10 Best Alternate History TV Shows Ever Made, Ranked

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

For history buffs, there are plenty of movies that revel in historical accuracy, but sometimes getting history wrong is even more work than getting it right. Alternate history stories root their plots in real-world events while also imagining what our world might look like if one or two events had played out differently. Some of our favorite TV shows ask "What if?" and spend hours digging into the intricacies of worlds that are not quite our own.

The beauty of alternate history shows is that they can play with multiple genres at once. You might get to watch a romance in an alternate Victorian-era London or see what modern-day America would look like if it were occupied by Nazis. Yet whether they're tense thrillers or lighthearted comedies, they all present fascinating worlds that viewers can't help losing themselves in. When it came time to rank the best alternate history TV shows, we dug into what critics and fans had to say. Our rankings are based on a mix of Rotten Tomatoes scores and IMDb ratings. All the shows we chose have fascinating worlds to present, but there's a variety of genres here so all kinds of TV fans can find something they'll love.

• Cast: Masali Baduza, Jack Rowan, Helen Baxendale

• Creator: Lydia Adetunji

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%

• Where to watch: Peacock

Contemporary romance meets alternate history speculation in this show based on a popular book series by author Malorie Blackman. "Noughts + Crosses" is set in a version of modern-day London that looks very different from what we're used to. In this world, Europe was colonized by a united West African empire that began its expansion more than seven centuries ago. Modern society in the series is strictly segregated: Crosses, descendants of the West African colonizers, rule over Noughts, descendants of white Indigenous Europeans.

At the heart of the story is a couple who society is trying to tear apart. Callum (Jack Rowan) is a Nought servant working for a wealthy Cross family. Sephy (Masali Baduza), the daughter of the family, strikes up a friendship with Callum that slowly transforms into an intense romance. Unfortunately, their relationship threatens the core of Cross society, and the two find themselves thrust into the midst of political turmoil. "Noughts + Crosses" is a richly detailed alternate history story with a central romance that's sure to pull at your heartstrings. 

• Cast: Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Lena Olin

• Creator: David Weil

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 68%

• Where to watch: Amazon Prime, Netflix

"Hunters" is far from the only show to offer an alternate history of World War II, but it is one of the best. In the world of the series, the Allies still won the second World War, but that didn't necessarily stop the Nazis. A cabal of fascist officials went deep undercover and began plotting to form the Fourth Reich and launch a new war for power.

The series is set in New York City in 1977 and follows a Jewish man named Jonah (Logan Lerman) who's a mathematical genius. After his grandmother dies, he finds himself swept into a secret society that she was once a part of. A man named Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) leads a group called the Hunters that's dedicated to rooting out Nazis and preventing the rise of the Fourth Reich. Jonah, seeking to avenge his grandmother's death and put his mathematical code-breaking skills to good use, joins the group and alters the course of his life — and history itself — forever. "Hunters" is a great choice for fans of contemporary spy thrillers looking for something new. 

• Cast: Winona Ryder, Anthony Boyle, Zoe Kazan

• Creators: Ed Burns, David Simon

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%

• Where to watch: HBO Max

If you're in the mood for an alternate history drama, it's hard to beat this HBO miniseries from creators Ed Burns and David Simon, based on a novel by Philip Roth. "The Plot Against America" was one of the best TV shows of 2020, which was a particularly good year for TV and alternate history fiction. The miniseries imagines a version of World War II where the battle comes to the United States in an entirely unexpected way. In this world, Franklin D. Roosevelt loses the presidency in 1940. Instead of Roosevelt seeing the U.S. through to the end of the war, a man named Charles Lindbergh (Ben Cole) takes the presidency and begins turning the nation toward fascism.

"The Plot Against America" isn't primarily a political thriller set in the halls of power. Instead, the series investigates fascism in America through the eyes of average people. Herman (Morgan Spector) and Bess (Zoe Kazan) are a husband and wife living in New Jersey. Along with Bess' sister Evelyn (Winona Ryder), they're horrified by the rising fascist politics in the country, but turning the tide of Lindbergh's hateful rhetoric is beyond even the most politically involved citizens in the country. "The Plot Against America" is a tense series that asks a lot of intriguing questions and doesn't offer any easy answers.

