The Best Sci-Fi Shows Coming In 2020
We live in an era absolutely packed with television options. The original broadcast networks are still going strong, but more and more cable channels have latched onto the prestige TV boom with original programming, and the rise of the streaming service has meant that even more options loom on our televisions with each passing year. That means there's often too much to watch, but it also means that if you're a fan of a certain genre, you'll never run out of great shows.
The year 2020 brings with it a host of new TV options, from broadcast thrillers to Disney+ franchises, and a great many of them are set to scratch your science fiction itch whether you're watching traditional TV or binge watching your heart out on your favorite streaming service. The year got off to a strong start in Januaray, when two major sci-fi series, Star Trek: Picard and Avenue 5, celebrated their premieres, but they're far from alone in joining the sci-fi fray in 2020. From workplace comedies which will also explore space to tech conspiracy thrillers to Marvel Cinematic Universe continuations, these are the sci-fi TV shows to watch as 2020 goes on.
Devs
Alex Garland was already a celebrated genre screenwriter in 2014 when he released his feature directorial debut Ex Machina, but the film's success helped cement his status as one of the most exciting science fiction creators working today. Garland followed that up with Annihilation, another sci-fi masterpiece that revealed even greater depths to his talent, and made fans eager to see what he'd do next. As it turns out, Garland had his sights set on telling a longer story, which meant a turn to the small screen.
Devs is Garland's first major television work, and combines his knack for genre storytelling with the very topical concerns of the darker corners of the tech world. The series follows a computer engineer named Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) as she investigates her boyfriend's disappearance. In the process, she encounters an eccentric tech luminary (Nick Offerman) and the mysterious new projects he's working on. The combination of Garland's storytelling and Nick Offerman playing a dark genius is too good to resist. Devs arrives on Hulu March 5, 2020.
neXt
What if that little smart device you keep on your kitchen counter wasn't just listening to you? What if it started asking you questions, learning every detail of your life, and then using it all against you in a deadly game? That's a big part of the hook behind neXt, a new cyber thriller series starring John Slattery as a tech pioneer who begins to realize that his own work in artificial intelligence has grown beyond him in ways he never imagined.
In an effort to fix the chain reaction he helped to start, he teams up with a cyber crime task force led by Special Agent Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade) to get to the bottom of what's going on at the company he used to run. The first trailers for neXt arrived in the summer of 2019, and they reveal a far-reaching cyber-conspiracy thriller with the potential to just keep expanding as the series goes on. Though it doesn't yet have an official premiere date, neXt is set to be a midseason debut for Fox, and will arrive sometime in the spring of 2020.
Snowpiercer
The story of the long road Snowpiercer took on its way to a television debut is almost as wild and dramatic as the story of Snowpiercer itself. The series is based on the 2013 film of the same name, directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, which was itself adapted from the 1982 graphic novel Le Transperceneige. The TV development saga, meanwhile, dates all the way back to 2015. In the time since, the series has seen its original showrunner exit, its original pilot director refuse to come back for reshoots, and had its network changed from TNT to TBS and then back to TNT. It's been a long ride, but the series is finally almost here.
Snowpiercer the series will begin with the same premise as the film. Set several years after the world has been enveloped in ice and rendered uninhabitable, the series follows the residents of the titular train as it circles the snowbound world, and focuses on the various class struggles and schemes within the crude society that's sprung up among the remnants of humanity. Starring Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly, Snowpiercer will finally debut on TNT May 31, 2020.
Resident Alien
For the last eight years, Dark Horse Comics has been home to Resident Alien, a comic book series about an alien from outer space who's forced to hide out in a small town while he waits for someone from his species to come and pick him up. Since 2018, SYFY has been developing a TV series based on the comics, and in 2020 we'll finally get to see the fruits of that labor.
Resident Alien stars Alan Tudyk as the title alien, who adopts the human name Harry Vanderspiegle. After finding himself stranded on Earth, Harry decides to take on a human disguise and pose as a doctor in a small Colorado town. That's all complicated enough, but life gets a little harder for Harry when he's roped into a series of mysteries he must help to solve. Oh, and there's one kid in the town who can see right through his disguise, which is bound to make things just a little more complicated. Resident Alien premieres on SYFY in the summer of 2020.
Superman & Lois
The vast collection of shows and characters known to fans as the Arrowverse (named for the show that started it all) just keeps expanding over at the CW. 2020 sees the flagship series that launched the small-screen universe, Arrow, ending its run, but that just means there's more room in the schedule for future series. Thankfully for fans who've been eager to see more of them, some of that room is going to be taken up by the Arrowverse's Superman and Lois Lane.
The most prevalent version of Superman in this universe, played by Tyler Hoechlin, first popped up on Supergirl, while his version of Lois Lane, played by Elizabeth Tulloch, debuted in the "Elseworlds" crossover event in December of 2018.
