23 Comic Book, Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video
Looking for a new geek show recommendation or want to rewatch a recent favorite? Here’s what Amazon Prime Video has to offer.
| | Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back to see what other comic book and fantasy classics get added to Amazon Prime.
You can see a complete list of Amazon new releases here.
We’ve scoured through Amazon Prime video to pick out some geek favourites available to subscribers, since it’s not always the friendliest interface to navigate. Thankfully we found some good stuff. Here are 25 comic book, sci-fi, fantasy and horror shows to watch, or rewatch.
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is a modest TV science fiction classic from the ’90s.
The show, which creator J. Michael Straczynski described as a “novel for television,” took place in a distant future in which Earth has unified under one government and has made contact with other spacefaring alien species.
Battlestar Galactica
With the popularity of Westworld and Humans, and well, real life, AI dramas are currently where it’s at. Ronald D. Moore’s modern take on Battlestar Galactica though, predates them all.
further reading: How Battlestar Galactica Barely Survived Toxic Fandom
All four seasons of the space thriller plus the prequel miniseries are available to stream. Well worth watching if you somehow missed it at the time, and also well worth a rewatch if you’ve been enjoying the recent spate of ‘conscious AI’ movies and TV shows.
BrainDead
This sci-fi political satire may have been cancelled after one season, but it was well-received during its short time on CBS and still has plenty to offer sci-fi fans.
further reading: The Best TV Shows Hidden on Amazon Prime
BrainDead aired during the 2016 election year, which perhaps made its weird story of Washington politicians being over by an invading race of alien insects feel too close to home… Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars.
The Boys
Let it be known that there must always be a live-action superhero Amazon Original on Amazon Prime. When Amazon opted to cancel their (excellent) The Tick after two seasons, they also stepped up and brought The Boys into the fold. And that makes sense as The Boys is basically a darker Tick.
further reading: The Boys Review
The series, based on a comic by the same name by Garth Ennis, imagines a reality in which superheroes are the norm. And a world with superheroes is far more violent and disturbing than one would imagine. Karl Urban stars as Billy Butcher, a man who establishes a paramilitary team to get the supers in check.
Carnivale
HBO’s Carnivale is set during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl and is really the story of good vs. evil set among a backdrop of a traveling carnival.
It’s equally ambitious and atmospheric but audiences began turning on it two seasons in. Still it’s more than worth a watch.
Continuum
Time travel and terrorism combine in Canadian sci-fi series Continuum, which was drawn to a conclusion in 2015 after four seasons. The final six-episode run however, at least knew it was the end, so wrapped up the complicated action-adventure story satisfyingly.
Rachel Nichols stars as Keira Cameron as a police officer accidentally sent back from the future along with a group of ‘freedom fighters’ who plan violent destruction. It’s her job to stop them.
Defiance
SyFy’s Defiance didn’t necessarily have the budget to create and explore vast worlds. So instead it just turned Earth into its own science fiction universe.
further reading: The Best Vintage Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy TV Shows on Amazon Prime
Defiance takes place in a future, post-apocalyptic Earth radically changed by environmental forces and the introduction of alien life. The show ran for three years as a satisfying sci-fi Western before getting second life as an MMORPG.
Doctor Who
We hear this is a pretty good sci-fi show. Doctor Who follows the adventures of the titular “doctor” and Time Lord as he travels through space and time in his TARDIS, looking for problems to solve and people to help.
further reading: Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker Discusses Her First Episode
But you already knew all that. What’s important here is that Amazon Prime has all ten seasons of BBC’s modern continuation of the classic show, starting with the first Christopher Eccleston season all the way through to Peter Capaldi.
Eureka
The quirky adventures of Sheriff Jack Carter—the sole IQ-typical resident in a town of geniuses—filled five seasons of Eureka, all of which are available here.
further reading: The Best Children’s TV Shows on Amazon Prime
One for sci-fi fans seeking a lighter take on implausible inventions and technology that’s sufficiently advanced it’s indecipherable from magic.
The Expanse
While we were sleeping, SyFy went through a name change and started producing its best original content since Battlestar Galactica.
The Expanse is based on a series of novels and imagines a future in which humanity has colonized the solar system. The citizens of Earth and Mars try to keep a loose confederation of planets together while citizens of the asteroid belt battle back.
Grimm
Grimm is the story of Nick Burkhardt, a Portland detective with the power to see the fairy tale monsters and creatures (known as Wesen) living disguised among humans. Having inherited the role of Grimm from his family, Nick befriends a reformed werewolf, and gets into all kinds of folktale-inspired adventures and scrapes.