• Cast: Taylor Hickson, Amalia Holm, Demetria McKinney

• Creator: Eliot Laurence

• Rating: TV-14

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%

• Where to watch: Amazon Prime

People tend to assume that historical fiction and realism go hand-in-hand, but that isn't necessarily the case. "Motherland: Fort Salem" is a fantastic example of an alternate history show that blends high fantasy elements into its historical details. As the series title implies, "Motherland" envisions a world where magic is very much real and where the Salem witch trials became a massive turning point for American history. In the show, those trials led to the acceptance of witches and the legalization of magic.

Hundreds of years later, the United States is a primarily female-led country that has fully embraced the power of the occult. The titular Fort Salem is a training ground for witches entering the U.S. military. The series starts by following three young witches who are just enlisting in the army. Raelle (Taylor Hickson), Scylla (Amalia Holm), and Tally (Jessica Sutton) each join for their own reasons, but their training under drill sergeant Anacostia Quartermain (Demetria McKinney) pushes them to their limits and changes their understanding of magic and the country they grew up in. There aren't many shows that blend history and fantasy so seamlessly, which gives "Motherland" a unique pull in the alternate history subgenre.

• Cast: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Thompson, Adjoa Andoh

• Creator: Chris Van Dusen

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

• Where to watch: Netflix

There's plenty of drama to be found in "Bridgerton," but the combination of steamy romances, decked-out settings and costumes, and playful historical inaccuracies makes the series more openly fun than most alternate-history TV shows. The Netflix show is based on a popular book series of the same name from author Julia Quinn. The story primarily follows the members of the wealthy Bridgerton family as they climb the London social ladder looking for new business and romantic partnerships.

Most alternate history stories imagine the past as a worst-case scenario that gives birth to all sorts of new disasters and conflicts. "Bridgerton" takes a different approach by envisioning a Victorian-era Great Britain where racial equality is the norm and multiculturalism is already flourishing. "Bridgerton" has won multiple Emmy Awards for its outstanding period-accurate costumes and designs, but that fictional twist lets the show explore characters and subplots that could never exist in a truly historically accurate series. Each season of "Bridgerton" highlights a new family member and new romance, so the story feels refreshed every eight episodes. If you love Victorian-era London but want a show that isn't so historical it becomes dour, then "Bridgerton" is perfect for you.

• Cast: Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Rufus Sewell

• Creator: Frank Spotnitz

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

• Where to watch: Amazon Prime

Philip K. Dick is an American author whose work has been adapted into some of the best sci-fi movies of all time. If you've enjoyed films like "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," or "The Adjustment Bureau," then you should probably consider watching the Amazon Prime TV series "The Man in the High Castle." Loosely based on a Dick novel of the same name, the show is set in a world where the United States faced brutal losses in World War II. The nation is now divided into three parts: Japanese-controlled territory, Nazi-controlled territory, and a buffer territory between the two occupied zones.

Juliana Crane (Alexa Davalos) lives in Japanese-occupied San Francisco when she makes a discovery that could shatter the entire world order. She encounters mysterious film reels collected by an anonymous individual simply known as "the Man in the High Castle." The films show news clips and other scenes from alternate Earths — ones where the Axis powers didn't win the war. Through watching the clips, Juliana becomes motivated to resist the Axis forces, and she begins to uncover even more secrets that might have the power to right the wrongs of this world's history. "The Man in the High Castle" is an Emmy-winning series that will grip you from the very first episode and keep you enthralled through four seasons of a mind-bending alternate-history drama.

• Cast: James Franco, Sarah Gadon, George MacKay

• Creator: Bridget Carpenter

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

• Where to watch: Netflix, HBO Max

What if one of the most devastating days in American history played out differently? That was the premise of Stephen King's 2011 "11.22.63," an alternate history, sci-fi thriller about the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Five years later, the novel became an Emmy-nominated series starring James Franco as Jake Epping, a history teacher whose life might alter the course of time forever.

