best series time travel

The 32 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

Time traveling is a popular topic when it comes to all types of entertainment from books to films. But in recent years time travel has also become a popular theme in TV.

So let’s take a look at this list of the best time traveling TV shows and find out how each of them handles time travel and all the history that comes with it.

Doctor Who, BBC One (1963 – 1989, 2005 – present)

When it comes to time traveling and TV, probably the most notable name in this niche is Doctor Who  because this time travel series has been around for 39 seasons and is still going strong.

Hailing from British television channel BBC One, Doctor Who tells the tale of the Time Lord aka The Doctor, and his companions as they travel to different times and try to prevent evil forces from changing history and hurting innocent lives.

Once the Time Lord gets hurt beyond healing, he can transform into a new body and continue saving the world. Hence why at this point 13 (soon to be 14) different actors have played The Doctor.

Doctor Who is not only a huge part of the fabric of British popular culture but by now this time travel show has found its way into the hearts of many people all over the world.

It has inspired many spin-offs in the form of TV shows, comic books, movies, novels, you name it. But more than that, by now it has become an industry standard both when it comes to science-fiction television series and shows about time travel.

No wonder that Doctor Who continues to be successful after countless actor changes and plot twists.

Where to watch Doctor Who:

Timeless, nbc (2016 – 2018).

Another time travel TV series that has already become a cult classic and is adored by fans all over the world is NBC’s Timeless . And despite the turmoil that this show has gone through, it still is time traveling at its best.

Starring Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter, and Abigail Spencer as Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy, Timeless  details the trio traveling to different times in an effort to stop their adversaries from rewriting history.

But as it later turns out, the conspiracy goes deeper than them just changing history. Since the people who our trio is chasing are traveling through time to take down a dangerous and all-powerful organization. The same one that helped build the time machine that Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy are using.

And although Timeless went on for just two seasons (and a two-hour wrap-up movie), you should still check out the show because it’s not only entertaining but will make you think and want to know more about the events that each episode is exploring.

Where to watch Timeless:

Dc’s legends of tomorrow, the cw (2016 – present).

If you are a fan of superhero TV shows, then you will probably have heard about DC’s Legends of Tomorrow . It is a show that is a huge part of The CW’s Arrowverse. And has crossed over with shows like Arrow , The Flash , and Supergirl multiple times now.

And even if you don’t like the rest of the superhero series but do enjoy a good old time travel TV show, then I suggest you still give Legends of Tomorrow a watch.

The plot of this show is based around a team of superheroes that are traveling through time in their time machine christened the Waverider to prevent different catastrophes from happening. Both ones made by others and those created by the team’s previous adventures.

At the forefront, there are well-known DC heroes like Rip Hunter, Firestorm, The Atom, Kid Flash, Steel, and Vixen. Joined by some original characters like Caity Lotz’s White Canary among others.

One of the defining characteristics of Legends of Tomorrow is how fun it is. Because adjectives like unapologetic, witty, and entertaining are frequently used to describe this time travel series.

However, more than that, it adds an interesting layer to the whole Arrowverse universe. And above all, it is just a hoot to watch.

Where to watch Legends of Tomorrow:

12 monkeys, syfy (2015 – 2018).

Then there also is SyFy’s 12 Monkeys , which is a little darker take on time traveling. One that comes with mystery, drama, and apocalyptic stakes. But that doesn’t lessen how good this time travel TV series is.

Split between two timelines, 12 Monkeys centers on Aaron Stanford’s James Cole, who is tasked to travel back in time and stop the distribution of a virus that has the ability to end the human race as we know it.

In Cole’s real timeline, the year is 2043 and people are struggling to survive because of the terrible mutations caused by the virus. So Cole travels back to 2015 to find virologist Cassie Railly, played by Amanda Schull, that can help him stop the release of the virus and the organization that is behind it called The Army of the 12 Monkeys.

If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic setting and time travel really do go hand in hand. Because if you can go back in time to stop history from being changed, why not go back to change it if it prevents something terrible from happening?

And that is what this show explores. Beautifully combining elements of mystery, drama, and science fiction, to form a great TV show.

Where to watch 12 Monkeys:

Outlander, starz (2014 – present).

Want another show that mixes time travel with historical events and does it flawlessly? Then you should put Outlander on your must-watch TV show list!

The show starts in the 1940s when a combat nurse Claire Randall visits Inverness, Scotland as part of her second honeymoon with her husband Frank. Claire accidentally happens upon the standing stones at Craigh na Dun which transport her back in time to 1743.

To return to her own time she first has to survive 18th-century Scotland. And she does so by joining a group of rebel Highlanders from Clan MacKenzie and marrying one of the Highlanders, Jamie Fraser. But eventually, she falls in love with her new husband and aids the clan in evading British redcoats that are pursuing them.

Over the five seasons of Outlander that are currently out (with the sixth coming soon), we see Claire jump back and forth between the 20th and 18th centuries and her two families as she faces two pregnancies, wars, and much more. But eventually, Claire finds her way back to Jamie.

Where to watch Outlander:

Travelers, showcase (2016 – 2018).

Then we have Travelers , a joint venture between Netflix and Canada’s Showcase that will tick all of your time travel TV show boxes.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world , this show depicts the adventures of travelers – operatives who go back in time to prevent the collapse of society.

These travelers are transferred into the bodies of our current-day humans, who otherwise would die, to blend in with twenty-first-century people. And with the help of their artificial intelligence boss from the future, travelers carry out missions in order to stop many catastrophic events from happening.

Travelers is a great mix of sci-fi and drama, featuring a great cast and spine-tingling storylines. So if you love all that and love a good time-travel series, then look no further than Travelers .

Where to watch Travelers:

Dark, netflix (2017 – 2020).

Netflix’s first German original series was the science fiction series Dark , which mixes in some mystery drama with sci-fi: time travel, the apocalypse, wormholes, and parallel worlds.

Dark takes place in Winden, a fictional German town, and begins in 2019 after children begin to disappear from the town. As the show progresses, however, timelines jump drastically between as early as 1921 to as late as 2053.

As four families in Winden investigate the disappearances to reunite with their lost loved ones, they discover a wormhole beneath the local powerplant that allows them to travel between timelines, thus uncovering a generations-long conspiracy involving the town and their families.

Where to watch Dark:

The umbrella academy, netflix (2019 – present).

Netflix brings another to the list with The Umbrella Academy .

On October 1, 1989, 43 infants were suddenly born from unsuspecting women despite them not even being pregnant the day before.

7 of them were raised together as the Hargreeve siblings and trained in their respective abilities until their relationship became strained as teenagers and they drifted apart.

Now, as adults, they’re brought back together by the death of their adoptive father – and the threat of the end of the world, of course.

They’re forced to travel back in time but end up in different times and places, and must find each other again to stop the nuclear apocalypse.

Where to watch The Umbrella Academy:

Seven days, upn (1998 – 2001).

We know that the National Security Agency has its share of secrets, but what if one of those secrets was a time-traveling machine?

In UPN’s Seven Days , the plot centers on one such device made from alien technology found at Roswell.

The Chronosphere, as it’s called, can only be used in times when national security is at risk – the limited capacity of the device allows for just one human to go back in time by seven days in order to avert disasters.

Thus, when the White House is attacked, the NSA employs former Navy SEAL and CIA operative Frank Parker to go back and prevent it from happening.

Where to watch Seven Days:

Loki, disney+ (2021 – present).

Yes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the greatest gifts to the cinema of our time. Now, the MCU has expanded even further into the television medium and we’ve got a few series to accompany it!

One of those is Loki , which of course, centers on the God of Thunder’s mischievous adopted brother.

After the events in Avengers: Endgame , particularly his stealing of the Tesseract, Loki inadvertently creates another timeline that began in 2012, making him a “time variant” version of himself.

When confronted by the authorities, Loki is given two choices: face punishment and cease to exist, or travel through time to fix his own mess and the threat that has emerged.

Where to watch Loki:

Making history, fox (2017).

The thing about traveling back in time is, you have to be very careful that your actions in the past won’t affect the future (which is essentially your actual present).

Most of the time, that’s something you wouldn’t know until you go back to your time. In Making History , however, Dan Chambers travels back in time to right before the American Revolution and sets off a series of events that seriously mess up the future.

Being able to constantly travel between time periods, Dan recruits the help of history professor Chis Parrish to travel with him and ensure that the American Revolution still takes place.

Where to watch Making History:

Quantum leap, nbc (1989 – 1993).

The title of NBC’s sci-fi comedy-drama Quantum Leap is also the name of the time travel machine that accidentally sends its creator, physicist Dr. Sam Beckett, back into the past.

Now, he’s stuck – and not as himself, either!

Sam discovers that he jumped into the body of a stranger and because he’s still himself, doesn’t know all the details of his current identity.

With the help of his friend Al, who appears as a hologram only he can see, he must fix something that went wrong so he can jump in time again and eventually get back to his own body.

Where to watch Quantum Leap:

Quantum leap, nbc (2022 – present).

Speaking of Quantum Leap , in 2022 NBC revived the 1989 series into a more modern take on the cult classic.

In this new Quantum Leap , thirty years have passed since Dr. Sam Beckett vanished into the Quantum Leap accelerator, and the Quantum Leap project was put to rest.

Now the project is restarted with a new team, who tries to puzzle together the mysteries behind Beckett and his time-traveling machine.

So, we follow Ben Song, the lead physicist of the Quantum Leap time travel project, who gets lost in the past after leaping back in time.

As he tries to return to the present he is helped by his fiancée Addison Augustine, who appears to him as a hologram during each leap, and the team back in the present time.

Where to watch Quantum Leap reboot:

The way home, hallmark channel (2023 – present).

Among the newest time travel shows on this list is Hallmark’s The Way Home which has already been renewed for a second season.

The Way Home follows three generations of Landry women who learn that they can time travel after discovering a magic pond on their family’s farm in Port Haven.

When Kat and her daughter Alice return to Port Haven and are forced to move in with Alice’s estranged mother Del, the three women use time travel to uncover their family history, including what really happened to Kat’s little brother Jacob and whether they can prevent his disappearance.

Where to watch The Way Home:

Russian doll, netflix (2019 – 2022).

Netflix’s Russian Doll deviates from the traditional time travel theme of a willing traveler in one specific timeline because Russian Doll’s protagonist Nadia Vulvokov not only has absolutely no choice or control over her so-called time traveling, but hers is also a time loop.

She wakes up every day having to relive the day of her 36th birthday party in New York City; every time, she dies and comes back to the exact same moment.

Every time, Nadia scrambles to figure out what happens to her and tries to prevent her death, leading her to find Alan, a man who is experiencing the same time loop.

Where to watch Russian Doll:

Undone, prime video (2019 – present).

Undone may be an animated series, but it certainly isn’t geared toward younger audiences; though there is a touch of comedy, the series leans more towards the psychological drama genre and “explores the elastic nature of reality”.

The series follows Alma Winograd-Diaz right after she gets into a near-fatal car accident.

Right before the crash, she has a strange vision of her dead father, and right after it, she finds that she now has the ability to manipulate and move through time.

Using this newfound power, she travels between time periods to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her father’s death.

Where to watch Undone:

Voyagers, nbc (1982 – 1983).

Premiering back in the early 1980s, NBC’s Voyagers! Is set in a world where time travel already exists.

In fact, there’s already a secret society in place that trains its members, called Voyagers, to go back in time and make sure that historical events happen exactly the way they’re supposed to – otherwise it could affect the present in unexpected ways.