Big mythology, big villains, a pleasingly weird sense of humour and an evolving Scooby Gang make this a decent investment for early Buffy and Angel fans, which makes sense as they share multiple writers.
Humans
Humans is set in a near future in which average middle class families are turning more and more to human-like robots called “synths” to help with household tasks.
further reading: The Best Romance Movies on Amazon Prime
And you’re not going to believe this, but it doesn’t quite go well.
In the Flesh
Lots of zombie movies and series are preoccupied with finding a “cure” – even though viewers know that’s never gonna happen. Well in In the Flesh, it does.
And the subsequent social issues that follow are fascinating to contemplate. Luke Newberry stars as Kieren Walker, a young man trying to integrate back into society after an unfortunate bout with zombiedom.
The Living and the Dead
This atmospheric six-part BBC drama aired in 2016 and though it wasn’t renewed for a second series, there’s still plenty of reason to invest in it. Starring Merlin’s Colin Morgan and Glue’s Charlotte Spencer, it’s a supernatural period drama from the co-creator of Life On Mars.
further reading: The Best Action Movies on Amazon Prime
Largely set in and around the remote Somerset family farm to which Morgan’s character, a Victorian doctor, has to return after a bereavement, it’s a ghostly tale steeped in traditional English folklore.
The Man In The High Castle
The third season of this alternate history thriller based on the novel by sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick is eagerly anticipated. Set in the 1960s in a version of America where the Axis powers won WWII and have incorporated the states into the Nazi Reich and the Japanese Pacific States, The Man In the High Castle presents a chilling vision of a world that’s familiar and alien at once.
As an Amazon Prime Original, all of it’s available here and will be joined by season three as soon as it’s released.
Merlin
Smallville sent off a chain reaction of TV properties that sought to show the early years of popular fictional icons. In some ways, current CW shows like The Flash represent the natural conclusion to the phenomenon.
further reading: The Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime
But of all the post-Smallville properties, the BBC’s Merlin is undoubtedly among the best. For some fans, Colin Morgan’s depiction of the legendary Merlin is the definitive one.
Mr. Robot
Sam Esmail’s paranoid thriller Mr. Robot was the stand-out new drama of 2015. Season one introduced Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a disaffected hacker whose relationship with the mysterious Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) entangles him in a world of global cyber conspiracies.
further reading: How Mr. Robot’s Easter Eggs Trascend the Digital Space
It was original, visually compelling, and full of narrative twists. Since then, the show has kept the surprises coming. All three of the already-aired seasons are available to stream here, and will be joined by th the already-commissioned season four in good time.
Orphan Black
Orphan Black is the show that introduced the world to all-time great Canadian Tatiana Maslany. In her Emmy winning performance(s), Maslany stars as no fewer than eight clones.
The series opens with British ne’er-do-well Sarah Manning witnessing the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her. That sets Sarah down a path to unveil a vast conspiracy and meet many other copies of herself.
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams
When science fiction anthology series became all the rage thanks to Black Mirror, Amazon Prime decided to turn to one of the father’s of modern sci-fi for their own anthology series.
further reading: The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Amazon Prime
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams features 10 imaginative episodes all taken directly from the short stories of Hugo award winning writer Philip K. Dick.
Watch Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine broke the traditional Star Trek mold in numerous ways. It was the first series without the direct involvement of creator Gene Roddenberry.
It was also the first series to take place on a space station. Despite the differences, however, it remains pure Star Trek, exploring complex social themes albeit in a slightly darker setting.
Watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is perhaps the most popular Star Trek incarnation. It reached nearly 12 million viewers per episode at its height and spawned several spinoffs.
I guess that’s just what happens when you luck out and book Patrick Stewart as your lead. Amazon Prime has all seven of TNG‘s excellent seasons.
Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Tick
The Tick is an Amazon original based on the beloved comic book character of the same name. The Tick is an absurdly powerful superhero in a city full of supers. Together with his (at times unwilling) ward Arthur, The Tick must investigate the potential reappearance of an old foe.
Amazon has this version of The Tick as well as Fox’s early 2000s version. Both are fantastically fun light superhero satires.
Under The Dome
Nobody can pretend that Under The Dome wasn’t one of the wobblier Stephen King adaptations. For King completists though, the bonkers tale of the town of Chester’s Mill is worth a look.
After a mysterious impenetrable dome appears without warning around a rural US town, the local people get tangled into various scrapes involving resources, power struggles and glowing alien eggs. It’s nonsense, really, but three seasons of mostly fun nonsense.