7 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows on HBO Max Right Now (Nov 2025)

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With older shows resurfacing and exciting new entries emerging regularly, HBO has become known as a home for some of today’s most compelling speculative fiction. For those seeking new or new-to-you shows to binge, we’ve compiled a list of the best sci-fi streaming on the platform right now. 

7) Dune: Prophecy

Set thousands of years before the rise of House Atreides, Dune: Prophecy explores the mythic genesis of the Bene Gesserit, a secretive sisterhood with powerful mental and physical abilities that make them key players in the galactic political landscape. Starring Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, the show delves into the origins of the breeding programs and religious engineering that would one day birth Paul Atreides, the Messiah figure of the original Dune. Expanding Frank Herbert’s lore with a darker, more feminist tone, the series is perfect for fans of Dune or prestige sci-fi in general. With a new season currently in production at HBO and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Three on the horizon, now is the perfect time to catch up.

6) Scavenger’s Reign

Beginning as an Adult Swim short in 2016, the visually stunning animated sci-fi series, Scavenger’s Reign, feels a little bit like a James Cameron concept executed by Studio Ghibli. Following the surviving crew of the Demeter 227 spacecraft, the show’s 12 episodes explore a beautiful but deadly alien planet teeming with bizarre plant-animal hybrids. While it was cancelled after Season 1, it’s still definitely worth a weekend binge. The series currently holds a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising its nuanced storytelling and well-written characters, even comparing it to some of the best sci-fi shows of the century, including The Expanse, Battlestar Galactica, and Arcane. 

5) Avenue 5

HBO original Avenue 5 is an absolutely hilarious disaster satire from Armando Iannucci, the brain behind the political comedy Veep and The Thick of It. Hugh Laurie plays Ryan Clark, the ship’s baffled captain attempting to shepherd a luxury space cruise ship after it veers wildly off-course, turning an eight-week voyage into an eight-year ordeal. The ensemble cast includes Josh Gad as a billionaire, Zach Woods as the ship’s customer service rep, and Rebecca Front as a passenger. The writing pokes fun at late-stage capitalism, influencers, and even NASA-era bureaucracy. For fans of dark comedies in the vein of Wrecked or The Last Man on Earth, Avenue 5 is the perfect sci-fi farce to lampoon the nonsense of our current political climate.

4) Dream Raider

If you’re looking for something to satisfy your noir needs while also being an excellent mind-invasion thriller, the Taiwanese hidden gem Dream Raider is for you. HBO Asia’s first venture into the genre, the show trails detective Li Xiao (Weber Yang) and neuroscientist Dr. Miaoshan (Ellen Wu), who team up to infiltrate dreams and uncover the truth behind some increasingly strange cases. Capturing a gritty cyberpunk aesthetic and taking narrative cues from Inception and Ghost in the Shell, the show is both an exciting crime drama and surrealist science fiction exploit that’s worth turning on the subtitles for. While only one season has been released, it has been well-received in Asia and is slowly amassing an American following online. HBO hasn’t officially renewed or canceled it, so its future is in limbo, but the current eight-episode run is more than enough to get sucked into. 

3) The Leftovers

Since its finale in 2017, The Leftovers has remained one of HBO’s most interesting and underrated sci-fi meets supernatural shows. The mystery box concept begins with the question: What if 2% of the population just vanished? Adapted by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta from Perrotta’s novel, the show hooks you right from the start and pulls you along as it falls further into its biblical apocalypse rabbit hole. With phenomenal performances from Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, and Regina King, the series confronts some of humanity’s toughest questions with a poetic approach akin to the best episodes of Black Mirror. Unlike Lindelof’s previous work (see: Lost), The Leftovers actually manages to pull off its heady, esoteric ending. Yet, seven years later, it remains a sci-fi masterpiece that is largely slept on. 

2) Falling Skies

Before The Last of Us or The 100, there was Falling Skies, TNT’s post-apocalyptic alien invasion series produced by Steven Spielberg. Starring Noah Wyle as a history professor who is forced to become a resistance fighter, the show follows a ragtag militia of survivors across five seasons as they battle alien overlords and adapt to a new world. The series originally aired from 2011 to 2015, and its full run is now streaming in HD for the first time in years on HBO Max. It even topped the streaming charts earlier this year, with the surge in views likely related to the success of HBO’s medical drama The Pitt, which also stars Wyle. With a full five-season run, viewers can rest easy knowing their binge will be rewarded with a satisfying conclusion.

1) Station Eleven

An ode to art, memory, and the other things that make us human, HBO’s most underrated sci-fi series is perhaps Station Eleven. Adapted from Emily St. John Mandel’s acclaimed novel, the limited series unfolds as an interconnected, non-linear narrative about a traveling Shakespeare performance troupe in a world ravaged by a flu pandemic. Featuring breakout performances from Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, and Matilda Lawler, as well as direction from Atlanta alum Hiro Murai, the show received near-universal praise from critics and viewers for its optimistic take on the post-pandemic world. Its exceptional writing and execution earned Station Eleven a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a growing cult following. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s still the moment’s must-watch sci-fi series on HBO Max.

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