One such Voyager is Phineas Bogg, although he isn’t exactly the best at the job.

During an accidental trip to 1982, he meets the young Jeffrey Jones and ends up bringing him along on one of his missions.

Having lost his Guidebook, Phineas now needs to rely on the extremely smart Jeffrey to get history right.

Where to watch Voyagers!:

Fringe, fox (2008 – 2013).

Fox’s Fringe is a series that was well into the science fiction genre, with parallel universes, supernatural abilities, biotechnology, doomsday predictions, and of course, time travel.

The title is taken from fringe science, which is a branch that deals with scientific theories riddled with skepticism or even having been disproven already.

In Fringe , Special Agent Olivia Dunham is assigned to oversee the FBI ’s Fringe Division, which is run by Peter Bishop and his father Walter.

Together, the team uses both fringe science and Olivia’s knowledge in investigative techniques to explore the unexplained.

In the process, they discover a larger mystery involving parallel universes and alternate timelines .

Where to watch Fringe:

Time after time, abc (2017).

ABC’s Time After Time is based on the novel of the same name written by Kevin Williamson in 1979.

In addition to that, each episode takes its title from a line in Cyndi Lauper’s song, which was inspired by the film (and subsequently, the same book!).

In Time After Time , we are taken to H.G. Wells’ home in 1893.

During a dinner party, he reveals his time machine – right before his guest John Stevenson is arrested for actually being Jack the Ripper .

John escapes through the time machine and Wells follows him straight into the present: 2017. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game as John attempts to gain control of the machine.

Where to watch Time After Time:

11.22.63, hulu (2016).

When you have anything with Stephen King involved, you know it’s going to be great.

Hulu’s eight-episode miniseries 11.22.63 is based on King’s novel 11/22/63 and is a science fiction thriller like no other.

Starring James Franco in the lead role, 11.22.63 follows Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine .

His best friend Al reveals a time travel machine and asks him to take over the mission he’s been working on: to travel to the 60s and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Will Jake be successful in changing a past that simply refuses to be changed?

Where to watch 11.22.63:

The 4400, usa network/sky one (2004 – 2007).

The 4400 is yet another slightly different take on the idea of time travel, in that there has been just one (fairly significant) shift forward in time, to the present.

Beginning in 1946, individuals who were easily overlooked or marginalized by society slowly began disappearing through beams of green light.

Now, all 4400 of them (hence the title) have been returned to the present day – without having aged a day and in some cases, even manifesting supernatural abilities like telekinesis, healing, and telepathy.

Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris are assigned to investigate the phenomenon and find out why the 4400 have returned.

NOTE: For a fresher take on the show, you can also check out the reboot of the original series which is currently airing on The CW.

Where to watch The 4400:

Somewhere between, abc (2017).

When tragedy strikes our lives, we always wish there was something we could’ve done to prevent it.

In ABC’s Somewhere Between we meet Laura Price, a successful news producer with a great career, a loving husband who’s a district attorney, and a beautiful daughter named Serena.

However, her life changes when the serial killer she is helping the cops to catch kills Serena.

Distraught with grief , Laura attempts to complete suicide but is unsuccessful, instead waking up having time-traveled to a week before Serena’s death.

She teams up with Nico, a former SFPD detective who experienced the same reset and wants to find the real killer to change his brother’s fate as well.

Where to watch Somewhere Between:

Terra nova, fox (2011).

Terra Nova takes its viewers to both extremes of the time-traveling timeline.

The present-day is 2149, where overpopulation has threatened to deplete the Earth’s resources.

In an attempt to save Earth and mankind, scientists have found a way to travel back in time, sending groups of humans back to the Cretaceous Period to set up colonies.

Terra Nova focuses primarily on Elisabeth and Jim Shannon, and their three children, who have joined the 10th pilgrimage to Terra Nova.

They offer their expertise as a trauma surgeon and former narcotics detective and help those in charge with stopping those whose intentions go against the greater good.

Where to watch Terra Nova:

Frequency, the cw (2016 – 2017).

One concept in time travel is known as “the butterfly effect”, wherein one small change in time may have great effects elsewhere.

Frequency demonstrates this concept perfectly.

Raimy Sullivan is an NYPD detective who, after a strange weather phenomenon, discovers that she can communicate with her dead father through his old ham radio.

Believing he was a corrupt cop, she learns the truth and warns him of his murder, thus saving his life.

However, this has profound effects on the future – Raimy’s present.

Now, they must work together across time to save her father and preserve the present.

Where to watch Frequency:

Life on mars, bbc one (2006).

In many of the shows on the list so far, the protagonists experience a time loop that’s triggered at the point of their death.

It’s no different for Sam Tyler, the main character in the British series Life on Mars .

Sam is a Detective Chief Inspector with the Greater Manchester Police, but one day he accidentally gets hit by a car.

When he awakens, he’s in 1973 and working at one rank lower than he was: Detective Inspector.

The selling point of Life on Mars , however, is that we’re left unsure if Sam’s predicament is due to his actual death, a comatose, or time travel.

Where to watch Life on Mars:

Always a witch, netflix (2019 – 2020).

Always A Witch (or Siempre Bruja in its original Spanish title) is a Colombian series that is set in both present-day Colombia and the 17th century .

The series follows Carmen Eguiliuz, a young 19-year-old witch who, after committing the crime of falling in love with a white man in 1646 colonial Colombia, is scheduled to be burned at the stake.

She gets a chance to escape to a new life when the mysterious wizard Aldemar makes a deal with her: he will save the man she loves if she travels into the future to find the woman who can break his curse.

Where to watch Always a Witch:

Beforeigners, hbo (2019 – present).

HBO’s Beforeigners is a Norwegian sci-fi crime drama series and the first Norwegian original from HBO Europe.

The title is a clever play on words centered on the general plot: a group of “foreigners” has suddenly shown up at a neighborhood in Oslo, and they are all from “before” times, or several different time periods in history.

Whether from the Viking period , the Stone Age, or the more recent 19th century , each of these ‘Beforeigners’ tries to integrate in modern-day Norwegian society.

One of them even partners with a detective to investigate first a murdered Stone Age woman, then a series of murderers tied to Jack the Ripper.

Where to watch Beforeigners:

Alice, sbs tv (2020).

Alice was a South Korean sci-fi series that aired in late 2020.

In the lead-up to the main plot, the show’s background is explained to its viewers.

Set in 2050, time travel is monitored by an agency called Alice, which sends its clients to the past to help find closure with deceased loved ones.

Alice one day sends two agents to 1992 in order to find the Book of Prophecy, but one of them disappears with the book and her unborn child.

In 2020, the child becomes a detective and in his investigation into his mother’s death in 2010, discovers the existence of Alice and time travel.

Where to watch Alice:

Live up to your name, tvn (2017).

Yet another South Korean time travel series , Live Up to Your Name initially takes its viewers some 400 years into the past, right in the middle of the Joseon dynasty.

There we meet Heo Im, a doctor of traditional Korean medicine who also specializes in acupuncture.

On one of his treatments of the king’s migraines, he made a mistake and was charged with treason.

Chased by the king’s soldiers, he’s shot with an arrow and presumed dead when he falls into the river – except he ends up waking up in present-day Seoul instead, where he meets cardiothoracic surgeon Choi Yeon-kyung.

Where to watch Live Up to Your Name:

My only love song, netflix (2017).

Our third South Korean series is Netflix’s My Only Love Song , which aired in 2017.

We start off in modern-day Korea where we meet Soo-jung, a talented and top-level actress.

However, it seems that the fame may have gotten to her head as she’s arrogant, and believes fame and money make the world go round.

When things don’t go her way on her new show, she winds up in a time-traveling van that takes her to the 6th century.

There, she meets a man much like herself in terms of arrogance, but his hidden soft spot and generosity towards the poor changes her perspective on her own life and self.

Where to watch My Only Love Song:

Signal, tvn (2016).

Signal is based on the 2000 American film Frequency , but another thing that sets this South Korean series apart from others is that the cases investigated in the series are also based on real-life crimes in the country.

Signal follows a cold case profiler from 2015 and a detective from 1989 simultaneously; they discover they’re able to communicate with each other through an old walkie-talkie.

Using this unique ability to provide much-needed foresight in investigations, they team up to both solve and in some cases, even prevent these horrific crimes.

Where to watch Signal:

Rooftop prince, sbs (2012).

Last but not least, South Korea brings its last time-traveling series to the table with Rooftop Prince , a comedy-drama filled with intrigue, mixed identities, and possible reincarnations.

Crown Prince Lee Gak from the Joseon dynasty accidentally time travels to 2012 with three others from his entourage, and their lives are thrown into a whirlwind.

He crosses paths with Se-na, who looks exactly like his recently deceased wife.

In the hopes of getting answers about his wife’s mysterious drowning, he assumes the identity of another man who he also looks exactly like and attempts to marry Se-na in this timeline as well.

Where to watch Rooftop Prince:

11 comments.

Tomorrow people cw

You forgot The Time Tunnel, an Irwin Allen sci-fi show (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space, Land of The Giants), all classic 60s sci-fi

Journeyman should also be on this list. It was only half a season on NBC but it wraps up to a satisfying conclusion.

Fantastic acting and interesting characters.

Glad someone else watched Journeyman. I thought I’d was a great spiritual successor to Quantum Leap.

Journeyman is one of the good shows u can watch but qunatum leap i watched and didnt like

Where is The Time Tunnel?????

Another show for your list is “Being Erica” (CBC, 2009-2011). Excellent writing, and very unique.

i was looking for this comment. such an underrated show

I concur. This was definitely a great one. It certainly provides a lot of food for thought.

Some of the information in the Doctor Who one is wrong. It started in 1963, it was only revived in 2005 (you put 2006), and it’s been going for 39 seasons, as of June 2022

Thanks for letting me know! I updated the article accordingly.

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20 Best Time-Travel Shows Ranked

If you could travel back and forth through time, where would you go? What would you do? Who would you talk to? Even better, if you were writing a book, making a movie, or working on a television show about time travel, what would you include? The best TV shows about time travel all feature characters who visit other eras for various compelling (or even life-threatening) reasons. Maybe it's to prevent a coming apocalypse, maybe it's just to save one person's life — but as many of these shows teach, small changes can have big effects, and many of these characters learn that their time-traveling can change the world.  

Now, there are some great time travel-adjacent shows that don't quite fit this list. A fun romp like "Early Edition," for example, utilizes a time-traveling newspaper and potentially a time-traveling cat, but doesn't in and of itself feature a lot of time travel. Likewise, something like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is rooted in a time travel premise, but stays mostly in one time. With all that said, here's a look at our choices for the 20 best time travel shows on TV.

Save the cheerleader, save the world. That's what future Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) tells present-day Hiro when he appears to him from the future, and that's what establishes "Heroes" as way more than just a superhero show.

The NBC series follows a group of regular people who develop special powers, not unlike mutants in the "X-Men" series, after a mysterious worldwide eclipse. Each character gains their own individual abilities. Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) develops the ability to heal from any injury. Senator Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) gains the ability to fly, while his brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) can temporarily absorb others' powers. Still, few of these characters have cooler abilities than Hiro, who can influence the space-time continuum. This means he can teleport, slow down time — and, of course, time travel.   

Understandably, Hiro's power set becomes a serious asset throughout the series, and his path to perfect his abilities is one of "Heroes'" strongest story arcs. The first few times he travels through time don't go as planned, and throughout the series, things can get in the way of him ending up where he wants to go or when he wants to be. While Hiro's time-traveling is just one part of the larger story, it's definitely one of the show's highlights – especially since Oka is so darn charming as the character.

