I’ve been an Apple TV+ subscriber since the iPhone maker first launched the streaming service back in 2019. And while you can probably guess what my favorite titles have included — we’re talking everything from Ted Lasso to prestige dramas like Drops of God — one reason I remain a hardcore fan of the streamer is because of its stellar library of original sci-fi dramas. Shows like Severance, For All Mankind, Foundation, Silo, and, most recently, Dark Matter are as good as any series you’ll find on any of the other major streamers like Netflix.
But, more importantly, they also underscore that Apple TV+ is absolutely second to none when it comes to compelling, well-written, and truly great sci-fi content.
We’ve previously raved about Severance, which debuted back in February of 2022, that it’s one of the best Apple TV+ shows, period. As of this writing, the highly-anticipated sophomore season is coming at a still-unspecified date later this year (and will absolutely be one of the streamer’s highlights for the back half of 2024).
Severance, a dystopian workplace drama starring Adam Scott, as well as For All Mankind (an alternative history of the US-Soviet space race), also both have near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores (97% and 93%, respectively). Other Apple sci-fi gems like Silo, Foundation, and Dark Matter also rank similarly high, with Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores all above 80%.
“Dark Matter gets better with every episode,” venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder David Sacks tweeted this week. “It’s the first new show I’ve been excited about in a long time.”
The show airs its penultimate episode on Wednesday, with the ninth and final episode of Season 1 set for June 26. And while I haven’t finished catching up with the show yet, I did read Blake Crouch’s novel that the show is based on — which is to say, I definitely agree with the X user in Sacks’ comments who opined about the show that it’s like the love child of Inception, The Matrix, and It’s A Wonderful Life.
There’s no word yet on a second season for Dark Matter, by the way, and there might not even be one at all. Crouch’s novel doesn’t have a sequel (although he could always write original material for a new season). Dark Matter was also developed as an Apple TV+ limited series, so there is that. But I’m not concerned; new seasons of Silo, Foundation, For All Mankind, and Severance are all in the works and coming soon, so there’s plenty more new top-tier sci-fi content headed to Apple TV+ soon for fans like me.
