2024 Fantasy and Sci-Fi TV Series & Streaming Guide

Following our guide to the best fantasy and sci-fi films this year, now it’s time to look at the best fantasy and sci-fi TV series coming to streaming services such as Disney+, Prime, and Netflix.

The modern era of television serials is enjoying a golden age for fantasy and sci-fi, with regular high-budget adaptations and original stories that most fans could have only dreamed of a few decades ago. It’s an exciting time to be a nerd, with glitzy high fantasy epics like Game of Thrones or world and lore-expanding Star Wars shows the norm.

Here’s our guide to some of our most anticipated offerings for 2024 – just make sure you keep some calendar time clear so you can fit them all in…

SCI-FI AND FANTASY TV SERIES GUIDE 2024

3 Body Problem

Expected to premiere on Netflix on March 21st, 2024.

Top of our personal watch list is this TV adaptation of Liu Cixin’s enthralling contemporary sci-fi trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past, which was one of our favourite reads during lockdown.

In the books, Liu skilfully weaves scientific concepts with a gripping narrative, delving into themes of extraterrestrial contact, cultural revolution, and the consequences of technological advancement. The novels take place over multiple points in time as the Earth attempts to prepare for an alien invasion set for a specific date, which should prove interesting when translated to the screen. At its heart, the story explores the ‘dark forest hypothesis’, which explores the question of whether humanity should actively seek to advertise the location of their planet to a potentially hostile universe.

The book series won the prestigious Hugo Award, and the announcement that a TV adaptation was in the works met with excitement from the ‘hard’ sci-fi community. The show is led by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo, with acting stars such as Benedict Wong and Jess Hong on the cast list. Ramin Djawadi, who scored Game of Thrones, will also produce the soundtrack.

Check out the official trailer here.

Fallout

Premiering on Amazon Prime on April 12^th, 2024.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have at least heard of Fallout, the long-running American post-apocalyptic gaming series that has spanned decades and numerous consoles and computer systems.

Developed by Interplay Entertainment and later Bethesda Game Studios, the franchise is revered for its captivating narrative of an alternate timeline world devastated by nuclear war. Players navigate a desolate wasteland, encountering mutated creatures, factions, and moral dilemmas in a series that has mastered open-world gameplay and retro-futuristic aesthetics.

Over the years, the games have developed from early isometric turn-based gameplay to immersive first-person experiences, and it will be interesting to see whether the TV series can deliver an equally dynamic story. From what we can gather, the show will mirror the experience of 2008’s Fallout 3, following a group of shelter survivors who leave the safety of their home to discover the wild and dangerous wasteland beyond.

Check out the official teaser trailer here.

The Rings of Power Season 2

No one can claim Amazon isn’t committed to bringing fantasy works to the screen, with shows including The Wheel of Time and the Tolkien-inspired The Rings of Power on their roster. Nevertheless, despite the Lord of the Rings prequel’s astronomic budget, many fans were disappointed with aspects of the show’s characterisation and story in season one.

Our resident Tolkien fan agrees with many of the criticisms but is nonetheless looking forward to seeing whether the show can resolve matters with the fans and continue its vein of stunning cinematography and conceptual design, which was never in question under the guidance of legendary artists John Howe and Alan Lee, who worked on both The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.

The Boys Season 4

2024 will see the latest season of The Boys arrive at some point on Prime Video. For any fans of superhero franchises, the series offers a brilliantly dark and irreverent story that satirises the seemingly perfect heroes and heroines often seen in Marvel and DC productions – all through the lens of corporate corruption, political intrigue and toxic celebrity culture.

Set in a world where superheroes, known as ‘The Seven,’ abuse their powers, a group of vigilantes called ‘The Boys’ seek to expose and confront them. After three triumphantly subversive and entertaining seasons, we can’t wait to see where the story goes and whether the increasingly MAGA-esque Homelander can be stopped.

Star Wars: The Acolyte

Not much is known about this upcoming series from the galaxy far, far away, but it has finished filming and should arrive on Disney+ sometime in 2024.

The Acolyte is an exciting prospect for Star Wars fans, with a strong cast and tantalising story that promises to explore the rise of the Sith during the High Republic era (thousands of years before the events of the Skywalker Saga). The origins of the Sith is something that has been explored numerous times in the expanded universe, but it will be interesting to see what is established for the new canon and whether anything will link to future movies in the works.

Star Wars: Skelton Crew

This second upcoming live-action series has managed to snap up Hollywood star Jude Law and similar respected acting talent, which should result in a high-quality original story set in the Star Wars universe.

Again, little is known beyond the basic premise. According to sources, the series will act as a classic coming-of-age story, following four children who are thrown into an adventure after being lost in the galaxy following a discovery on their home planet – as to the details of the discovery, that is being kept under wraps.