Sci-fi television shows can be a difficult sell when it comes to lasting a long time. Typically, sci-fi series have complex concepts that need time to develop and when they work, it can result in some of the best TV we’ve ever seen. For every success like The X-Files, Stranger Things, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Battlestar Galactica, there are so many examples where a series didn’t get to fully develop and ended up canceled before it could truly get going. In some unfortunate cases, these sci-fi shows actually get the axe before they reach a second season.
Sometimes, this happens because the show was unable to attract the kind of audience numbers the network or platform wanted. In some cases, the people behind the shows had to cancel them for budgetary reasons. There are even a few situations where a series clearly had plans for something bigger, yet it caused it to get off to a slow start, which led to its cancelation. The sci-fi shows discussed here all deserved to last for so many more seasons, even all the way up to 10, because of how much potential the overall story and premise had, as well as the high quality of the one season we got.
Every so often, a show premieres on Netflix and becomes a big hit. In 2019, The Society did just that thanks to its captivating premise, talented young cast, and shocking plot twists. The show focuses on a group of teens who return home from a field trip to find that everyone else has mysteriously disappeared and they’re unable to leave due to a forest appearing that cuts off the rest of the world. The teens are also tasked with running their own community, often to disastrous results.
Watching these teens who are in over their heads struggle to run things is engaging, while the overall mystery is what keeps you coming back. There were plenty of intriguing things the show still had to unravel, including a great cliffhanger that would’ve been a game changer. The Society had a stellar cast of breakout stars like Kathryn Newton, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Kristine Froseth. Netflix canceled the show for budget reasons during COVID and fans are still posting online about how they want more of the show.
2013’s Almost Human was one of those shows that had a really cool setup for something great but never got a legitimate opportunity to develop into a full series. The sci-fi story took place in 2048, in a world where technology has caused crime to rise by 400%. It centered on a police detective named John Kennex who gets partnered up with an android officer named DRN-0167, or Dorian. Their relationship is strained from the start as they’re both reluctant to team up.
What made the series work was the chemistry between Karl Urban and Michael Ealy, who play John and Dorian, respectively. The two talented actors spent episodes bickering, yet also growing closer as they continued to work together. It’s a classic story that has worked in television for a long time and watching that develop over several seasons sounded great. Add in Minka Kelly and Mackenzie Crook, and Almost Human had a great cast. Alas, the show didn’t get the ratings it needed to keep up with its high production costs.
When Y: The Last Man premiered in 2021, it felt like it had the potential to be one of Hulu’s best shows ever, regardless of genre. Based on Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic book series of the same name, the show takes place in a world where a mysterious event kills every being with a Y chromosome, with the exception of Yorick Brown and his monkey. The plot follows Yorick on his travels throughout the world as the titular last man.
The post-apocalyptic world that Y: The Last Man was set in was perfect for a long-running sci-fi series. Yorick and his monkey were also the kind of characters who audiences could easily get attached to. On top of that, the Eisner-winning comic book series lasted six years, meaning there are plenty of stories from there that the show could’ve adapted across a bunch of seasons. Even with positive reviews, the series was canceled and while no specific reason was given, there was talk of it being for cost-cutting reasons.
Lost dominated television during the 2000s as a show that people had to watch every week and discuss at work the next day. Networks kept trying to land the next high-concept show that would captivate viewers and FlashForward felt like the best attempt. The 2009 project, based on a novel of the same name, focuses on a core group of people in the aftermath of an event that causes everyone on Earth to simultaneously lose consciousness for a couple of minutes and see six months into their future.
Immediately, the idea of the show caught everyone’s attention and we were excited to see what caused it, how the futures could be altered, and more. There was also a loaded cast of Joseph Fiennes, Dominic Monaghan, Sonya Walger, Courtney B. Vance, John Cho, and more. The showrunners had multiple seasons mapped out, which meant that many story elements and answers were held back, getting the show off to a slow start. Viewership declined quickly and even though the second half of the season was stronger, the series was canceled.
When it comes to the best short-lived sci-fi shows in history, Firefly is always brought up and for good reason. The space opera from 2002 was created by Joss Whedon and was set in the year 2517 after humans arrive in a new star system. The episodes follow the crew of the Serenity and their adventures through space in a post-civil war time. It was a somewhat simple setup for a space show, which is part of why it worked.
The concept wasn’t too difficult to understand, meaning almost anyone could watch it, and the characters were easy to like. TV veterans like Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, Morena Baccarin, and Adam Baldwin were all great and helped the show gain popularity over the years. Firefly could’ve followed them for 10 seasons but was canceled due to low viewership, yet attained cult status in the time since. It was even popular enough for a film, Serenity, to continue the story.
Are there other sci-fi shows that deserved more than one season that we forgot? Let us know in the comments!
