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Published Oct 18, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT
Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.
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Firefly is still one of the best sci-fi TV shows of all time, and while it hasn’t really been replaced after all these years, there are some near-perfect shows that got close to taking its place. The sci-fi genre has delivered some of the best TV shows of all time, with shows that explore other planets, parts of space, alternate futures, and more. Shows like Doctor Who, The X-Files, Black Mirror, and Battlestar Galactica are among the best, and joining them is Firefly.
Created by Joss Whedon, Firefly aired on Fox in 2002, but it had an unfair fate. Firefly was canceled after only 11 of its 14 produced episodes aired, becoming one of the best TV shows that were canceled too soon. Firefly takes viewers into a distant future where the US and China, the two surviving powers, form the Alliance, the central federal government. The disagreements over the Alliance’s efforts to rule the planets led to a civil war, where, unfortunately, the Alliance won.
Firefly takes place after the war and follows Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), who fought in the war alongside his second-in-command, Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres), and now leads the crew of his spaceship, Serenity. Together, they take on different jobs across space to survive while running away from the Alliance. Firefly left its mark on the sci-fi genre, and other great shows have become great replacements for it, for different reasons.
Farscape (1999-2003)
Farscape is a sci-fi TV series created by Rockne S. O’Bannon, and which aired from 1999 to 2003 for four seasons. Farscape follows a group of alien outcasts and political rebels on board Moya, a biomechanical spaceship that escaped from prison. John Crichton (Ben Browder), an American astronaut, takes refuge on Moya after accidentally flying into a wormhole, with former Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) also joining.
Together, they run away from the Peacekeepers, a corrupt militaristic organization, while also facing other threats. Although Farscape was planned for a five-season run, it was canceled after four seasons, leaving it on a cliffhanger – however, the miniseries (with just two episodes) Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars gave full closure to the show.
Resident Alien (2021-2025)
Resident Alien is a sci-fi comedy-drama TV series based on Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s comic book of the same name. Resident Alien follows an alien (played by Alan Tudyk) who crash-lands in a small Colorado town after being sent to destroy the human race. The alien kills Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle and assumes his identity, and with time, he develops compassion for humanity and faces a moral dilemma: continue with his mission or defend humanity.
Resident Alien aired on Syfy from 2021 to 2025 for four seasons, and it was a critical success. Now, while Resident Alien and Firefly don’t have much in common in terms of story, with their biggest similarity being their links to outer space, it stars Alan Tudyk, who played the beloved Hoban Washburne in Firefly.
Con Man (2015-2017)
Con Man isn’t a sci-fi TV show, but what makes it a contender for a Firefly replacement is its cast. Con Man is a comedy web series created by Alan Tudyk that initially aired on Vimeo and Comic-Con HQ before being acquired by Syfy. Con Man, then, follows Wray Nerely (Tudyk), a struggling actor best known for starring in the sci-fi show Spectrum. His friend and co-star, Jack Moore (Nathan Fillion), went on to become a huge star, while Wray now mostly appears at conventions and pop culture events.
Con Man reunites most of the cast of Firefly, who either play fictional versions of themselves or other characters. Con Man makes fun of what happened to Firefly with its early cancellation and the impact it had on the careers of its main cast, while also making fun of conventions, fandoms, and pop culture. It’s not a show set in space, but it’s a different look at the cast of Firefly.
Killjoys (2015-2019)
Killjoys is a space adventure drama TV show created by Michelle Lovretta. Killjoys follows Dutch (Hannah John-Kramer), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore), and D’avin (Luke Macfarlane), bounty hunters working for the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition. The three take on warrants to apprehend people or property, but they swear to remain neutral and pledge no alliance to any government or system. However, they face conspiracies and more that force them out of that neutral stance.
Killjoys aired on CTV Sci-Fi (then known as Space) for five seasons, and it was a consistent critical success from beginning to end.
Killjoys has the same space adventure vibe as Firefly, with a close team that goes on different missions across space that test their beliefs and more.
Dark Matter (2015-2017)
Dark Matter is a sci-fi TV show based on the comic book series of the same name by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Dark Matter follows a group of people in stasis pods who awaken aboard the spaceship Raza. None of them remember who they are or what they did before awakening, so they set out to uncover their identities and what led them to where they now are.
Dark Matter ran for three seasons, but like Firefly, it was canceled too soon. Also like Whedon’s show, Dark Matter presents a group of different personalities with a common mission traveling across space, with an underdog survival vibe.
Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
Cowboy Bebop is a neo-noir space Western anime TV show and one of the best animated TV shows of all time. Cowboy Bebop takes viewers to the year 2071 to meet a ragtag group of bounty hunters formed by exiled former hitman Spike Spiegel, former ISSP officer Jet Black, amnesiac con artist Faye Valentine, eccentric child Edard Wong, and genetically engineered dog Ein. Together, they go after criminals and take the money, but they also find themselves running away from their traumatic pasts.
Cowboy Bebop was a critical success and became one of the most influential anime shows of all time. It’s easy to see the similarities between Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, with both following groups running away from their pasts and facing different threats across space.
The Mandalorian (2019-2023)
The Mandalorian is a space Western TV show and part of the Star Wars franchise, being set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The Mandalorian follows Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), a Mandalorian bounty hunter who is hired by Imperial remnant forces to retrieve the child Grogu. However, Djarin ends up bonding with the child and protecting him, and so he changes his mission to reunite him with his kind.
The Mandalorian aired on Disney+ from 2019 to 2023 for three seasons, and became one of the franchise’s and platform’s biggest hits. The Mandalorian stays true to the lore of Star Wars while also adding to it, and it’s widely regarded as the best Star Wars live-action TV show to date.
The Expanse (2015-2022)
The Expanse is a sci-fi TV show based on James S. A. Corey’s novel series of the same name. The Expanse takes the audience into a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System, and the three largest powers are the United Nations of Earth and Luna, the Martian Congressional Republic on Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance. The Expanse follows a group of survivors who find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that threatens the system’s peace, while also dealing with new alien technology.
The Expanse ran for six seasons and became one of the best sci-fi TV shows of all time, thus being a must-watch for fans of the genre. Like Firefly, The Expanse follows a diverse crew as they do their best to survive and fight for what’s right, but it’s a lot darker and more complex than Joss Whedon’s cult classic.
Release Date 2015 - 2022-00-00
Showrunner Naren Shankar, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
Directors Breck Eisner, Jeff Woolnough, David Grossman, Kenneth Fink, Rob Lieberman, Terry McDonough, Thor Freudenthal, Bill Johnson, David Petrarca, Jennifer Phang, Mikael Salomon, Sarah Harding, Marisol Adler, Anya Adams, Nick Gomez, Simon Cellan Jones
Writers Georgia Lee, Robin Veith, Hallie Lambert, Matthew Rasmussen, Ty Franck, Naren Shankar, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Daniel Abraham, Dan Nowak
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Dominique Tipper
Naomi Nagata
English (US) ·