Best tv shows like Defiance
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Defiance is an American science fiction television show that takes place in the future on a radically transformed Earth containing new species arriving from space. In the show, Joshua Nolan works as the lawman for the town of Defiance, a community where humans and intelligent extraterrestrial species coexist. The show follows Nolan, his adopted alien daughter Irisa, and the town's new mayor Amanda Rosewater.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, stylized, serious, tense, apocalyptic, futuristic, interesting, masterpiece
Best tv shows and movies like Defiance (2013):
Similar in 81%
Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007)
Plot Summary:
A two-hour Battlestar Galactica special that tells the story of the Battlestar Pegasus several months prior to it finding the Galactica.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, tense, serious, stylized, independent film, atmospheric, suspenseful, philosophical, thought provoking
Similar in 88%
Andromeda (2000)
Plot Summary:
Andromeda is a Canadian/American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt. The series premiered on October 2, 2000 and ended on May 13, 2005. Andromeda was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and produced by Tribune Entertainment and Fireworks Entertainment. It was distributed by Global TV in Canada and syndicated in the United States on WGN and other channels. It was picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S. halfway through season four. Andromeda is one of two TV series based upon concepts Roddenberry had created as early as the 1960s and 1970s. The name Dylan Hunt had also been used for the hero of two TV movie pilots Roddenberry had produced in the mid-1970s, Genesis II and Planet Earth, which had a similar premise. The other series posthumously created from Roddenberry's notes is Earth: Final Conflict.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, atmospheric, suspenseful, apocalyptic, funny, retro, uplifting, serious, telenovela
Similar in 80%
Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy (2008)
Plot Summary:
The 10 webisodes, entitled "The Face of the Enemy," tell a story that takes place between seasons 4.0 and 4.5 of Battlestar and follow Lt. Gaeta when he is sent off in a Raptor with a handful of strangers and one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological human-vs.-Cylon struggle is played out in the restrictive confines of a Raptor as everyone is a suspect, and paranoia sets in among the group.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Short, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 3 min
Plot tags: futuristic, serious, suspenseful, tense, stylized
Similar in 90%
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004)
Plot Summary:
Sixty days on and Rygel is retrieving pieces of John and Aeryn from the sea bed. The Diagnosan re-crystalises them and they start getting to know the local species. Meanwhile, Scorpius and Sikozu are aboard a Peacekeeper Command Carrier on a recon mission. They attack a Scarren ship, which provokes the Scarrens into declaring war on The Peacekeepers.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 182 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, witty, talky, serious, suspenseful, exciting, stylized, intense, epic
Similar in 83%
V (1984)
Plot Summary:
Once again, Earth is the battleground. But now the aliens whose human guise hides their true reptilian natures are wiser. They believe the secret to their survival on Earth lies in the DNA of the newly born half-human, half-spaceling Starchild. But that's something the world's Resistance Fighters cannot allow.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, apocalyptic, atmospheric, epic, saga, spooky, serious, suspenseful, stylized, feel good
Similar in 86%
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Plot Summary:
Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise there was Discovery. Star Trek, one of the most iconic and influential global television franchises, returns 50 years after it first premiered featuring a new ship, new characters and new missions, while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 131000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, tense, breathtaking, epic, dystopian
Similar in 90%
Pandora (2019)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2199, a young woman who has lost everything finds a new life at Earth's Space Training Academy where she learns to defend the galaxy from intergalactic threats.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: futuristic, atmospheric, captivating, colorful, colourful
Similar in 82%
Crusade (1999)
Plot Summary:
Crusade is an American spin-off TV show from J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Its plot is set in AD 2267, five years after the events of Babylon 5, and just after the movie A Call to Arms. The Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five years if it is not stopped. To that end, the Victory class destroyer Excalibur has been sent out to look for anything that could help the search for a cure.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, thrilling, futuristic, exciting, tense, bleak, serious, suspenseful, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Halo (2022)
Plot Summary:
Depicting an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, the series weaves deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 72000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: futuristic, tense, anime, suspense, exciting, disturbing, suspenseful, apocalyptic
Similar in 81%
V (2009)
Plot Summary:
V is an American science fiction television series that ran for two seasons on ABC, from November 3, 2009 to March 15, 2011. A remake of the 1983 miniseries created by Kenneth Johnson, the new series chronicles the arrival on Earth of a technologically advanced alien species which ostensibly comes in peace, but actually has sinister motives. V stars Morena Baccarin, Lourdes Benedicto, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Charles Mesure, Elizabeth Mitchell, Laura Vandervoort and Scott Wolf, and was executive produced by Scott Rosenbaum, Yves Simoneau, Scott Peters, and Jace Hall. The series was produced by The Scott Peters Company, HDFilms and Warner Bros. Television.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, apocalyptic, captivating, stylized, cliffhanger, tense, exciting, serious, atmospheric, sweet
Similar in 78%
Stargate Universe (2009)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way Galaxy. They evacuated there and are now trying to figure out a way to return to Earth, while simultaneously trying to explore and to survive in their unknown area of the universe.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, tense, cliffhanger, epic, saga, thrilling, serious, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 86%
Marvel's Runaways (2017)
Plot Summary:
Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other must unite against a common foe – their parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining, tense, futuristic, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
Plot Summary:
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired. The film and series were developed by Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens, based upon the character Buck Rogers created in 1928 by Philip Francis Nowlan that had previously been featured in comic strips, novellas, a serial film, and on television and radio.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, semi serious, touching, saga, tense, captivating, uplifting, epic, apocalyptic
