how that πlays out.

With just one series currently available and that series having very recently ended, this is a perfect October binge for anyone who was waiting for be able to watch the series all at once. The series also received positive reviews and featured developments as its story played out that help reshape the Alien franchise as we know it. It might be on the scarier side, but it’s definitely worth your time.

3)  The Eternaut (Netflix)

Based on the Argentine comic book of the same name, in The Eternaut one night it mysteriously begins to snow in Buenos Aires, the snowfall killing everyone it touches. The series follows Juan Salvo and his friends, who are among those who survived the snowfall, but now have to survive life in the aftermath. However, they soon learn that it was not merely snow, but the start of an alien attack.

With currently just one six-episode season (Netflix renewed the series for a second season in May,) The Eternaut is a brilliant mystery that goes well beyond being merely a science fiction tale of survival. It’s, at its heart, a story about the characters. Each of the survivors in Juan’s group are complex characters that don’t easily fit into stereotypes or tropes. Even the untrustworthy Omar is somewhat sympathetic. It is also a family story, with Juan trying to find his daughter. For fans of The Last of Us, while The Eternaut is dealing with a disaster of an entirely different sort, the realities of a vastly changed world and the importance of community and relationships makes this more than a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story. It makes for a compelling watch.

2) Silo (Apple TV)

Based on Hugh Howey’s Silo trilogy of novels (Wool, Shift, and Dust), the series is set in a dystopian future and follows a community that lives in a 144-level underground silo without knowing their own history while all they know of the outside world is that it is dead and dangerous. However, when one woman seeks to discover the truth of what is really outside, it ends up being far more complicated than anyone expected and how everyone ended up in the silo is its own mystery.

With two seasons available and two more on the way, Silo is an excellent watch for Fallout fans but don’t expect the series to be clones. They are similar, but extremely different and what Silo excels at is its grounded storytelling as the characters and viewers unpack and unravel the mysteries of the silo together. The first episode is also absolutely shocking and kicks things into high gear from the jump. You’ll never quite know how things are going to go, making it a thrilling watch you will absolutely want to binge.

1) Halo (Netflix)

One of Paramount+’s first and biggest original series, Halo recently made the leap to Netflix and the two-season series is one that makes for a great binge this October. Inspired by the Halo video game franchise, the series follows Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) and a 26th century war between the United Nations Space Command and an alliance of alien races — the Covenant — that want to eradicate humanity.

Halo is an interesting case of a series that didn’t quite hit the mark when it was first released but has started to find new life on a different platform. Season 1 of Halo was a little slow, but season 2 saw the sci-fi series started to find its footing and really come into its own. With its deviations from the game franchise, Halo is a solid binge watch for sci-fi fans who like stories that pit humanity against alien threats. It’s also a series that is just original enough that you don’t have to be a video game fan to enjoy it. Now that the series is on Netflix, it’s also finding a new audience and, with it, new appreciation and success. It’s definitely worth checking out.

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