19. 11.22.63

One of the best Stephen King TV series out there, the eight-episode "11.22.63" follows a man named Jake Epping (James Franco). He's a relatively normal guy who receives a chance to change history when his friend Al (Chris Cooper) tells him he's found a way to travel back in time. Al tells Jake that the portal he's discovered goes back to the year 1960 and that he's been working on a plan to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Al's age and advancing cancer diagnosis prevent him from following through on the plan, however, and he asks Jake to take over for him. Jake agrees, but soon his quest is met with pushback from a mysterious source. As it turns out, the past doesn't want to be changed, and every step Jake takes toward preventing JFK's assassination leads to more cracks in the timeline. 

A charming and exciting time travel drama, "11.22.63" is a well-executed, twisty tale that only ranks so low on this list because it's in such great company. If you're looking for a quick, self-contained time travel miniseries that revolves around one of modern America's most notable events, this show is well worth a watch. 

When Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crash lands on a deserted island, wacky and scary things start happening to the survivors. ABC's "Lost" deals with flashbacks, flash-forwards, mysterious groups that already have a presence on the island, a black smoke monster — and, as it turns out, an ancient battle between good and evil. One of the great appointment television shows before streaming broke through, "Lost" had fans talking about it and theorizing about its mysteries on a weekly basis.

The sci-fi drama captivated viewers for six seasons, and though time travel is referenced throughout the entire series run, it plays the biggest role in Season 4. As the island itself leaps from place to place and from time to time, the main group of characters jumps with it, encountering previous versions of themselves and island events that occurred in the past, and suffering from the effects of temporal displacement. The most beloved episode dealing with time travel is undoubtedly "The Constant," in which fan-favorite Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) figures out a way to stop his consciousness from jumping through time by finding his constant — his true love, Penny (Sonya Walger).

Of course, "Lost" is not just a time travel show, and famously covers such a wide variety of mysteries and sci-fi concepts that viewers might find it hard to keep up. As such, it ends up with this relatively low ranking. 

Like "Lost", "Fringe" is considered one of the most binge-worthy sci-fi shows of all time  but the fact that it isn't exclusively about time travel means it lands near the tail end of this particular list. The ABC show revolves around a science-fiction conglomerate that dabbles with interdimensional travel, wormholes, and alternate realities. Anna Torv stars as FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, who heads up the bureau's Fringe Division. With the help of "mad scientist" Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson), and their lab assistant Astrid Farnsworth (Jakisa Nicole), Dunham explores cases involving fringe science — be they about time travel, mind control, experiments gone wrong or any other strange and obscure criminal activity.

Time travel is more of a looming presence early in "Fringe," particularly present in the character of the Observer (Michael Cerveris), a bald, pale, genetically advanced human from the future. While Season 1 and Season 2 deal with the battle between two dimensions and realities, time travel really becomes an element in Season 3. Seasons 4 and 5 then deal with alternate timelines and the Observers that infiltrate the world from the future, intent on wiping out humanity. As you might expect, things can get a bit confusing, but the show sure is fun.

16. The Umbrella Academy

You have to respect a show that's so high-concept that time travel doesn't even get top billing. "The Umbrella Academy" boasts mysterious events, family drama, dance numbers, a talking chimpanzee, some of the cleverest superpowers in superhero shows, and a robot mom — and that's just scratching the surface. Based on "The Umbrella Academy" comics created by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame, the Netflix show is a saga that exploits everything from the butterfly effect to the grandfather paradox for emotional and comedic impact.

The central Hargreeves family consists of a group of kids all born on the same day, adopted by the same eccentric billionaire (Colm Feore). He has trained them to protect the world with their various superpowers, but they aren't particularly great at it, and their strict upbringing has left them with a wide array of issues and deep rifts between them. The dysfunctional bunch starts out fairly estranged, but slowly bonds to save humanity from an apocalyptic event ... only to cause another potential apocalyptic event by sprinkling themselves across time.

In between the tears in the space-time continuum, "The Umbrella Academy" is ultimately an ensemble story about found (and re-found) family, as well as a truly unique superhero show where personal failure and the side-effects of costumed crimefighter life play a huge role. However, since Season 1 largely approaches time travel through Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) and the Temps Aeternalis agency, and much of Season 3 focuses on a present-day alternate reality, only the 1960s-themed Season 2 goes truly all in on the concept of sending all main characters to a different era. 

15. Sliders

"Sliders" is a 1990s sci-fi adventure series that features Jerry O'Connell and friends getting lost across the multiverse. O'Connell ("Stand By Me") plays boy genius Quinn Mallory, inventor of the Timer — a device that lets him and his friends "slide" through a wormhole vortex into different versions of Earth. The thing about wormhole vortexes, though, is that they like to misbehave, meaning Quinn and his buds never know where they're headed next on their adventures. This makes their quest to get back home to their own Earth a tricky one.

"Sliders" starts off fun and strong, and is at its best when having bonkers fun — like when Rembrandt (Cleavant Derricks) discovers a world where he could have been Elvis-level famous — and when it's exploring real-world issues in a high-concept dimension, like when the crew visits an Earth that treats men worse than women. Even if you've seen it before, it's definitely worth a re-watch, because "Sliders" is one  TV show that's better than you remember.

14. Continuum

On "Continuum," Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) is a Protector – think futuristic government agent from even more futuristic equipment — from the year 2077. She gets transported to the year 2012 along with a group of murderous terrorists, forcing Kiera to remain in the past as she chases them down. Fortunately, her gadgets and knowledge of the past soon come in handy and she finds loyal allies. Unfortunately, her enemies also know their history and plan on altering it for their own gain. 

"Continuum" milks the premise for all it's worth, while avoiding the pitfall of becoming a run-in-the-mill procedural with an unchanging status quo. While Kiera does handle her share of case-of-the-week story arcs, they're often connected to the group she pursues, and she never lets go of her primary target of stopping the terrorists. In order to avoid disrupting the timeline, she also has to go to great lengths to avoid revealing that either she or her targets are time travelers — and when their actions inevitably end up changing the future, she has to deal with the consequences. 

13. Timeless

If ever there was a time travel show that was canceled too soon, it's Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan's "Timeless." The NBC sci-fi series stars Abigail Spencer as the historian Lucy, Matt Lanter as the soldier Wyatt, and Malcolm Barrett as Rufus, a scientist who makes up a team trying to prevent a mysterious organization from altering the courses of history through time travel. They're up againsts Garcia Flynn (Goran Višnjić), who travels throughout history intending to influence major events like the Hindenburg disaster. However, the team soon realizes that the villain they thought they were fighting is much larger and infiltrates the historical timeline in ways they never imagined. 

Instead of focusing on the usual historical suspects, "Timeless" often highlights forgotten people of color, women, and lesser-known historical figures, giving them their due and celebrating their contributions to society. This element of the show can be seen in the way Rufus, for instance, is reluctant to join the team because he knows how Black people are treated in the eras they visit. 

Despite its intriguing concept, the show was canceled after Season 1, but fans caused such an uproar that NBC reversed the decision of canceling "Timeless"  and renewed it for another season. After Season 2, NBC pulled the plug once more, and again, the fans cried foul. In a kind of compromise, NBC greenlit a special two-hour series finale that ties up loose ends and gives much-needed closure to the story. 

12. 12 Monkeys

The "12 Monkeys" SyFy series is based on the 1995 film of the same name that stars Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt — though the series makes a fair few changes to stretch the plot into a four-season sci-fi drama. The series stars Aaron Sanford as James Cole, a scavenger from the year 2024 who's tasked with traveling to 2015 in order to stop the release of a biological weapon. In the movie, James is helped by a psychologist named Kathryn Railly played by Madeleine Stowe, but here, he befriends a virologist named Dr. Cassandra "Cassie" Railly (Amanda Schull). Pitt's character, Jeffrey Goines, is also gender-swapped here, with Emily Hampshire playing Jennifer Goines.

Like the movie, the series deals with the Cassandra Complex, the idea that we have a hard time believing concerns about the future, no matter how likely and provable they are. It also deals with circular time and the idea that past events can be affected by future ones. If those aspects of the film lift your time travel antennae, the four-season show dives even deeper.

11. Paper Girls

"Paper Girls" is a brilliant time travel show that was canceled way ahead of its time. Based on the comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, this Amazon series tells the story of a group of 1990s tween girls who get attacked by futuristic invaders. They manage to escape into the future, where one of the girls, Erin (Riley Lai Nelet ), meets her adult self (Ali Wong).

The show dispenses with grandfather paradox hand-wringing and instead uses the concept of the girls confronting their past and future selves, to brutally honest and hilarious effect. Young Erin is horrified to find out how much of herself she's abandoned by the time she turns into Old Erin, and refuses to let life work out that way. It motivates Erin to want to return to her home time even more — this kid has a clock to beat. However, there are two sides to the coin, and Old Erin is also able to care for her young self in ways she never felt able to when she was younger. It's a beautiful and potent visual metaphor that other characters also make good on. 

All in all, "Paper Girls" is a feast for the eyes as much as its ensemble cast is a feast for the soul. Plus, Jason Mantzoukas playfully chewing scenery as the ominous Grand Father? This show could have lasted until the end of time — or at least until Season 2.

10. Timewasters

"Timewasters" is a time travel comedy about a Black British jazz band that accidentally time-slips back to 1920s London, among other timelines. The quartet stumbles into an earlier time perod via a disgusting elevator that, yes, doubles as a time machine. Once the crew shows up in the past, they're treated like freaks, but they gain some measure of success as musicians. While the crew eventually tries to return to the present, they also have a "Back to the Future" moment when they seemingly get stuck in the 1950s.

"Timewasters" is full of funny jokes and great music, and it's a groundbreaking show in a number of ways. "People like us never get to time travel — it's what white people do, like skiing or brunch," creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor told the Royal Television Society . "For me, race is so important." Taylor also stars in "Timewasters," along with Kadiff Kirwan ("Slow Horses"), Adelayo Adedayo ("Some Girls"), and Samson Kayo ("Our Flag Means Death"). The show is also an excellent destination if you're into spotting a variety of British actors and comedians ... including Joseph Quinn, who went on to rise to fame as Eddie Munson on "Stranger Things."

9. Outlander

Based on the series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, Starz's "Outlander" follows the story of a World War II nurse named Claire (Caitriona Balfe) who finds herself thrown back in time after visiting a circle of mysterious Druid stones. She arrives in 18th Century Scotland and, after being taken in by a band of gruff Scots, she marries the dashing young Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) in order to avoid being taken prisoner by her real husband's (Tobias Menzies) apparent evil ancestor, Black Jack Randall (Menzies). Claire lives through a time of great upheaval in Scotland when tensions with British control are rising and history-making battles loom in the near future. Despite being initially reluctant to stay, she and Jamie fall deeply in love, and their romance remains the backbone of the series.

The entire "Outlander" timeline  takes some time to explain, what with several 20th-century characters taking the trip to the 18th century and the show covering versions of notable real-world historical events. Without further spoilers, all there is to say is that if you enjoy time travel shows that lean heavily toward historical drama, "Outlander" is where it's at. Also, if you view Tobias Menzies as an incorrigible dweeb due to his performance as Edmure Tully on "Game of Thrones," his monstrous "Outlander" villain is guaranteed to erase that image.

