5 Sci-Fi Shows Way Better Than The X-Files

Few science fiction shows have been as beloved or influential in the last 40 years as "The X-Files." The alien investigation saga of FBI special agenes Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) was both a watershed moment for sci-fi on television and a key piece of the '90s move toward more ambitious TV storytelling, alongside shows like "Twin Peaks" (also featuring Duchovny), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Xena: Warrior Princess."

Our task today is not to put the show down. How could we, when its influence can still be felt so strongly? Instead, we are hoping to place it appropriately within the pantheon of sci-fi television, while also hopefully making some strong suggestions of similar shows that "X-Files" fans may enjoy just as much, if not more. 

While the series is mostly remembered for its impact on TV production and long-form narrative, it had its down moments too. Finding even a handful of shows with definitive cases for being superior to such a classic is no easy feat, but the ones we've selected either have even greater influence and prestige, or nail their own version of sci-fi TV so perfectly that it's impossible to deny their greatness. These are five sci-fi shows even better than "The X-Files."

Let's start with another bona fide classic, shall we? While Rod Serling's black-and-white anthology series doesn't have the same overarching storylines or relationship arcs that define "The X-Files," "The Twilight Zone" can still be seen as a precursor thanks to its weekly dives into the supernatural and the surreal. While the "monster of the week" formula is generally accepted as being coined in reference to "The Outer Limits," a series that began just a few years after the start of "The Twilight Zone," that legacy continued in various forms up to its proliferation on serialized TV in the '90s, with "The X-Files" being one of the main standard-bearers for the form.

As far as impact, legacy, or quality go, "The Twilight Zone" demands no explanation, but it's never a bad time to sing its praises. The sheer volume of brilliant science fiction, horror, and the paranormal brought to life on any given season of the show is staggering, even today, and it's telling that none of the subsequent attempts to revive the series have ever properly matched the 1959 original.

Just as sci-fi procedurals of today must bow in tribute to "The X-Files," so too must "The X-Files" bow in tribute to "The Twilight Zone" — a show that's proved to be as timeless as it is influential.

Did someone say conspiracy theories? Secret government agencies? Hidden truths of humanity hidden in plain sight? While "The X-Files" was helping to redefine science fiction on television, Lilly and Lana Wachowski were reinventing it on the big screen with "The Matrix." But their true masterpiece (hot take, sure, but bear with us) came years later in one of the very first Netflix original series: "Sense8."

Shot on location all around the globe, with the cinematic grandeur and precision you'd expect from two of the era's top sci-fi filmmakers, "Sense8" tells the story of a secret offshoot species of humans known as "homo sensorium," who "awaken" to their true identity as adults. That awakening links their minds to seven other "sensates," allowing them to communicate across vast distances and even step into each other's bodies for temporary control.

The show follows one particular group of sensates as they flee a shadowy cabal bent on their species' destruction. While it may not have had the longevity or overall impact of "The X-Files," it's a far more ambitious piece of science fiction, buoyed by a massive budget that shows in every shot and an absolutely fantastic ensemble. Like too many other great sci-fi shows, it was canceled too soon. "The X-Files" may have spawned an era of imitators, but we will truly never see a show like "Sense8" again.

You can't talk about great sci-fi TV shows without putting a little bit of anime in the mix, and while we could have chosen a slightly more famous series like "Cowboy Bebop" or "Neon Genesis Evangelion," we decided to go for one a bit closer in style to "The X-Files."

Based on the same manga series that spawned the legendary cyberpunk film "Ghost in the Shell" (and the 2026 series of the same name), "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is a sci-fi police procedural packed with high style, rich political storytelling, and high-genre ideas. It's hard sci-fi in a way that "The X-Files" is decidedly not, but there's still some similarities in the institutional, investigative focus and the serialized yet interconnected structure.

Beyond that, "Stand Alone Complex" is just outstanding from an aesthetic perspective, in a way that gives it an almost unfair advantage over its live-action contemporaries. "Cowboy Bebop" composer Yoko Kanno does similarly stellar work on the soundtrack, and the art direction brings back the strongest elements of the manga and the prior film while also taking that style into the space of early 2000s anime in effective ways. While a different series within the franchise is now getting more attention, it's never a bad time to go back to this too-often-forgotten gem.

Aside from an extremely broad genre tag, Star Wars and "The X-Files" don't seem to share many similar elements. But we can, and will, make the case that "Andor" is an exception — that Tony Gilroy and company's fascination with institutional systems, bureaucracy, government conspiracies, and characters' personal beliefs actually gives the Disney+ series a lot in common with the '90s show. But there's another reason that "Andor" is on this list — it just might be the best science fiction show ever.

If you love the attention to detail in "The X-Files" — the precise writing of small guest characters, the camera work, the blend of genre and theme — you'll have a hard time not loving "Andor." The show's first season is a masterclass in genre, laying out all-time-greats for heists, prison breaks, spycraft, and sci-fi crime stories. "Andor" Season 2 is arguably even better, blowing the doors off with a more ambitious scope and a love story at its center that certainly rivals Scully and Mulder. Plus, if you're someone who doesn't love the filler of longer shows, "Andor" is almost impossibly tight, with every scene loaded with depth, worldbuilding, and riveting character work.

If you're a Star Wars fan, you already know that "Andor" is the greatest thing ever. If you're not, you're surely sick and tired of people telling you it's the greatest thing ever, so you should probably just bite the bullet and watch it in an effort to prove them wrong. Spoiler alert: You're going to love it instead.

Closing out our list is another indisputable classic, and arguably the pinnacle of perhaps the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Where "The Twilight Zone" paved the way for paranormal "monster of the week" episodic storytelling, "TNG" set the standard going into the '90s for what a contemporary sci-fi series with larger narrative ambitions could look like. And like "The X-Files," it holds up remarkably well.

If episodic sci-fi storytelling with deep, evolving characters and show-long mysteries is what you're after, it's hard to recommend a show more than "The Next Generation." And if you're a fan of "The X-Files," there's a good chance you already love it. The best episodes of "The X-Files" may lean more toward the spooky side, but "TNG" has plenty of unsettling material, and both shows play heavily in the philosophical spaces where TV sci-fi has always thrived.

Claiming that "Star Trek" is way better than "X-Files" is, to some degree, a matter of taste. But we'd argue that the larger breadth of sci-fi material covered by the show, and its even greater legacy, more than earns it a spot on this list.