One day, Jake's friend Al Templeton (Chris Cooper) shows him something impossible: Al has figured out how to travel through time, and he tells Jake that he's made it his mission to stop the Kennedy assassination. Jake soon finds himself pulled into Al's quest, and that turns out to be anything but straightforward. Jake has to fight the forces of time that seemingly want history to go in one certain direction, and he also has to fight against his own attachment to the era that he's trying to change completely. "11.22.63" is a fantastic alternate history story, and because the TV show is just a miniseries, you can binge the entire thrilling plot in a single, overstuffed afternoon.

• Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Wrenn Schmidt

• Creators: Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

• Where to watch: Apple TV

Alternate history stories get lumped in with science fiction by default, but "For All Mankind" is a series that feels perfectly at home alongside more traditional sci-fi series. That's because the show is trying to link the real-world history of the Space Race to a far-flung future society where humankind has spread out amongst the stars. In the series' version of events, the tense scientific battle between the United States and the Soviet Union plays out differently than it did in our world. The Soviets make it to the moon first, and that galvanizes the U.S. and pushes the country to deeply invest in space travel for decades.

The Apple TV series has everything that a diehard sci-fi fan could want. "For All Mankind" is based on real-world science, and that combined with the show's high production value makes its futuristic space program entirely believable. The series also has great characters, adding human stakes to the sci-fi concepts. If you romanticize the golden era of NASA or you're a fan of sci-fi series like "The Expanse," then "For All Mankind" should be your next watch.

• Cast: Emily Bader, Edward Bluemel, Anna Chancellor

• Creator: Gemma Burgess

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

• Where to watch: Amazon Prime

"My Lady Jane" is the perfect companion piece to "Bridgerton," though the series just might break your heart. When "My Lady Jane" debuted on Amazon Prime in 2024, it quickly won a mass of fans — including a particularly notable fantasy author. "I really enjoyed 'My Lady Jane,' a clever and original historical fantasy on Amazon Prime," wrote George R.R. Martin on his blog. Despite that weighty endorsement, overwhelmingly positive reviews, and a full fan campaign and petition calling for a 2nd season, Amazon cancelled the series after just eight episodes.

The good news is that those eight episodes tell a full, cohesive story. "My Lady Jane" follows the life of Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), a real-world noble who very briefly served as the queen of England in the 1500s before being beheaded. The show imagines a less tragic turn of events befalling Jane. When she's crowned queen, she finds her life turned upside down and discovers that multiple people want her dead. Despite the drama, "My Lady Jane" is at its core a lighthearted comedy that's sure to put a smile on your face. It's disappointing that we'll never see the pirate-themed adventure planned for the 2nd season, but luckily there's no shortage of decadent period shows to watch after "My Lady Jane."

• Cast: Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Mison

• Creator: Damon Lindelof

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

• Where to watch: HBO Max

Alan Moore's "Watchmen" is one of the most celebrated comic book stories of all time. A 2009 film adaptation from Zack Snyder tried to squeeze the entire comic storyline into a single movie with mixed success. Then in 2019, HBO launched an "adaptation" that no fans expected. The HBO "Watchmen" series is meant to be a sequel to Moore's story that resolves some lingering questions from the comic while building on the ideas that he explored with new characters and plots.

The "Watchmen" series is set decades after the original story. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a slew of violent, racist attacks leads to new laws related to vigilantism. Local police officer Angela Abar (Regina King) takes advantage of these rules to put on a mask and adopt the name Sister Night. Angela and a new wave of masked heroes take to the streets, but their work is inextricably linked to people like Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons) and the heroes of the not-so-distant past. "Watchmen" is a fascinating blend of alternate history, superhero fiction, and crime thriller. The show manages to pull off the impossible by being a worthy sequel to Moore's legendary comic while simultaneously telling a story that's completely compelling on its own.