8. Quantum Leap

"Quantum Leap" stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who invents a way to travel through time. When the corporation funding his project threatens to shut it down, Sam uses himself as a guinea pig to test out the method. He finds himself thrown back in time, but in another person's body. The only other entity aware of his 'leap" is a hologram of his colleague and best friend, Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell). Al tells Sam that he must correct things that went wrong in the past before being allowed to leap back to his own time and body, and can only use the resources of the project's supercomputer, Ziggy.

With Sam leaping back and forth into different bodies at different times, the show uses a variant of the traditional procedural set up. New characters turn up to guest star and Sam gets to save the day, have a fling, and learn something new before leaping to the next destination, which just might be home one of these days.  

The series ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993, but its combination of time travel and case-of-the-week antics has proved enduring enough that "Quantum Leap" even gets a shout-out in "Avengers: Endgame." Despite being over three decades old, it remains a cool time travel series worth checking out.

7. The 4400

In the opening scenes of "The 4400," an enormous ball of light drops 4,400 people at the foot of Mount Rainier in Washington. They soon realize that they were all taken from some other point in time and deposited into the year 2004, unaged and without any memories of where they'd been. At first, everyone assumes that these people have been abducted by aliens. However, it soon turns out that the truth is far more time travel-related.

The returned people soon start developing "Heroes"-style powers that range from telekinesis to telepathy and super-strength, which people from the future have entrusted with to prevent various catastrophic events that they want to avoid in their timeline. Unfortunately, the 2004 government considers the powered folks a threat, and inhibits their powers with a neurological drug. 

The stories that unfold from this setup are exactly as complex and entertaining as you'd imagine, with various members of the titular group treating their powers in different ways and society having a hard time dealing with them. Unfortunately, "The 4400" ended abruptly after four seasons on a somewhat ambiguous note, but even so, it's a fun show to revisit.

6. Travelers

In Netflix's "Travelers," time-traveling operatives from a post-apocalyptic future are tasked with preventing certain events that have led to the downfall of society in their own present day of 2018. The travelers' consciousness takes over a person in the desired time who's just about to die, and the operative then lives out the rest of that person's days though with the mission in mind ... and a strict set of rules they must follow. Apart from a list of ways they're not allowed to interact with the past, they're also strictly forbidden from communicating with other known travelers outside their team, save for special circumstances dictated by the Director, who communicates by temporarily taking over children. 

It's a unique and complex premise, and the way the travelers scope out potential targets for takeover and learn to live as them is as timely as it comes — they use social media, GPS locations, and other readily available online information for their time-travel tricks. This adds a layer of present-day dread to the show's fascinating take on time travel. 

Loki Laufeyson (Tom Hiddleston) meets his match when he comes up against the Time Variance Authority in one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most ambitious Disney+ shows, "Loki." The TVA is so dedicated to maintaining a particular sacred timeline that they purge all alternate realities where someone made a choice they deem wrong, which might not always make sense, but precision isn't the point here. It's the idea of playfulness versus control. 

The Loki we see here is an alternate-timeline variant of the one the audiences are familiar with, and thus starts the show in full "The Avengers" villain mode before life — and time — starts grinding him down. Working with TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), he starts redeeming himself by tracking down an apparently evil version of himself, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) ... and ultimately tackling the biggest challenges time can offer.  

The God of Mischief's surprisingly human path of reckoning is the heart of a show that's deliciously stylish, silly, and sometimes scary. "Loki" takes a cops-and-robbers crime caper into time travel territory and explores hefty themes with a light touch, from mindless compliance to self-serving overseers to criminalizing anyone deemed different. "Loki" isn't just a time travel show — it's a show about everything time can offer and more, with characters dancing between eras as you might step from room to room. Also, it has Alligator Loki, who's objectively the best Loki of all. 

If "Loki" is too light-hearted for you, Netflix's "Dark" might be your jam ... provided you can make sense of its incredibly convoluted time travel storyline. Four families weave a tangled web of time travel in this German-language psychological thriller about missing kids, a rotten town, and how almost all of our secrets come out in time. In other words, it's a good time travel show, but it's definitely not a feel-good time travel show. 

"Dark" follows its many characters over the course of their lifetimes and, at one point, has three timelines going at once. Part of the intrigue and challenge of watching the show is trying to understand how (and when) each timeline threads into the other. If you decide to watch it, it's best to have an evidence board and plenty of red yarn ready to chart the relationships and betrayals the town of Winden sees over the years.

While "Dark" is as much a show about human connection and how frayed it can become as it is about time travel, it's also the MVP of using as many time travel paradoxes as possible during its three-season run. "Dark" is also an innovator in the field of wormhole placement. Wormholes are already not to be trusted, but a wormhole underneath a nuclear power plant? No, thank you.

3. Beforeigners

What happens when a bunch of Viking-era warriors, 19th-century figures, and Stone Age people pop up in modern-day Oslo? "Beforeigners" attempts to answer that question while navigating twisty murder mysteries with such efficiency that the Norwegian series may be best described as "crime travel." Adding to the intrigue is the way it focuses more on the present-day relationship between the time refugees and their modern counterparts than on how they showed up in the first place.

"Beforeigners" centers around the odd-couple partnership between hardened police detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) and eager new Viking police recruit Alfhildr Enginnsdóttir (Krista Kosonen), who investigate things like the murder of a Stone Age victim and even look into crimes with possible ties to Jack the Ripper.

The metaphor of time migration is an apt one for immigration, and this sci-fi show explores tricky real-life issues with plenty of scope. Creators Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin got their start in comedy writing, and their commitment to the bit is evident in the show, including the language used. "Early on, I contacted researchers, professors who helped us. We also constructed the language that Stone Age people spoke, and even with the language from the 19th century: We worked on it to make it sound right," Bjørnstad told Variety . "Why not invest in language, which is such a big part of a person's identity?"

2. Russian Doll

"Russian Doll" could be pitched as "Natasha Lyonne's 'Groundhog Day,'" but that still wouldn't hint at half of the show's charm and emotion. This Netflix offering is a mind-bending time loop dramedy that's a stylish and surreal exploration of life, death, and all the trauma in between. Season 1 of "Russian Doll" features Nadia (Lyonne) stuck reliving her 36th birthday until she inevitably dies and resets back to her friend's bathroom. Later in the season, she discovers a fellow time traveler (Charlie Barnett). They quickly realize that the way out of their dead ends and into a new life is through helping each other.

Season 2 takes some departures from the recursive reality set up in the first season, bending viewers' minds even more thoroughly. "Russian Doll" goes deep, but keeps a sense of humor even as it twists the knife in its characters' hearts — and their timelines. The show keeps audiences just oriented enough by linking its time loops to recognizable spaces and sound cues. You will never look at the subway the same way again, and you will probably never get Harry Nilsson's "Gotta Get Up" out of your head.

1. Doctor Who

Really, could any other show top a list like this?  The untold history of "Doctor Who"  goes all the way back to 1963, when the show premiered on the BBC. The series follows the adventures of a Time Lord who calls themselves the Doctor — an alien being from the planet Gallifrey who travels through space and time on a craft called the TARDIS, which is charmingly disguised as an old-fashioned British police call box and is famously bigger on the inside.  Every Doctor has their own companions  – humans who follow the Doctor throughout space and time, helping people, battling new and recurring villains, and dealing with the assorted wibbly-wobbly stuff on the Doctor's timeline .

The original series ran from 1963 through 1989 and established the neat trick of recasting the Doctor every few years or so, thanks to the premise that the character has multiple lives and can reincarnate himself into different physical bodies. The modern series was revived in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, and talented actors like David Tennant (twice), Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whitaker, and Ncuti Gatwa have followed in his footsteps. Even without the fact that no other show has time travel quite as integrated into its very premise as "Doctor Who," the show's sheer longevity and cultural impact are more than enough to make it the king of the time travel hill. 

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The Best Time Travel Shows to Watch on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, and More

We've all dreamed of living in another period

Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander

At this point, there's no shortage of shows that deal with time travel in some capacity. It's a popular subject, and for good reason! Now more than ever you might be looking for an escape from your daily life, or from this era altogether, and no one in their right mind could blame you for that. If you're of the belief that existing in one timeline is overrated, you've arrived at the right list.

Some of the shows here are action-packed dramas, while others take a more whimsical approach to history, but all of them are absolutely binge-worthy masterpieces. Whether you want to travel back hundreds of years or just a couple of decades, you'll find the perfect time travel show recommendation in the list below!

Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next?  We have a ton of them!  And if you're looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on shows you love,  we have those too .

Tom Hiddleston, Loki

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU for short) already know that Loki ( Tom Hiddleston ) is a master trickster. He is literally the god of mischief, and for years his role in these movies was relegated to villain, nuisance, and foil to his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth), but with Loki , he races through time and space in a series that puts him at the forefront of his own story. The series is a crime thriller that follows an alternate version of Loki who stole the Tesseract in  Avengers: Endgame , an event that basically broke reality. And, as these things go, it's now his responsibility to fix what he started. He's recruited by  Owen Wilson 's Mobius M. Mobius at the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA) to travel through history and correct the timeline he messed up. The series is the closest thing to putting an actual comic book on screen, full of madcap twists and turns, and seemingly self-contained, without having to place so much emphasis on setting up for future MCU installments. - Allison Picurro   [Watch on  Disney+ ]

Jodie Whittaker, Doctor Who

This one is a gimme, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Doctor Who , and honestly, if you haven't watched this long-running British sci-fi series already, we're not sure you can even call yourself a fan of time travel. Doctor Who follows a centuries-old alien known as the Doctor who has the ability to regenerate and take on different faces (hence the "long-running" bit). The Doctor, currently portrayed by Jodie Whittaker , takes unsuspecting ladies (and a few dudes) on ridiculous trips through time and space. Yep, this one checks the space travel box too! If you do choose to watch Doctor Who though, be warned -- you will end up in a fight with someone on Tumblr about which Doctor is the best. It's unavoidable.  [Watch on   HBO Max ]

Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson, and Reilly Dolman, Travelers

Netflix's   Travelers , initially a co-production with Canada's Showcase, doesn't get even half the recognition it deserves for constructing impossibly complex time travel mythology that is still understandable and engaging for its audience, so we're recognizing it by putting it on this list. In the series, squads of elite soldiers travel to the present from hundreds of years in the future in order to change history and save the human race. If that doesn't sound cool enough, let us just add that they do so by sending their consciousnesses into the bodies of people about to die and assuming their identities. So. Freaking. Cool.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull, 12 Monkeys

Based on the 1995 movie with the same name, 12 Monkeys follows a time traveler who travels from 2043 to 2015 to stop a deadly virus from wiping out most of the planet's population. However, what starts out as a simple mission to the past turns into a mind-boggling journey through some of the biggest historical events of the 20th century and a pretty epic love story. This series really digs into the rules of time travel like causation and paradoxes, so while it may give you one of the aforementioned headaches, it's seriously worth it.  [Watch on  Hulu ]

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Olivia Swan, Dominic Purcell and Nick Zano, DC Legends of Tomorrow 

In a sea of series that focus on saving the world with time travel, DC's Legends of Tomorrow easily could have gotten lost in the shuffle. Luckily, this CW series quickly established itself as one part nonsense, two parts pure fun, which set it apart from all the rest. If you're looking for a lighter series to help you while the days away, this one is definitely for you. The Legends team does end up saving the world quite a few times, but most of the time they just wind up turning themselves into singing puppets or fighting giant stuffed animals.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

