The most popular show on Netflix at the moment, 3 Body Problem, has all the elements of a great show: alien invasion, alternate dimensions and amazing thrills.
The live-action adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s Hugo Award-winning novel Three-Body Problem, this show is a sprawling sci-fi epic that takes place across 450 years.
There’s a timeline set in present day England, one in China amidst the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and a farway planet in an alternate dimension. The eight-episode series, helmed by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B Weiss, has become a huge hit amongst fans of the genre.
While you can delve into the remaining two books in Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy as you wait for future seasons to be released, you can also cue up these titles to fill the 3 Body Problem-shaped hole in your watchlist…
Sci-Fi TV Shows Like Netflix’s 3 Body Problem
The Silent Sea (2021)
This K-drama, starring Gong Yoo and Bae Doona, is an eight-episode series that follows a crew’s mission to retrieve samples from a lunar research base where all 117 personnel were killed mysteriously.
Watch it here
Bodies (2023)
This sci-fi crime drama is set across different eras and requires your rapt attention. The show is about a murder investigation. But unlike regular murder investigation, this one involves the same murder being investigated by four different detectives in four different time periods.
Watch it here
Foundation (2021)
Like 3 Body Problem, this one is based on a sci-fi classic and spans multiple generations. Adapted loosely from Isaac Asimov’s eponymous series, the show follows a group of humans scattered on planets across the galaxy under the rule of the Galactic Empire.
Watch it here
Colony (2016)
This one imagines what it would be like if our planet was invaded by a hostile alien life force and all of the humanity was enslaved by them. There are some who fall in line with the new order and then, there are the rebels who want to take down the invading forces.
Watch it here
The Leftovers (2014)
Based on Tom Perotta’s novel of the same name, the show is set three years after the ‘Sudden Departure’, a global event that resulted in 2% of the world’s population disappearing.
Watch it here
The Lazarus Project (2022)
In this time loop thriller, George finds himself living the same day over and over again. A chance encounter with a stranger makes him realise that space and time might not be as linear as he previously believed.
Watch it here
Alice in Borderland (2020)
The thought of waking up one day and finding yourself stranded in the landscape of your favourite video game is enough to give anyone nightmares. This Japanese sci-fi show is based on the same nightmarish scenario. Avid gamer Arisu finds himself in a strange abandoned version of Tokyo where he must compete in a series of dangerous games to survive.
Watch it here
- Quick links
- Netflix
- 3 Body Problem
- sci-fi shows
- watchlist
