Published Oct 27, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers.
Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
One of the best anthology shows on Netflix already has 45 standalone episodes, and every one of them delivers a masterclass in science fiction storytelling. Some of the best shows on Netflix fall under the purview of science fiction, like Stranger Things, Lost, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and more. Netflix also has a handful of great anthology shows, with the most notable being the acclaimed sci-fi series Black Mirror.
As popular as Black Mirror is, it's actually not the best sci-fi anthology on Netflix, nor is it the best anthology show on the streaming service in general. Instead, that honor belongs to Netflix's Love, Death, + Robots, a show that has 45 bite-sized episodes across four volumes. Some of the best episodes of Love, Death, + Robots rival and even surpass Black Mirror, making it the better anthology series.
Love, Death, + Robots Is Filled With Great Sci-Fi Stories
Though its episodes average about 15 minutes in length, Love, Death, + Robots has produced some of the most compelling science fiction stories of the 2020s so far. The show mainly adapts existing sci-fi works by authors like Claudine Griggs and Marc Laidlaw, but that's not a mark against its creativity and originality. In fact, Love, Death, + Robots actually deserves points for adapting existing stories, as many of those stories were previously considered too high-concept and experimental to be adapted at all. It also has a handful of original stories that are just as good if not better than established ones.
Some of the best episodes of Love, Death, + Robots can do in less than 30 minutes what full seasons of sci-fi shows can't accomplish in eight hours. Take, for example, "Bad Traveling," a story that has a compelling mystery, a deeply philosophical moral dilemma, great characters, and gorgeous animation. Most shows would be lucky to do one thing as well as "Bad Traveling" does, but to Love, Death, + Robots, it's just one of many episodes.
Almost every aspect of Love, Death, + Robots is praiseworthy. Every episode, thanks to its 15 minute time constraint, is razor-sharp and tells an incredibly efficient story. Characters and worlds are introduced, viewers grow to empathize and identify with them, and the story is over all in under half an hour. The series also combines various different visual styles and mediums like live-action, 2D and 3D animation, and more to be a visual marvel. Love, Death, + Robots constantly pushes the boundaries of what a sci-fi anthology can be.
Love, Death, + Robots Explores Every Part Of Science Fiction, Not Just Dystopias
One of the key advantages Love, Death, + Robots has over a show like Black Mirror is its range. Black Mirror obviously varies quite a bit between episodes, but all of those episodes have some commonalities. They're all dystopian in nature, bleak in tone, and almost always profess some kind of warning about the powers of technology. It's such a through line that one of the best Black Mirror episodes, "San Junipero," became so acclaimed because it dared to show a hopeful and optimistic look at the future, in stark contrast to the rest of the series.
Love, Death, + Robots isn't constrained by tone, setting, or thematic content the way Black Mirror is. It obviously has its fair share of warnings about the future and advancements in technology, but it goes so much further than stopping at "humanity has to be careful with technology." Some episodes of Love, Death, + Robots are funny, some dive into debates about religion and spirituality, and some are simply proofs of concept for a cool idea. The anthology explores every nook and cranny of what sci-fi has to offer as a genre, whereas Black Mirror almost always stops at cautionary tales.
Love, Death, + Robots also isn't constrained by focusing solely on technology or society. The sheer breadth of ideas in this show is staggering. One episode will be about a cat using robots to destroy humanity, the next will be about an alien invasion, and another altogether will be about time loops, the supernatural, or anything else its creators can think up. It's not even constrained by telling narrative stories; there's an episode that's just an animated music video of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Love, Death, + Robots is much more than any anthology series you've ever seen before.
Release Date 2019 - 2025-00-00
Network Netflix
Directors Víctor Maldonado, Patrick Osborne, Robert Valley, Alfredo Torres Martínez, Jerome Chen, Emily Dean, Rémi Kozyra, Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Alberto Mielgo, Maxime Luère, Andy Lyon, Robert Bisi, Dave Wilson, David Nicolas, Simon Otto, Damian Nenow, Laurent Nicolas, Kevin Van Der Meiren, Vitaliy Shushko, Owen Sullivan, István Zorkóczy, Javier Recio Gracia, Oliver Thomas
Writers Tim Miller, Philip Gelatt
English (US) ·