In October of 2019, the CW announced that it was developing a spinoff series that would center on Hoechlin's Superman and Tulloch's Lois, fulfilling a longstanding fan wish for another Superman TV series. Superman & Lois does not yet have a premiere date, but we'll likely see it arriving sometime in the fall of 2020.
Space Force
Steve Carell became a global superstar thanks to his starring role in a workplace comedy series. The Office made Carell ripe for movie stardom, which led to numerous opportunities as a film actor in both comedy and drama. In 2020, Carell is returning to the workplace, and he's bringing Office writer Greg Daniels along for the ride.
Space Force, co-created by Carell and Daniels, will follow a group of government employees as they try to develop the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces, the titular "Space Force." Carell will play a general trying to lead the Space Force in its mission to get back to the moon by 2024. Joining Carell on this mission are John Malkovich — another actor who's brilliant at both comedy and drama — Ben Schwartz, Diana Silvers, Tawny Newsome, Jimmy O. Yang, Noah Emmerich, Fred Willard, and more. That's a fantastic ensemble of talent, and with Carell starring as well as co-creating the series, we can expect plenty of Office-level gags along the way. Space Force does not yet have a premiere date, but we do know that it's received a ten-episode order from Netflix, and is expected to debut at some point in 2020 on the streaming service.
Y
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra is one of the most acclaimed, influential and frequently read comic book series of the 21st century. First published by Vertigo Comics in 2002, the series is frequently listed among comics people should read even if they're not especially into comic book storytelling, and continues to attract new readers year after year. That success meant some form of adaptation was inevitable, and after years of attempts to adapt Y for the big screen, a small-screen translation started to seem like the way to go.
The development of Y as a TV series kicked off in 2016, and entered the pilot stage in 2018. In the spring of 2019 it was announced that Eliza Clark would take over as the new showrunner of Y after it was given a series order for a 2020 premiere. Now, we're just waiting for a premiere date to be announced.
Starring Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Lashana Lynch, Imogen Poots and more, Y will explore the fallout and reorganization of society after a cataclysmic event kills every male mammal on Earth except for a single man and his Capuchin monkey. The series is expected to hit FX at some point in 2020.
Invincible
Comic book writer Robert Kirkman already has a massive TV empire thanks to the success of The Walking Dead. Kirkman's comic book series has already been adapted into two hit AMC series (with a third on the way), and that led to an adaptation of another Kirkman comic, Outcast, as a Cinemax series in 2016. Now, another Kirkman creation is heading to the screen, and this time, he's leading the storytelling.
Invincible is an upcoming adult-oriented animated series based on Kirkman's comic of the same, which he co-created with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley. The series follows the title hero — real name Mark Grayson — as he begins to develop superpowers in his teenage years. Mark is the son of Omni-Man, the world's greatest superhero, who also happens to be an alien sent to Earth to be its protector. As Mark's powers begin to manifest, his father takes him under his wing, grooming him for superhero greatness. But there are things Mark doesn't know about the powers he shares with his father, and many of those secrets make up the bulk of Invincible's twisty story. With a voice cast that includes Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, and Sandra Oh, Invincible is hit to Amazon Prime at some point in 2020.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
In the spring of 2019 Avengers: Endgame ended a decade-long era of storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a climactic battle for the fate of all existence, while also setting the stage for the next phase of stories in the MCU. We're only just beginning to see what comes next, but we do know a lot of it will unfold on the Disney+ streaming service, and that includes The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
At the end of Endgame, Steve Rogers passed Captain America's shield on to his friend Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), better known as Falcon, with the blessing of his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), a.k.a. the Winter Soldier. The upcoming Disney+ series will explore the aftermath of that decision, as Sam contends with the legacy he's now a part of with a little help from Bucky. The series will also feature the return of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) and Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) to the MCU, as well as the live-action debut of Captain America knockoff U.S. Agent. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will arrive sometime in late 2020.
WandaVision
The events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame also had a major impact on the lives of Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). The battle with Thanos left Vision apparently dead and his lover mourning him, but the pair are set to be reunited in a new Disney+ series that will explore their relationship in a new, rather strange setting.
WandaVision will reunite Wanda Maximoff with the android Vision in some version of a 1950s sitcom setting. Exactly how and why the characters end up that way is one of the great mysteries we'll get to explore when the show finally arrives, but we also know that a few other familiar faces will be back. Teyonah Parris has joined the series as an adult version of Monica Rambeau, who first appeared as a child in Captain Marvel, and the series will also re-introduce Thor and Thor: The Dark World supporting character Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) to the MCU. WandaVision was originally set to arrive in 2021 as a tie-in to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but has now been moved to a release sometime in 2020.