If you're looking for something a little more romantic to binge-watch, Outlander is your ticket. This series follows Claire Beauchamp ( Caitriona Balfe ), an English WWII nurse who accidentally travels from 1945 back to 1743 while on a trip to Scotland with her husband ( Tobias Menzies ). Thrown into the past and desperate to get home, Claire finds herself embroiled in a Scottish uprising while slowly but surely falling in love with a ruggedly handsome redhead named Jamie Fraser ( Sam Heughan ).  [Watch on   Netflix ,  Starz ,  Hulu with Starz add-on ,  Amazon Prime with Starz add-on ]

Abigail Spencer, Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter; Timeless

Though Timeless was canceled twice , its devoted fanbase, known as Clockblockers, were so passionate that the NBC series ended up getting a two-hour series finale to wrap things up, so you won't have to worry about a cliffhanger ending. The show follows a history professor ( Abigail Spencer ), a soldier ( Matt Lanter ), and an engineer ( Malcolm Barrett ) who use a government-created time machine to track down a mysterious villain who is trying to rewrite American history. This series pairs the whimsy of DC's Legends of Tomorrow with the high stakes of 12 Monkeys , making it the perfect "middle of the road" option for time travel fans.  [Watch on  Hulu ]

Though it was canceled after just one season, we're still including Terra Nova on this list because DINOSAURS. Set in a dying world where overpopulation has humans on the brink of extinction, scientists have found a way to send people back in time to the Cretaceous Period where the air is breathable, food is plentiful, and the human race can start over. Unfortunately, it's also where dinosaurs are hungry for human flesh, so that's a problem. This show wasn't executed very well (hence its cancellation), but it's worth a watch anyway just to see hot people running away from raptors.  [Watch on  Amazon ]

Lost in Austen

Jemima Rooper, Elliot Cowan, Alex Kingston, Gemma Arterton, and Hugh Bonneville, Lost in Austen

When you're ready to take a break from all the action and adventure, Lost in Austen is a great time travel alternative. Rather than traveling through time per se, lead character Amanda Price ( Jemima Rooper ) travels into the world of her favorite novel, Pride & Prejudice . Caught up in the Georgian Era -- and the fictional lives of Mr. Darcy ( Elliot Cowan ) and the Bennet family -- Amanda unwittingly ends up as a character in the story she loves so dearly, and falling in love with Darcy herself.  [Watch on  BritBox ]

The critically acclaimed Netflix series  Dark  is not only a complicated time travel drama, it's also a German series, so get ready to turn those subtitles on! The series, which just wrapped up its third and final season, follows multiple generations of four interconnected families living in the German town of Winden (once you've finished the show, our family tree will help explain how everyone is connected ), which just so happens to be home to an underground tunnel and wormhole. Time travel and family drama make for an extremely complicated series (we don't recommend just having this one on in the background, folks), but once you get into it, you'll never look back.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

Screen Rant

10 best time travel shows, ranked.

Time travel has been used in television since the medium began, but with all of those choices, some time travel shows stand above the rest.

• Key takeaways:
• Time travel is a versatile plot line that can be used in various genres, from superhero shows like DC's Legends of Tomorrow, to survival dramas like Lost, to romantic series like Outlander.
• Different shows approach time travel in unique ways, such as integrating it with video games in Future Man or exploring familiar time periods in Timeless.
• Time travel shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Star Trek: Next Generation successfully incorporate time travel into their plot lines, keeping it interesting even after multiple seasons.

Time travel is a timeless media trope, and there are so many TV shows that use it successfully. From the superhero genre to more artistic miniseries, every genre has taken a crack at bending time and space for their characters. It's an interesting method to test the will and hearts of characters because, while it's based in humanity, it's nothing viewers have experienced themselves.

Time travel stays a relevant and interesting plot line because of how versatile it is. The time travel could refer to a place that's specifically stuck in one time, like the casino in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It could also manifest as a superpower for an individual. There are several shows that create organizations around protecting time and have their protagonists interact with them. While several of these formats are used repeatedly, the variety keeps them fresh every time they're reused in new media. It's hard to narrow down so many great shows, but there are standouts in the time travel, science fiction genre.

10 DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022)

DC's Legends of Tomorrow was a part of the iconic era of CW television when the Arrowverse was on every weeknight. This show follows a group of ragtag antiheroes as they travel through time to stop magical villains. This series has the quintessential elements of a time travel show, like weird creatures and the butterfly effect impacting all of their lives, but it is on the cornier side. Given the CW's nature, there's a lot of emphasis on morality and the use of obvious jokes. The show does have some great, unexpected reveals that are engaging. The main character is also part of the LGBTQ+ community, which is nice to see at the forefront of a series.

9 Lost (2004-2010)

It's not an overstatement to say this show changed television when it was on. Lost followed a group of stranded passengers after their plane crashes and they find themselves on a mysterious island. The first two seasons of Lost focused on the struggles of living on the island, and it felt like a survival show, but in season 2, episode 13, "The Long Con", time travel is introduced. It is eventually shown how Lost 's island travels through time and the series changed from there. However, the use of time travel in this show did feel confusing and eventually got convoluted. There's still a lot of debate about what even happened in the series finale of the show. While it was revolutionary, there were still kinks to be worked out.

8 Outlander (2014-Present)

Based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander is a hit series on Starz that follows Claire—a 1940s army nurse—who travels through time to 18th-century Scotland. She meets Jamie Fraser, a Scottish soldier, and they fall in love. Their romance is complicated as Claire has a husband in her original time that she thinks she'll never see again. Throughout the seasons, they travel back and forth between Claire's past and present all while trying to raise a family and keep their romance alive. The repetition of time travel is bound to feel tiresome—and a little ridiculous—after 7 seasons and a final one on its way. Outlander 's timeline was not exempt from that.

7 Timeless (2016-2018)

Timeless is a show that follows a group of unexpected allies as they try to stop a man from changing the course of history for his own benefit. The best part of this show is the relationships between the characters. The three leads are a history professor, a scientist, and a soldier respectively, which builds a team with every skill base covered. Another interesting part of this show is that the characters explore familiar time periods. One example is the episode that centered around Marie Curie, which was not only compelling to see play out on TV, but it also gave the characters ample space to nerd out.

6 Future Man (2017-2020)

Josh Hutcherson plays a custodian named Josh Futturman in this time-traveling series. After beating a video game, mysterious and dangerous visitors start appearing from the future to tell Josh that he's the only one who can protect the world from an impending alien attack. The aliens were called to him because his video game was a tactic to recruit only the best soldiers for war. Pairing a video game and time travel isn't used very often, so it did help to make this show even more intriguing. Future Man is hilariously crude and uses bright colors for sets and wardrobe to make this a refreshing addition to the time travel show roster.

5 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020)

While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't the traditional time travel show, it absolutely counts. Time travel was a theme in the first couple of seasons, but became the sole transport method in the last three seasons. The show didn't start with time travel in its plot line, but it has the perfect platform to make that shift since superhero content leaves little for impossibility. The series adapted well to time travel. It integrated its characters seamlessly into every era they were in with costumes, sets, and individual development. The final season had the team in a different time each episode, which returned the series to its episodic case pattern from season 1.

4 Star Trek: Next Generation (1987-1994)

The Star Trek universe has to be on this list in some way, and Star Trek: Next Generation is the perfect option. This show is set 100 years after the era of Captain Kirk, and it follows a group of new officers through time and space on their adventures. One notable episode is season 5, episode 18, “Cause and Effect”, when the crew is trapped in a loop that teaches them about the dangers of messing with time. Star Trek shows all have the same basic understanding of time travel, but Star Trek: Next Generation manages to keep it interesting, even after so many iterations before it.

3 The Umbrella Academy (2019-Current)

As a show that centers around a group of seven siblings with superpowers, it only makes sense that one of them can travel through time. Number Five, played by Aidan Gallagher, appears at the beginning of season 1 after being missing for several years. He travels through time to his family home, still stuck as a 13-year-old, while his siblings are all now 30-year-olds. At the end of every season, and often throughout seasons as well, time travel is effortlessly worked into the plot. Five carries the weight of the world, and often has to save it using time travel. There are changes to how he uses the skill within The Umbrella Academy 's time travel rules , so it doesn't feel overused.

2 Loki (2021-Current)

Time travel is used all over MCU canon-compliant media, and the hit show Loki is no different. Loki is captured by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) at the end of the alternate timeline from Avengers: Endgame. He spends season 1 traveling through time and space with Mobius, a TVA agent, to stop threats to the Sacred Timeline. Since time travel is so embedded in the idea of this show, it doesn't feel out of place. While it's a serious series with a complicated plot, it also stays loyal to the Marvel style and uses Loki's sardonic humor to balance it. The sets are really successful in establishing different times, and it always feels like being in a different world.

1 Russian Doll (2019-Current)

Russian Doll is a Netflix original series that follows Natasha Lyonne's character, Nadia, as she is stuck in a time loop of her 36th birthday party as she repeatedly dies. This show has pieces from every genre, which keeps it funny, intense, and unpredictable. Russian Doll explains the time travel rules in its universe effortlessly, making it feel natural without being too complicated. This show uses time loops, which are a specific type of time travel that can feel really repetitive, especially when it goes on for an entire season. With all of this, Russian Doll escapes that repetitive and tiresome feeling and keeps the plot moving.

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New time travel TV series in 2024

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Best time travel tv series on netflix, amazon prime, hulu, disney+ or dvd in 2024.

Quantum Leap

A Time Called You

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Again my Life

The Shining Girls

Paper Girls

The Peripheral

Tales from the Loop

The Wheel of Time

Twice Upon a Time

De Volta Aos 15

El ministerio del tiempo

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The 25 Best Time Travel TV Shows, From ‘Doctor Who’ to ‘Timeless’

There are a few reasons we’re obsessed with time travel TV shows. For one, the high-stakes adventures promise plenty of mystery and thrills. And better yet, they span across a variety of genres, from historical dramas and comedies to mystery thrillers.

So, for our next binge-watching session, we're living vicariously through our favorite characters as they journey through time, whether they're exploring a major period in history or visiting a futuristic society. From Doctor Who to Timeless, keep reading for the best time travel TV shows you can stream right now.

The 20 Best Time Travel Movies to Stream Right Now (That Aren’t ‘Back to the Future’)

1. Dc’s Legends Of Tomorrow

• Rating: TV-14
• Who’s in it: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Arthur Darvill. Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh

Set in the Arrowverse, this superhero series includes several familiar DC characters, like White Canary, Captain Cold, Firestorm and Vixen. But fortunately, you don’t have to be well-versed on all things DC comics to enjoy this one. The CW series documents the adventures of a diverse team of superheroes as they travel through time to prevent disasters. And naturally, there’s no shortage of epic combat scenes.

2. Doctor Who

• Rating: TV-PG
• Who’s in it: Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, David Tennant

Given that Doctor Who has become synonymous with time travel, it would be a crime to not include this classic. Over the span of 13 seasons, the show offered several versions of the Time Lord as they step into the infamous TARDIS and get swept through time. Seeing these heroes fight to save humanity and protect history just never gets old.

3. Timeless

• Who’s in it: Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett

An unlikely team travels through time to stop the criminal mastermind, who stole an experimental time machine. And as they pursue him, they learn that he plans to change the course of history. Though it's not 100 percent perfect in terms of historical accuracy, it delivers plenty of action and thought-provoking themes.

4. Outlander

• Rating: TV-MA
• Who’s in it: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Sophie Skelton

Set during World War II, Outlander tells the story of a married army nurse named Claire, who time travels to the year 1743 while in Scotland and starts a passionate relationship with a Highlander. Steamy intimate scenes, feminist themes and breathtaking scenery are just a few things you can expect from this beloved period drama.

