The Best Futuristic Movies and TV Shows on Netflix

What it's about: Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way.

Where to Watch: 2 episodes (1%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 8 episodes (6%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (AMC). 139 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A contemporary British re-working of The Twilight Zone with stories that tap into the collective unease about our modern world.Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm - a plasma screen; a monitor; a smartphone - a black mirror of our 21st Century existence.

Where to Watch: 22 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every needs. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Columbus has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee doesn't have fears. If he did, he'd kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they're about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The adventures of a late-20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the retro-futuristic 31st century.

Where to Watch: 131 episodes (94%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Hulu). 11 episodes (8%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Syfy & Comedy Central). 139 episodes (99%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Six months after the events depicted in The Matrix, Neo has proved to be a good omen for the free humans, as more and more humans are being freed from the matrix and brought to Zion, the one and only stronghold of the Resistance. Neo himself has discovered his superpowers including super speed, ability to see the codes of the things inside the matrix and a certain degree of pre-cognition. But a nasty piece of news hits the human resistance: 250,000 machine sentinels are digging to Zion and would reach them in 72 hours. As Zion prepares for the ultimate war, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity are advised by the Oracle to find the Keymaker who would help them reach the Source. Meanwhile Neo's recurrent dreams depicting Trinity's death have got him worried and as if it was not enough, Agent Smith has somehow escaped deletion, has become more powerful than before and has fixed Neo as his next target.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: After 250 years on ice, a prisoner returns to life in a new body with one chance to win his freedom: by solving a mind-bending murder.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Based on the award winning novel by David Mitchell. Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: In a land controlled by feudal barons, a great warrior and a young boy embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.A genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.

Where to Watch: 32 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 7 episodes (22%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (AMC). 32 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The second of two theatrically released follow-ups to the Neon Genesis Evangelion series. Comprising of two alternate episodes which were first intended to take the place of episodes 25 and 26, this finale answers many of the questions surrounding the series, while also opening up some new possibilities.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A young Healer armed with an unpredictable magic guides a runaway Elf in her perilous quest to save the peoples of the Four Lands from an age-old Demon scourge.

Where to Watch: 20 episodes (95%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 19 episodes (90%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video & 6 others).

What it's about: After being infected in the wake of a violent pandemic and with only 48 hours to live, a father struggles to find a new home for his baby daughter.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy. Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings—some good, some bad—and he will rely on his heart and soul to find his way in the world and become his own man. But there's one thing that makes Chappie different from any one else: he is a robot.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Living his best life in post-apocalyptic LA, a slacker strives to find the girl of his dreams while outwitting mindless ghouls and cliquish gangs.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: An idyllic sci-fi future has one major drawback: All citizens get a chance of being 'renewed' in a Civic Ceremony at their 30th birthday, unless they run and escape before their time comes.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: After a brutal virus wipes out most of the population, two young siblings embark on a perilous search for safety. A Scandinavian thriller series.

Where to Watch: 14 episodes (88%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: When Emery was 6 years old, an alien spacecraft crash-landed in her small town. Whether they came in peace or with more sinister intentions didn't matter: a fierce battle erupted as humans fought for control over their new rivals, an alien species called the Atrians. In the midst of the conflict, Roman, a 6-year-old Atrian boy, found his way to a shed behind Emery's house, where she temporarily protected him from harm, bringing him food, comfort - and friendship. Ten years later, the Atrians have been acclimated to life on Earth, but they are interned in a heavily-guarded camp known as the Sector to keep them separate from humans. Now, for the first time, a group of Atrian teens will enroll in a suburban human high school, with the goal of testing the feasibility of human/alien integration. Emery and Roman find each other again in a school and a society that distrusts everything about the Atrians. While the world around them rages with anger and prejudice, their bond becomes increasingly strong and increasingly dangerous.

Where to Watch: 13 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 13 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: Three years after the zombie virus has gutted the country, a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood.

Where to Watch: 69 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 68 episodes (99%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Vanessa Helsing, the daughter of famous vampire hunter and Dracula nemesis Abraham Van Helsing is resurrected five years in the future to find out that vampires have taken over the world and that she possesses unique power over them. She is humanity’s last hope to lead an offensive to take back what has been lost.