Similar in 85%
Jeremiah (2002)
Plot Summary:
Jeremiah is an American television series starring Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner that ran on the Showtime network from 2002 to 2004. The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where most of the adult population has been wiped out by a deadly virus.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, exciting, atmospheric, tense, bleak, serious, scary, futuristic, disaster movie
Similar in 83%
Farscape (1999)
Plot Summary:
A freak accident during an experimental space mission catapults Astronaut John Crichton across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: futuristic, serious, exciting, bleak, cliffhanger, funny, retro, uplifting, mysterious, apocalyptic
Similar in 88%
Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998)
Plot Summary:
Susan Ivanova discovers a derelict spaceship in hyperspace. They tow it back to Babylon 5, then strange things start happening. People are being telepathically taken over by aliens from another (third)space.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, christian film, intellectual, tense, serious, suspenseful, stylized, gloomy, lovecraft
Similar in 87%
Killjoys (2015)
Plot Summary:
An action-packed adventure series following a fun-loving, hard living trio of interplanetary bounty hunters (a.k.a. Killjoys) sworn to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants around the Quad, a system of planets on the brink of revolution.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, semi serious, tense, dark, cynical, futuristic, humorous, witty
Similar in 75%
War of the Worlds (2019)
Plot Summary:
Set in contemporary Europe, the reimagining follows the pockets of humanity left on earth following an apocalyptic extra-terrestrial strike.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 49 min
Plot tags: serious, suspense, futuristic, suspenseful, apocalyptic, exciting, tense, captivating
Similar in 75%
Firefly (2002)
Plot Summary:
Firefly is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 278000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 616 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, witty, futuristic, neo western, clever, epic, apocalyptic, cult classic, cliffhanger
Similar in 90%
Dark Angel (2000)
Plot Summary:
Super soldier Max Guevera tries to live a normal life in post-apocalyptic Seattle while eluding capture by government agents from the covert biotech facility she escaped from as a child and searching for her genetically-enhanced brothers and sisters who have dispersed after escape.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, stylized, apocalyptic, cyber, bleak, heroic, action thriller, action adventure
Similar in 84%
Stargate Atlantis (2004)
Plot Summary:
With the Ancients' city of Atlantis discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy by Stargate Command, Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Major Sheppard lead a scientific expedition to the ancient abandoned city. Once there, the team not only find themselves unable to contact Earth, but their explorations unexpectedly reawaken the Ancients' deadly enemies, The Wraith, who hunger for this new prey. Now with the help of newfound local allies like Teyla Emmagan, the Atlantis Team sets about to uncover their new home's secrets even as their war of survival against the Wraith begins.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, epic, action adventure, funny, saga, thrilling, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Threshold (2005)
Plot Summary:
Threshold was a science fiction drama television series that first aired on CBS in September 2005. Produced by Brannon Braga, David S. Goyer and David Heyman, the series focuses on a secret government project investigating the first contact with an extraterrestrial species.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, cliffhanger, atmospheric, disaster movie
Similar in 85%
Almost Human (2013)
Plot Summary:
Almost Human is an American science fiction/crime drama on Fox. In 2048, the uncontrollable evolution of science and technology has caused crime rates to rise an astounding 400%. To combat this, the overwhelmed police force has implemented a new policy: every human police officer is paired up with a lifelike combat-model android.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: futuristic, serious, exciting, suspenseful, cyber, cliffhanger, detective, anime, relaxing, fast
Similar in 78%
Altered Carbon (2018)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 185000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, tense, captivating, suspenseful, cyber, erotic, romantic, intellectual, feel good
Similar in 90%
Dark Matter (2015)
Plot Summary:
The six-person crew of a derelict spaceship awakens from stasis in the farthest reaches of space. Their memories wiped clean, they have no recollection of who they are or how they got on board. The only clue to their identities is a cargo bay full of weaponry and a destination: a remote mining colony that is about to become a war zone. With no idea whose side they are on, they face a deadly decision. Will these amnesiacs turn their backs on history, or will their pasts catch up with them?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, semi serious, action adventure, mind blowing, ambiguous ending, serious, bleak, interesting, canadian science fiction
Similar in 86%
Colony (2016)
Plot Summary:
In the near future a family must make difficult decisions as they balance staying together with trying to survive. They live in Los Angeles, which has been occupied by a force of outside intruders. While some people have chosen to collaborate with the authorities and benefit from the new order, others have rebelled — and suffer the consequences.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, atmospheric, spiritual
Similar in 83%
Falling Skies (2011)
Plot Summary:
Survivors of an alien attack on earth gather together to fight for their lives and fight back.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, apocalyptic, serious, stylized, heroic, epic, bleak, futuristic, saga, mind blowing
Similar in 79%
Revolution (2012)
Plot Summary:
Revolution focuses on the struggle to survive 15 years after a global blackout.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, apocalyptic, suspenseful, cliffhanger, atmospheric, stylized, epic, mind bending, interesting
Similar in 86%
Terra Nova (2011)
Plot Summary:
Terra Nova follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in jeopardy, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, suspenseful, apocalyptic, serious, epic, cliffhanger, sweet, mysterious, action adventure
Similar in 87%
The 100 (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on the books by Kass Morgan, this show takes place 100 years in the future, when the Earth has been abandoned due to radioactivity. The last surviving humans live on an ark orbiting the planet — but the ark won't last forever. So the repressive regime picks 100 expendable juvenile delinquents to send down to Earth to see if the planet is still habitable.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 270000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, futuristic, stylized, intellectual, humorous, sitcom, juvenile, action packed