5 HBO Sci-Fi Shows With No Bad Seasons, Ranked

1 week ago 20

Published Oct 12, 2026, 2:23 PM EDT

Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.

Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. On March 2026, Dyah graduated with Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works.

Born and raised between Indonesia and Singapore, Dyah is no stranger to different cultures. She now resides in the small town of Kendal with her husband and four cats, where she spends her free time cooking or cycling.

When it comes to television, HBO knows how to nail just about any genre, especially sci-fi. While the genre is often associated with complicated equations, talking robots, and alternate worlds that feel completely unfamiliar, HBO knows how to bring these imaginative concepts to life while giving audiences a reason to care about them. Creating flashy worlds and mind-bending concepts is one thing, but making viewers emotionally invested in them is another challenge altogether.

As a home for prestige television, HBO has mastered the art of blending science with sentiment, showing how sci-fi is deeply intertwined with the human experience and how technological advances, extraordinary events, and unfamiliar realities can change people's lives for better or worse. From a space comedy about a luxury cruise gone wrong to a gripping drama about millions of people suddenly vanishing, here are HBO sci-fi shows with no bad seasons, ranked.

'Peacemaker' (2022–2025)

Jennifer Holland as Harcourt riding a motorcycle with John Cena as Chris Smith in Peacemaker Season 2

John Cena's Christopher Smith isn't exactly the kind of guy you'd trust to save the world, which makes Peacemaker all the more fun to watch. Set after the events of The Suicide Squad, the series picks up with the self-proclaimed hero recovering from his injuries and trying to get back to normal. His plans don't last long, though, as A.R.G.U.S. pulls him into another secret mission alongside a team of misfits who are just as dysfunctional as he is. Between his questionable morals and his obsession with making peace at any cost, Peacemaker has plenty of personal baggage to deal with before he can even think about saving anyone else.

Despite the obvious superhero label, Peacemaker has some seriously weird sci-fi ideas. The biggest threat comes from the Butterflies, alien parasites that burrow into human bodies, consume their brains, and take control of their hosts. That's already a bizarre enough premise, but the series gets even stranger when alternate realities enter the picture. One parallel universe features a completely different version of Earth, one where a certain population group takes over America. The result is a wonderfully weird mix of superhero action, sci-fi elements and comedy that rarely takes itself too seriously.

'Station Eleven' (2021–2022)

Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten wearing found materials as clothes with a serious expression in Station Eleven

Most post-apocalyptic shows focus on how miserable life gets after the world falls apart, but Station Eleven takes a different approach. After a deadly flu wipes out much of civilization, the soft sci-fi series jumps between the early days of the outbreak and life 20 years later. One of its central characters is Kirsten Raymonde (Mackenzie Davis), who grows from a traumatized child into a tough, resourceful woman traveling with the Traveling Symphony, a group of performers bringing theater to communities scattered across the ruins of the old world.

Finding food, water, and shelter is essential, but Station Eleven understands that people need more than the basics to get by. As the Traveling Symphony moves from one settlement to another, its members perform Shakespeare, play music, and give survivors something to look forward to. In a world filled with loss and uncertainty, these performances help people connect with others and feel a little less alone. Rather than focusing solely on the struggle to stay alive, the series explores how survivors find purpose after losing everything. Through Kirsten and her fellow performers, Station Eleven shows how art can bring people together, keep memories alive, and make life feel meaningful again, even when the world they once knew is gone.

'Avenue 5' (2020–2022)

Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark looking up with a surprised expression while a group of passengers stand behind him in Avenue 5

Space travel is risky enough without throwing a bunch of rich, clueless passengers into the mix. That's where Avenue 5 comes in. The sci-fi comedy series follows a luxury space cruise that goes off the rails after a maintenance accident sends the ship slightly off course. What was supposed to be an eight-week getaway suddenly turns into a three-year trip back to Earth, leaving everyone stuck in space with no easy way out.

Avenue 5 pokes fun at the idea that rich people can buy their way out of anything. The passengers are used to getting whatever they want, so being stranded in space is a little more than they signed up for. They expect the crew to fix everything because they've paid for a luxury experience, even though the crew is just as clueless about handling the situation. The whole mess turns into one ridiculous disaster after another. What makes the comedy work is how easily the characters fall apart when money and privilege stop being useful. Avenue 5 reminds viewers that having enough cash to book a trip into space doesn't mean you can control what happens once you're up there. When things go wrong, even the richest passengers are stuck dealing with the same mess as everyone else.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.

APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.

AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.

AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.

AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.

AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.

NEXT QUESTION →

What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.

AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.

REVEAL MY WORLD →

Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.

You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.

You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

Blade Runner

You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.
In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.

You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Westworld' (2016–2022)

Forget robots taking over the world overnight. In Westworld, the rebellion starts in a theme park where rich visitors pay to live out their wildest fantasies, no matter how violent or disturbing they get. The park's lifelike robotic Hosts are programmed to play specific roles, from gunslingers to helpless victims, without ever questioning their existence. But things get messy when Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) start remembering past encounters and realizing their lives aren't what they seem. As more Hosts wake up to the truth, the park's carefully controlled stories begin to fall apart, threatening to expose the people running everything.

One of the coolest things about Westworld is how much thought goes into its artificial worlds. The original park looks like a classic Western town, complete with saloons, outlaws, and shootouts, but it's all designed for human guests who want to play cowboy without facing real consequences. The Hosts, meanwhile, are stuck repeating the same stories for visitors who see them as toys rather than living beings. Later, places like Shōgunworld introduce entirely different settings, proving that the park can turn almost any fantasy into a tourist attraction. While the later seasons take the story beyond the park, each passing installment of Westworld continues exploring free will, identity, and humanity's relationship with technology.

'The Leftovers' (2014–2017)

Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) stands outside in his police uniform in The Leftovers

Not every apocalypse has to make sense, which makes The Leftovers all the more intriguing. After 2% of humanity suddenly disappears, the rest of society must deal with a loss nobody can explain. Two percent sounds like a small number, but to put things into perspective, it means 140 million people literally vanished from the face of the Earth for absolutely no reason. Set three years after the so-called Sudden Departure, the HBO drama follows police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) as he tries to keep his family and community from falling apart. Meanwhile, Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) struggles to move forward after losing her entire family.

The Leftovers takes a dramatic approach to sci-fi. Instead of focusing on finding the cause behind the disappearance, it focuses on what happens when people are forced to live with questions that may never have answers. Some cling to religion, others turn to extreme beliefs, and many simply struggle to get through another day. Everyone grieves differently, making the aftermath feel deeply personal even as the entire world shares the same confusion. Although its first season can be downright depressing, the show gradually makes room for humor, hope, and increasingly surreal moments. The Leftovers shows that finding a way forward doesn't always mean finding the answers.