Where to Watch: 39 episodes (78%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 11 episodes (22%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Syfy). 50 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: Five thought-provoking shorts imagine what Hong Kong will be like ten years from now. In Extras, two genial low-level gangsters are hired to stage an attack, but they’re mere sacrificial lambs in a political conspiracy. Rebels strive to preserve destroyed homes and objects as specimens in the mesmerizing Season of the End. In Dialect, a taxi driver struggles to adjust after Putonghua displaces Cantonese as Hong Kong’s only official language. Following the death of a leading independence activist, an act of self-immolation outside the British consulate triggers questions and protests in the searing yet moving Self-Immolator. In Local Egg, a grocery shop owner worries about his son’s youth guard activities and where to buy eggs after Hong Kong’s last chicken farm closes down.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & YouTube).

What it's about: Jericho is an American action/drama series that centers on the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on 23 major cities in the contiguous United States.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (10%) are available to watch free online (CBS). 29 episodes (97%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & CBS All Access). 29 episodes (97%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A young man raised by scientists on Mars returns to Earth to find his father.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Jacq Vaucan, an insurance agent of ROC robotics corporation, routinely investigates the case of manipulating a robot. What he discovers will have profound consequences for the future of humanity.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Google Play & FandangoNOW).

What it's about: She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny. This is a beginning of the new story of the magical witch girls.

Where to Watch: 12 episodes (92%) are available to watch free online (Crunchyroll). 12 episodes (92%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Hulu).

What it's about: Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: After winning his first competition, Takumi focuses his attention on drift racing, a sport he has unknowingly perfected while delivering tofu in his father's Toyota AE86.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: In the near future, creatures from ancient Aboriginal mythology endowed with extraordinary physical traits have emerged and must coexist with humans. Known as 'Hairypeople' they battle for survival in a world that wants to exploit and destroy them. One young man – The Cleverman – struggles with his own power and the responsibility to unite this divided world, but he must first overcome a deep estrangement from his older brother.

Where to Watch: 12 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 12 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: After a terrible virus ravages human civilization, Ann finds herself living alone in a forest, foraging for supplies, and accompanied only by a radio that broadcasts a single transmission in French. Few animals even remain; the only survivors seem to be the roving hordes of infected creatures with a taste for human flesh. One fateful day, Ann crosses paths with two more survivors, Chris and Olivia. But after surviving on her own for so long, she struggles to relate to them and and their desire to settle down and start a new community.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A futuristic love story set in a world where emotions have been eradicated.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: An alien race called Gauna has destroyed Earth. leaving humanity struggling to survive aboard the spaceship Sidonia. Even though it’s been a century since the last encounter with the Gauna, military service is mandatory. For Nagate Tanikaze, whose grandfather secretly hid him in the forgotten bowels of Sidonia, it’s a strange new world as he’s forced to come to the surface. Yet his recruitment comes just in time, for the Gauna have suddenly reappeared.

Where to Watch: 24 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: With the world under attack by deadly creatures who hunt by sound, a teen and her family seek refuge outside the city and encounter a mysterious cult.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: In the early 2050s, unknown life forms called “Oracle cells” begin their uncontrolled consumption of all life on Earth. Their ravenous appetite and remarkable adaptability earn them first dread, then awe, and finally the name “aragami”. In the face of an enemy completely immune to conventional weapons, urban civilization collapses, and each day humanity is driven further and further toward extinction. One single ray of hope remains for humanity. Following the development of “God Arcs”—living weapons which incorporate Oracle cells—their wielders are organized into an elite force.

Where to Watch: 13 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Crunchyroll). 13 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Hulu).

What it's about: The year 2050 the planet has become overpopulated, to help control population the government develops a race. The Death Race. Annually competitors race across the country scoring points for killing people with their vehicles.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: As a young scientist searches for a way to save a dying Earth, she finds a connection with a man who's racing to catch the last shuttle off the planet.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).