5. Manifest

• Who’s in it: Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J. R. Ramirez

Can you imagine hopping on a plane and landing five and a half years in the future? That’s exactly what happens to the passengers of a turbulent flight in this gripping supernatural drama. When they all return, they discover that their plane went missing and mysteriously returned years later. But what really happened? (You’ll have to wait until season 4 to get that answer, but until then, enjoy the first three seasons on Netflix.)

6. Beforeigners

• Who’s in it: Krista Kosonen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Stig R. Amdam

HBO Nordic's first-ever original series follows a group of people from different time periods, who mysteriously land in 21st-century Norway. Dubbed the "beforeigners," these migrants attempt to blend in with the modern-day world—although it proves to be more challenging for some than others.

• Who’s in it: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick

A cross between The X-Files and The Twilight Zone , Fringe follows the FBI's Fringe Division, where the team uses fringe science (a branch that explores the most bizarre or far-fetched theories) to investigate a series of mysterious cases—some of which are connected to alternate timelines. Fun fact: The show spawned three novels and a comic book series.

8. Quantum Leap

• Who’s in it: Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell, Deborah Pratt

Bakula plays the iconic Dr. Sam Beckett in this five-time Emmy Award-winning series, and his random adventures will give you major Doctor Who vibes. Join the physicist as he “leaps” through time to fix historical errors.

9. My Only Love Song

• Who’s in it: Lee Jong-hyun, Gong Seung-yeon, Lee Jae-jin

Soo-jung (Seung-yeon), a self-obsessed movie star, accidentally time travels to 6th-century Gogurye after falling into a portal. There, she meets the handsome On-dal (Jong-hyun), a guy who appears to be just as obsessed with his wealth as she is. But his generosity towards people in need forces her to reconsider her own values.

• Who’s in it: Yuki Furukawa, Mio Yuki, Jin Shirasu

Based on Kei Sanbe’s Japanese manga series of the same title, Erased revolves around a man named Satoru Fujinuma, who has the ability to go back in time and stop life-threatening events right before they happen. But when his mother gets murdered, he’s sent back nearly two decades, giving him the opportunity to save even more lives.

• Who’s in it: Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero

Loki picks up right where Avengers: Endgame left off, with the God of Mischief accidentally creating a new timeline as a result of stealing the Tesseract. And now, the authorities present him with two options: to either accept his punishment or to travel back in time to correct his mistakes. Almost any Marvel fan will agree that this series is full of charm and a welcome change from the pacing and tone of the Marvel films.

12. Terra Nova

• Who’s in it: Jason O'Mara, Shelley Conn, Christine Adams, Allison Miller

Humanity gets a major do-over in this fascinating series, and there’s more than enough compelling themes to keep you invested (like Utopias gone terribly wrong). Terra Nova follows the Shannon family as they flee from a dying Earth in 2149 and travel to prehistoric Earth, where they join a colony of people known as Terra Nova and attempt to rebuild a civilization.

13. 11.22.63

• Who’s in it: James Franco, Sarah Gadon, Cherry Jones

Inspired by Stephen King’s novel 11/22/63 , the show details one time traveler’s efforts to go back in time and stop the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy. But when he goes to the year 1960, he builds a new life that could threaten the success of his mission. It’s worth noting that James Franco gives an unforgettable performance as Jake Epping/George Amberson.

14. Making History

• Who’s in it: Adam Pally, Leighton Meester and Yassir Lester.

Pally, Meester and Lester star as three friends from different time periods, who take full advantage of their ability to time travel—until they realize the ramifications of their adventures. The show is humorous and silly in the best possible way.

15. Somewhere Between

• Who’s in it: Paula Patton, Devon Sawa, JR Bourne

Laura Price (Patton) has it all: a successful career, a loving husband and a delightful young daughter. But when a serial killer murders her child, she falls into depression and attempts suicide. After the incident, Laura is stunned to find that she time traveled to the week before her daughter’s death. Can she save her daughter?

16. Umbrella Academy

• Who’s in it: Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman

The Haragreeves have become our favorite dysfunctional family, and for good reason. In this Netflix series, the seven adopted superhero siblings team up to investigate their father’s death and save the world from an apocalypse. But when they try to travel back in time, they end up in different periods, which only complicates things.

• Who’s in it: Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee

Amy Poehler teamed up with Natasha Lyonne ( Orange Is the New Black ) and Leslye Headland ( Bachelorette ) to create this critically acclaimed comedy drama. The series follows a game developer named Nadia (Lyonne), who finds herself trapped in a time loop after she dies at a party. As she tries to escape this trap, however, she discovers that she isn’t the only one. Yes, it sounds a bit like a modernized version of Groundhog Day , but trust us, it’s unpredictable and incredibly refreshing.

18. Travelers

• Who’s in it: Eric McCormack, Mackenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson

A surviving group of humans, who live centuries in the future, have figured out how to send their consciousness back in time. Known as “Travelers,” they all go back to the 21st-century and assume the identities of random people with one mission in mind: to save the future of humanity.

19. Continuum

• Who’s in it: Rachel Nichols, Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen

The year is 2077, and the U.S. has officially become a corporatocracy. But three criminals, known as Liber8, are determined to go back in time and change the course of history by stopping corporations from replacing the government. As they time travel to the year 2012, a police officer joins them and does everything in her power to stop their violent plans—all while hiding that she’s from the future.

20. 12 Monkeys

• Who’s in it: Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Barbara Sukowa

Follow the exploits of scavenger James Cole (Aaron Stanford) as he time travels from 2043 to the year 2015 to stop a deadly virus from wiping out most of the human race. Expect plenty of twists and complex themes that’ll spark interesting convos, from corporate greed to the downsides of technological progress.

21. The Ministry Of Time

• Who’s in it: Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, Juan Gea, Francesca Piñón

Welcome to The Ministry of Time, a top-secret Spanish organization that’s responsible for guarding the doors of time and reporting all time travel incidents to the Prime Minister. The series focuses on the Ministry’s patrol as they carry out their assignments, and while there’s no shortage of thrills, the show also does a phenomenal job of weaving in bits of Spain's history.

• Who’s in it: Louis Hofmann, Julika Jenkins, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Schöne

Set in the fictional German town of Winden, Dark centers on four families who are connected to the mysterious disappearance of two children. Aside from exploring their relationships, the show takes viewers on a wild journey that involves a major time travel conspiracy—one that spans multiple generations.

23. Always A Witch

• Who’s in it: Angely Gaviria, Sofia Bernal Araujo, Dylan Fuentes, Valeria Henríquez

The Colombian series follows Carmen, a 19-year-old 17th-century witch who gets sentenced to death for falling in love with her master's son. However, she escapes her fate by time-traveling to modern day Cartagena as part of a deal with a wizard. Her task? To help him break his curse.

24. Voyagers!

• Rating: TV-G
• Who’s in it: Jon-Erik Hexum, Meeno Peluce, David Cadiente

Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) and his partner in crime, Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Peluce), are members of a secret group known as the Voyagers, who are tasked with making sure that history doesn’t change. The feel-good cult classic only lasted for one season, but all 20 episodes are simply delightful and worth the watch.

• Who’s in it: Rosa Salazar, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie

This animated drama revolves around a young woman named Alma (Rosa Salazar), who, per the official logline , explores "the elastic nature of reality" after surviving a dangerous car accident. She then uses her newfound ability to investigate her father's death. (Psst, look out for the second season, which premieres on April 29 on Amazon Prime.)

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The Best New Shows About Time Travel

Engage in a riveting journey as we propel you into the captivating spectrum of compelling series that unfurl through time. Seamless blends of suspense, heart-thumping action, and mesmerizing storytelling characterize our carefully curated catalog of ongoing time-travel shows, promising more than a mere dalliance with the past, present, and future. 

Spanning more than 30 tantalizing shows, our lineup paints a fascinating tapestry of narratives that intrigue and inspire. From adrenaline-amplifying temporal adventures to spine-chilling thriller series that transcend perceived temporal realities, these narratives prod at the seams of the temporal fabric, offering a peek into the labyrinth of time. 

Ensuring comprehensive viewer engagement, our list is dynamically shaped by the collective preferences of an ever-evolving fandom. Check out the reviews, cast your vote using the interactive feature, and ensure your voice is heard in these crowd-sourced rankings. 

Your journey from selection to viewing is set to be a hassle-free adventure. Supporting a multi-streaming setup, each listing in our assortment comes equipped with dedicated service buttons for prominent streaming platforms. Spot these shortcuts for streaming giants like Amazon Prime, Max, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, and Disney+ conveniently positioned for each series for an easy, immersive viewing escapade. 

Our diverse suite is not merely a compilation of TV shows but is a passion-fueled, expertly curated assembly of storytelling genius. Different genres, directions, and dimensions coalesce under the broad umbrella of time travel, bringing you a rich slice of what imaginative authors and ingenious producers have dared to conceive. Steer clear of temporal paradoxes and let engaging narratives piloted by charismatic characters guide you safely through the river of time. Prepare for an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that defies the arrows of time, prying into the past, future, and everything in between.

Spanning over an incredible six decades, Doctor Who has solidified its legacy as one of the most influential television shows centering around time travel. With a seemingly endless roster of captivating characters, innovative storylines, and complex relationships that transcend time and space, this long-running British series pushes the bounds of conventional storytelling to dazzling new heights. The protagonist's ability to regenerate into different forms throughout the series adds a refreshing dimensionality rarely seen in other shows. Following the various incarnations of the enigmatic Time Lord known as the Doctor, viewers are treated to an array of thrilling adventures through past, present, and future worlds.

Is Doctor Who Worth Your Time?

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Outlander masterfully intertwines elements of historical fiction, romance, and fantasy for a riveting exploration of love across centuries. Based on Diana Gabaldon's best-selling novels, the show follows Claire Randall as she unexpectedly journeys from post-World War II Scotland back to 1743—a period fraught with political intrigue and danger. As Claire navigates this unfamiliar landscape while desperately seeking her way back home, she finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with highlander Jamie Fraser that defies not only societal norms but also challenges the very fabric of time itself.

Is Outlander Worth Your Time?

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Marvel enthusiasts can revel in Loki’s compelling foray into time manipulation as the mischievous god—played by Tom Hiddleston—navigates his way through an intricate web of quantum possibilities under duress from the Time Variance Authority (TVA). This gripping expansion of Marvel’s cinematic universe delves into themes such as destiny versus free will and examines how manipulation of timelines can have far-reaching consequences in a multiverse teetering on chaos. Combining action-packed sequences with moments brimming with existential introspection makes Loki essential viewing for fans of both superhero epics and thought-provoking sci-fi dramas.

Is Loki Worth Your Time?

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The Flash showcases themes including alternate realities, time paradoxes, and cosmic consequences through the prism of a classic superhero story. Centered on Barry Allen, a forensic scientist endowed with supernatural speed after a freak accident, the show follows his efforts to protect Central City from malevolent forces while grappling with the repercussions of manipulating timelines. Brimming with well-developed characters, emotional depth, and captivating story arcs that stretch across multiple timelines, The Flash delivers an exhilarating exploration of how even the most well-intentioned acts can have unforeseen consequences.

Is The Flash Worth Your Time?

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Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap remains an iconic entry in time travel television due in part to its innovative premise: Dr. Sam Beckett's consciousness leaping through time within various people's lives in order to correct historical wrongs—often discovering profound personal insights along the way. This 90s cult classic skillfully blends elements of drama, comedy, and science fiction while providing valuable commentary on societal issues still relevant today. Aided by his endearing holographic guide Al Calavicci, Dr. Beckett's heartrending journey back to his present offers poignant reflections on humanity’s capacity for redemption.

