Apple TV’s 3-Part Epic Space Opera Is The Babylon 5 Replacement You’ve Been Searching For

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Susan, Michael, and Jeffrey in Babylon 5

Published Feb 20, 2026, 3:30 PM EST

Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones.

You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."

Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant.

Apple TV's Foundation is an excellent replacement for Babylon 5, which has aged, but is still an excellent show. Foundation takes place across several timelines, focusing on a mathematician who predicts the fall of a galactic empire and is determined to preserve the knowledge of humankind. Apple TV is known for great sci-fi, but Foundation is Apple TV's most ambitious sci-fi TV show yet.

The series is based on the stories by Isaac Asimov, but Foundation proves one thing about book adaptations, and that is that they are often best when capturing the spirit of the story, rather than being an exact copy. While Babylon 5 was an original story, the series was conceived as "a novel for television," and the two shows have a lot in common.

Apple TV's Foundation Is The Perfect Babylon 5 Replacement

Foundation and Babylon 5 focus on the slow collapse of a dominant order, while individuals try to shape what will come next. Destiny is central to both stories, as is the question of what makes a good leader and partnership, and both shows feature a complex antagonist that is easy to underestimate, with Foundation's The Mule and Babylon 5's Mr. Morden.

While Babylon 5 is a perfect sci-fi show from start to finish and was revolutionary at the time for its meticulously planned plot, its special effects look considerably dated now. Foundation offers the perfect replacement, as it is also an ambitious space opera spanning centuries and multiple worlds, and conveys many of the same themes but with updated visual effects.

Foundation Continues To Be One Of The Most Ambitious Sci-Fi Shows On TV

Foundation is defined by its ambition, as the source material was once thought to be unadaptable due to its complexity. Foundation perfectly executes the core themes and tones of the novels while emphasizing the most interesting characters. It is likely to remain one of the most ambitious sci-fi TV shows of all time for its sheer scale.

Foundation is not afraid to take risks and uses interesting narrative techniques to depict a subject. By using genetically identical clones to represent the Empire, the show provides a perfect visual reference for a long reign of authoritarian rulers. That said, while Foundation takes place on an epic scale, the show keeps returning to individual conflicts, just as Babylon 5 does.

Why Fans Of Babylon 5 Should Watch Foundation

Synnøve Karlsen in Apple TV's Foundation

Babylon 5 is a far-reaching story, but it keeps returning to its characters, whose conflicts often have an operatic feel, like the rivalry between Londo Mollari and G'Kar, which develops into something more nuanced and eventually heartbreaking. This slow-burning drama defines Babylon 5, and viewers used to being patient as the story unfolds may love Foundation as it uses a similar style.

Babylon 5 and Foundation's Rotten Tomatoes Ratings
Title	Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating	Rotten Tomatoes Audience Rating
Babylon 5	-	70%
Foundation	87%	73%

Both shows look into the future and explore the idea of control, with Babylon 5 presenting a "chosen one" storyline through a prophecy, and Foundation using mathematics to predict and evade catastrophe. Foundation rewrote the rules of science fiction and, at times, feels like a modern spiritual successor to Babylon 5, despite Foundation's source material being written earlier.