Is Quantum Leap Worth Your Time?

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Twinkling Watermelon

A hidden gem in time travel television is Twinkling Watermelon —a fantastical journey into mysticism and interdimensional realms led by a pair of endearing protagonists. This whimsical tale explores deep existential questions as it weaves through parallel existences, challenging viewers' perceptions of reality while maintaining a quirky charm that sets it apart from traditional sci-fi fare. As our heroes navigate both temporal and metaphysical quandaries to unravel the secrets behind their entwined destinies, audiences are enchanted by this unforgettable adventure that pushes the boundaries of storytelling with each unexpected twist.

Is Twinkling Watermelon Worth Your Time?

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The Lazarus Project

The Lazarus Project probes the depths of human morality by presenting its characters with an irresistible opportunity: a chance to rewrite their own personal histories free from pain or regret—a tantalizing premise fraught with unforeseen consequences. As these ordinary people grapple with questions surrounding fate versus free will and assess their true desires when granted absolute power over their destinies, viewers are treated to a thematically rich exploration of humanity’s potential for both greatness and self-destruction.

Is The Lazarus Project Worth Your Time?

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La Brea presents a unique spin on time travel by plunging its diverse cast into an uncharted prehistoric world following a catastrophic sinkhole event in modern-day Los Angeles. Armed with only their wits and survival instincts, these involuntary time travelers must navigate the treacherous landscapes of this primeval realm while grappling with impossible choices that could disrupt the fragile balance of time itself. This ambitious series provides a fresh take on the genre, seamlessly blending action-packed adventure with emotionally resonant human stories.

Is La Brea Worth Your Time?

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Tales from the Loop

Inspired by Simon Stålenhag's hauntingly evocative artwork, Tales from the Loop explores the lives of individuals living in an alternate reality where advanced technology is integrated into daily existence. The show's subtle approach to time manipulation offers viewers a refreshing departure from more overtly fantastical entries in the genre. Featuring a captivating ensemble cast and expertly crafted narratives that delve into themes such as love, loss, and longing across temporal dimensions, this mesmerizing anthology series invites contemplation of life's most profound mysteries.

Is Tales from the Loop Worth Your Time?

Secrets of Sulphur Springs

Secrets of Sulphur Springs offers a unique perspective on time travel by presenting it through the eyes of teenagers experiencing its miraculous possibilities first-hand as they uncover dark secrets within their small town. Blending elements of mystery, adventure, and heartache, this family-friendly series demonstrates how even seemingly insignificant choices can have far-reaching implications across generations while delivering a poignant message about the power—and potential peril—of friendship when faced with life-altering decisions.

Is Secrets of Sulphur Spr... Worth Your Time?

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The Ministry of Time

Hailing from Spain, The Ministry of Time expertly weaves elements of historical fiction with thrilling adventures through past and future eras as agents work to maintain the integrity of history itself. From ancient Rome to futuristic utopias, each episode immerses viewers in meticulously crafted worlds rich with intrigue and danger—all while maintaining a keen focus on character development that keeps audiences invested in every twist and turn. Blending humor and drama seamlessly, this international gem boasts enthralling storytelling that transcends both language barriers and conventional expectations for television.

Is The Ministry of Time Worth Your Time?

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract seamlessly combines elements of time-bending supernatural intrigue with tender romance in this captivating Korean drama. When a mysterious contract sends the main protagonist spiraling back through time, she becomes entwined in an emotional love triangle that forces her to confront the limits of her own heart and the true nature of fate itself. This well-crafted narrative invites viewers to marvel at both fantastical temporal twists and authentic character connections that make for an unforgettable viewing experience.

Is The Story of Park's Ma... Worth Your Time?

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A Time Called You

A Time Called You delves into the intricacies and implications surrounding second chances as its protagonist unexpectedly finds herself transported 10 years into her past—a pivotal moment that forever altered her life's trajectory. Torn between the desire to rewrite a painful chapter and an innate understanding of the delicate balance governing temporal order, she faces impossible choices that challenge both her own sense of identity and viewers' preconceived notions about the nature of time itself.

Is A Time Called You Worth Your Time?

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Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. provides an unexpected twist on time-travel tropes by exploring them within an offbeat animation series centered around a megalomaniacal supervillain striving for world domination. As M.O.D.O.K.’s hapless attempts at conquering humanity repeatedly face setbacks—including encounters with alternate versions of himself from different timelines—he ultimately learns valuable lessons about personal growth and self-reflection amidst his twisted quest for power. Striking a perfect balance between irreverent humor and heartfelt character moments, this quirky show appeals not only to fans of superhero tales but anyone seeking a fresh take on familiar themes.

Is M.O.D.O.K. Worth Your Time?

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Back to 15 draws upon its protagonist’s journey back in time as an opportunity for poignant self-discovery and a reflection on the decisions that shaped her life. Employing clever narrative devices and emotionally charged storytelling, this Brazilian series offers relatable musings on adolescence, love, friendship, and personal growth—all wrapped up within a captivating exploration of time travel's potential consequences.

Is Back to 15 Worth Your Time?

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Time Hustler

Time Hustler flawlessly combines elements of crime drama with thrilling temporal adventures as its protagonists bend the rules of time in pursuit of ill-gotten gains—only to find themselves increasingly entangled in moral ambiguities along the way. As both law enforcement forces and their own consciences close in on them, these enterprising criminals must grapple with the true cost of their actions while navigating an ever-shifting web of temporal possibilities. Intriguing plotlines, compelling character arcs, and high-stakes suspense make Time Hustler essential viewing for fans seeking new twists on familiar themes in television.

Is Time Hustler Worth Your Time?

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As they say in well-written scripts, "You mean... like time travel?" + also a few bizarre stories about real people who have claimed, despite every law of physics, they have traveled through time.

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From 'Timeless' to 'Quantum Leap': 9 adventurous time travel TV shows worth going back to watch

The time periods might get old, but these shows never do.

Get ready to travel back to 10,000 B.C., because the second half of  La Brea 's sophomore season is here. The first half of Season 2 ended with most of the main cast deciding to return to perhistoric times rather than stick around in the '80s, in the hopes that they might one day be able to return to their correct time period. And, we learned that the cause of all this time travel madness might lie in the future, in the year 2076.

The midseason premiere , which runs a full two hours and airs tonight, Jan. 31, on NBC at 9 p.m. Eastern, will only take place in the year 10,000 B.C., though, as will the rest of the season, according showrunner David Appelbaum . Even if this next string of episodes won't involve any actual time traveling, the occasion of the midseason premiere has us thinking about some of the best time travel TV shows around.

We aimed at time-travel shows that skew more toward letting us explore the past and (recent) present in new ways. So, not a lot of apocalypse action to be had here (though we definitely recommend you binge more apocalyptic/future-y fare like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 12 Monkeys , and Continuum , too!). Instead, we’re looking at shows with more of a time-travel adventure bent focused on the far-flung or recent past.

From the biggies to deep cuts, these are some great time machines to jump into and distract yourself from reality.

01 . Timeless

If you’re looking for a wild, fun time-travel adventure, look no further than the short-lived Timeless . The series was a modest hit on NBC, inspiring a fervent fanbase, but the love wasn’t enough to extend its run past two seasons (plus an extended special to wrap up the show’s dangling storylines).

The series followed a rag-tag team of heroes as they zipped through time to different periods, trying to avert changes to the timeline and stop a mysterious cabal out to twist time to its own ends. It visited some great periods, from the Alamo to the heart of the space race in the late 1960s. It was smart, fun, and had a ton of heart.

Plus, even though the run was cut short, it actually has a true ending — so no pesky cancellation cliffhangers here.

How to watch: Hulu

02 . Legends of Tomorrow

The CW’s weirdest and wildest superhero show is also one of the most ambitiously goofy time travel exploits ever attempted. The series follows a team of D-list heroes thrown together on a space ship as they fly through time to try and stop "anomalies" in the timeline (they also tackle monsters and evil escapees from Hell along the way, to boot).

The show is just silly enough to work, but features enough seriousness to really make those time travel stories resonate along the way. Even more fun, all that time travel is also infused with tons of nods to decades of DC Comics lore, so there’s something for everybody.

Meet young Obama one episode, then head back to the Wild West (with Jonah Hex!) the next.

How to watch: Netflix, The CW app

03 . Outlander

This is a time travel story that starts in the past then goes way further back, but it’s one heck of a lovely and compelling tale.

The show follows a young woman who is swept from the 1940s all the way back to the 1700s, where romance, intrigue, and fantasy all come into play. It’s a love story at its heart, while also a fascinating exploration of the differences in a life lived across the eras.

How to watch: Netflix, Starz

04 . Quantum Leap

The OG, baby. This beloved late-1980s, early-1990s sci-fi series follows a man out of time, bouncing from body to body as he tries to right wrongs across the time stream.

Starring Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, the show was smart, funny, and ahead of its time in a lot of ways. It also explored a ton of great periods in history, telling small-scale and world-shaking tales from the 1950s to the 1980s. With plenty of buzz about the reboot , it’s the perfect time to go back and enjoy those early adventures.

How to watch: Fridays on SYFY as part of SYFY Rewind.

05 . Making History

There’s a decent chance you missed this one the first go ‘round, and it’d be hard to blame you. The short-lived Fox comedy was burned off with little fanfare, having its initial 13-episode order chopped down to just nine before it was canceled.

But oh, what a fun nine episodes they were.

The show followed a slacker who figures out how to travel through time and does just that with his two pals. Think Doctor Who meets Bill & Ted , kinda? It also had a surprisingly rich pedigree, produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and starring Adam Pally, Leighton Meester, and Yassir Lester.

It was clever, hilarious, and really dug into the question of what you might really do with a time machine.

Watch it on : Amazon Prime (For Purchase)

06 . Doctor Who

The Doctor has been zipping around through history for longer than a lot of us have been alive and knows a thing or two about mucking around in the time stream.

Though the show often veers off into full-on sci-fi and fantasy, the time travel episodes are the meat and potatoes that make up the DNA of Doctor Who . The rotating regenerations of the Doctor have bounced everywhere from Pompeii to a trip back to hang out with Vincent van Gogh. Not to mention the fact that, if you’re looking for a very long binge, there are decades of Doctor Who going back to the early days, plus 12 seasons of the more modern run to keep you plenty busy.

Watch it on:  HBO Max

07 . Life On Mars (U.S.)

This one is based on a British series, but for our purposes, we’ll keep the focus on the U.S. version. The show starred Jason O’Mara as a present-day detective who wakes up in 1973 New York.

It’s a trippy, well-constructed cop and sci-fi series at its core, but more than that, it’s a compelling look at New York City in that much wilder era of the early 1970s. The vibe, the feel, the smell, even — it’s all there.

If you’re looking to disappear to the grittier, bell-bottomed world of NYC’s past, this should do the trick.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime (For Purchase)

08 . 11.22.63

This Stephen King-based miniseries was one of Hulu’s buzzy originals when it was still getting deeper into the original programming arena back around 2016. It follows a man, played by James Franco, who discovers the ability to travel back to the 1960s. So he takes on a mission to try and stop the assassination of JFK, forging a new life for himself in the 1960s in the hopes his efforts will make the world a better place. It also makes for an easy, concise binge, clocking in at eight episodes.

Watch it on: Hulu

09 . Journeyman

This short-lived 2007 series had all the makings of a sci-fi hit, except for the ratings. But despite its short run, the show was a smart, modern-day twist on the Quantum Leap formula.

It followed a newspaper reporter who suddenly starts jumping back in time, where he realizes he needs to help tweak the lives of those he meets for the better (sound familiar). But more than that, we get to see the impact these jumps make on his own life, as he reconnects with people from his past with the perspective and knowledge of his “future” life.

Sadly, it’s a bit hard to find on streaming, but well worth it if you can track it down.

Watch it on: Full series is available on DVD.

Watch SurrealEstate

• DC's Legends Of Tomorrow
• Quantum Leap
• Science Fiction
• Time Travel

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80 of the Best Entertaining Time Travel TV Shows You Need To Watch

With romance, adventure, and fun plot twists, these time travel TV shows are sure to entertain.

The time travel trope is quintessentially romantic, with different themes and elements giving it a desperate, romantic air. There is the lone time traveler, bouncing across time in search of lost love. Or a group of travelers unable to return home due to a rift in the space/time continuum. Better yet, the star-crossed lovers fated only to get snatches of time together.  Swoon . There is so much to love about time travel TV shows!

At  The Silver Petticoat Review , we love time travel TV shows so much that we thought a list of binge-worthy shows was necessary.

Depending on your taste in time travel stories, below are 21 binge-worthy dramas, romantic comedies, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories (plus 59 bonus recommendations at the end). Not all are traditional versions of the trope, but each one includes an element of time travel.

Get ready! Your watch list is about to become longer!

Note:  Availability for the “Where to Watch” sections are for the US and are subject to change at any time. It was last updated in December 2022.

BINGE-WORTHY TIME TRAVEL TV SHOWS (#1-21)

(in no particular order).

#1 Timeless *

Synopsis:  With history threatened by an evil consortium, a historian, soldier, and scientist join forces to travel through time to save history.

Their adventures take them across history, where they cross paths with some famous and lesser-known figures in history. Yet, each time they save history, they risk changing the future.

Where to Watch:  The NBC series is available on Hulu or to buy on Digital and DVD.

* Timeless  is one of my favorite time travel shows! A lovely,  action-adventure romance  with time travel!

#2 Doctor Who

Synopsis:   Doctor Who   follows the trials of an extraterrestrial Time Lord. Known as the Doctor, he/she travels through time to solve problems and battle injustice across the universe.

Using the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) to travel, the Doctor recruits companions to assist him/her. With various incarnations,  Doctor Who  is a sweeping adventure in space and time.

Note: There are many iterations of  Doctor Who . Any would make our list of time travel series. Pick your favorite! The newer Doctors include Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and Jodie Whittaker. The new Doctor will be Ncuti Gatwa in 2023.

Where to Watch:  You can stream the classic series on Britbox and the 2005 revival on HBO Max. Both series are available to buy digitally and on DVD.

#3 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow   

Synopsis:  Time-traveler Rip Hunter sets out to save the world with the timeline in catastrophic danger. 

Rip brings together an unlikely group of heroes and villains previously seen in  Arrow  and  The Flash.  

These heroes and villains must come together before they can save the planet. But can they put their differences aside before time runs out?

See our  review of  Legends of Tomorrow .

Where to Watch:  Stream on Netflix or buy digitally and on DVD.

#4 12 Monkeys * 

Synopsis:  Cole travels from a post-apocalyptic future to save the world from a lethal plague. He meets Dr. Cassandra Railly, a virologist, who joins him in his crusade.

It’s a race against time, as they trace the epidemic to its source and discover that appearances are deceiving and time itself is an enemy.

Where to Watch:  Stream on Hulu or buy digitally and on DVD.

Related Post  Romantic Moment of the Week: 12 Monkeys: Cassie and Cole  

*Another personal favorite! When it comes to time travel shows,  12 Monkeys  hits all the right notes!

#5 El Ministerio del Tiempo (The Department of Time)

Synopsis:  A secret government agency recruits three people from different eras to protect Spain’s history.

They bounce through time, chasing time-traveling intruders bent on manipulating history for their own purposes.

Where to Watch:  Stream on Pantaya or buy on DVD.

#6 Travelers 

Synopsis:  Several hundred years into the future, the last humans discover a way to send their consciousness back in time. These “travelers” assume the lives of random individuals.

With only their knowledge of history and social media profiles to guide their way, the travelers quickly discover that experience in the 21st Century is as challenging as their mission.

Content Warning:  Rated TV-MA, the show has strong language, violence, and implied nudity.

#7 Scarlet Heart / Scarlet Heart: Ryeo

Synopsis of Scarlet Heart : A near-fatal accident sends Zhang Xiao, a 21st Century woman, back in time to the Qing Dynasty. It is Kangxi Emperor’s reign, and Xiao is now the teenage daughter of a Manchu general.

Known as Ma’ertai Roux, Xiao attempts to return to the future. Navigating new relationships and love, Xiao adjusts to her new life until, one day, it disappears.

Where to Watch:  Stream on  Viki .

Note: There is also a Korean version of  Scarlet Heart  called Scarlet Heart: Ryeo .  Read our review here . It is only available to buy on DVD.

#8 Making History  

Synopsis:  Misunderstood college facilities manager Dan Chambers discovers time travel, using pop culture to become a beloved 18th Century figure. However, Dan fails to realize the impact time travel has on the present.

When Dan causes Paul Revere to delay his famous ride, he alters the events of the American Revolution. Dan then recruits well-liked history professor Chris Parish for help in correcting history.

Where to Watch:  Rent on Amazon Video or buy Digital.

#9 Sleepy Hollow  

Synopsis:  Ichabod Crane comes back to life 250 years in the future, where he must solve a mystery going back to the time of the founding fathers.

However, he is not alone. Due to a blood curse, the headless horseman also returns to the living. The headless horseman begins a slaying spree in present-day Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod realizes that the headless horseman is the first of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Enter Detective Abbie Mills. Familiar with the supernatural, Abbie joins forces with Crane to stop the evil infecting Sleepy Hollow.

Where to Watch:  Stream  Sleepy Hollow  on Hulu, the CW app, CW Seed, and Tubi. You can also buy the series on Digital and DVD.

#10 Torchwood

Synopsis:  Former time agent, Captain Jack Harkness, leads the Torchwood Three to investigate unexplained extraterrestrial events on Earth.

The group, part of a covert agency called the Torchwood Institute, battles supernatural threats outside the protection of the British government and law enforcement.

Where to Watch:  Stream on HBO Max or buy on Digital and DVD.

Content Warning:  The series is TV-MA for strong language in a few episodes. It also includes occasional explicit sensuality, suggestive content, and violence.

#11 Being Erica *

Synopsis:  During therapy, Erica Strange shares her list of regrets with her therapist. In a twist in treatment, Erica goes back in time to those moments with a chance to make different decisions.

Faced with rewriting her past or leaving things as they are, Erica faces each moment with humor and a new appreciation for her choices.

Where to Watch:  Stream on Hulu, Roku, Hoopla, Plex, and Crackle, and buy digitally and on DVD.

*The writing in this show is fantastic!

Content Warning:  Rated TV-14, it is, at times, TV-MA. There is sensual content, as well as nudity and some bad language.

#12 Heroes 

Synopsis:  Around the world, a group of ordinary people is discovering they have superpowers. One man wants their powers for himself.

To protect themselves, they must learn to help each other before he destroys them all.

Where to Watch:  Stream the superhero series on Peacock or buy digitally and on DVD. 

#13 The Librarians * 

Synopsis:  Based on popular TV movies,  The Librarians  are a group of people who protect magical items throughout time.

Consisting of an art historian, a thief, a mathematician, and a warrior, they travel through time to find supernatural objects and bring them under the protection of the Library.

Related:  Read our  romantic moment between Eve and Flynn from  The Librarians .

Where to Watch:  Stream on Hulu, Hoopla, and Amazon’s Freevee. You can also buy it digitally and on DVD.

#14 Early Edition *

Synopsis:  Having lost his job and his marriage, Gary Hobson wakes up one morning to find a cat sitting on a newspaper bearing the next day’s date.

Gary quickly learns that this early edition allows him 24 hours to try and save many people’s lives.

Where to Watch:  All seasons are available for DVD purchase on Amazon Prime.

*This one is an outlier when it comes to time travel TV shows. The only thing that travels in time is the newspaper. Still, it’s Kyle Chandler….. swoon!

#15 Erased 

Synopsis:  Satoru goes back 18 years to prevent the passing of his mother and three classmates.

Where to Watch:  Netflix

#16 Outlander

Synopsis:  British Army Nurse Claire Randall is on her second honeymoon and looking forward to a career as an Oxford historian. Suddenly transported back to 1742, Claire finds her freedom and life are in danger.

RELATED: ‘Midnight at the Pera Palace’ Review: The Time Travel Romance is Irresistibly Good

To survive, she marries Jamie Fraser. An unexpected passionate relationship develops, and Claire becomes caught between two very different men in two very different lives.

See  our review of  Outlander .

Where to Watch:  Stream on Netflix and STARZ or buy on Digital and DVD.

Content Warning:  TV-MA with   explicit sensual content, nudity, assaults, and graphic violence.

#17 The Eternal Love 

Synopsis:  Unhappy with a forced marriage, Qu Tan Er attempts to end her life. She awakens from her failed attempt with the spirit of another woman inside her body. The modern Xiao Tan is Tan Er’s opposite.

Stuck in the past world, she cannot return to the present day. Whenever one of the women lies, the other person takes control. Soon, complications in love arise as the differing women fall in love with two different men.

What will become of the foursome? And will Xiao Tan be able to find her way back to her own time?

Where to Watch:  Viki

#18 Lost in Austen *

Synopsis:  This smart take on Jane Austen’s  Pride and Prejudice  finds modern, working girl Amanda Price trading places with Elizabeth Bennet.

Unable to return to her time, Amanda must try her best to fit in among the Bennets, Bingleys, and Darcys. Yet, her presence in the lives of these beloved characters sets changes to the course of the classic tale.

See our  Lost in Austen review .

Where to Watch:  Stream on Britbox Amazon Channel, Freevee, and Pluto TV, and buy digitally on Amazon or DVD.

#19 Continuum 

Synopsis:  Detective Kiera Cameron, a cop from the year 2077, and a group of dangerous criminals called Liber8 are trapped in present-day Vancouver. Kiera must stop Liber8 before they destroy the corporate world, altering the future as she knows it. She enlists the help of tech genius Alec Sadler to find a way back home.

In the meantime, Kiera takes a job with the Vancouver Police Department. With help from her partner, detective Carlos Fonnegra, they keep tabs on Liber8. Different beliefs and backgrounds lead to suspicion, but slowly, Kiera and Carlos learn to trust each other.

Where to Watch:  Buy digitally from the Microsoft Store or on DVD.

#20 Frequency

Synopsis:  Detective Raimy Sullivan has lived with the pain and resentment of her father’s passing for 20 years. She believes her father, NYPD Officer Frank Sullivan, was corrupt, resulting in his passing. However, everything changes when she hears his voice coming from an old ham radio.

With Raimy’s warning in his ears, Frank survives the attempt on his life. Yet, the change in the past ends in tragedy for the future. Separated by time, connected by an old radio, the two detectives work together to find a way to rewrite the past without losing the ones they love.

Where to Watch:  Stream on the CW app and CW seed.

#21 Seven Days

Synopsis:  CIA Agent Frank Parker receives a special assignment from the NSA. He must travel back in time to prevent current-day catastrophes.

Yet, there is a catch – he must do so within seven days. Using a time machine built from alien technology, Frank races against time in the past to save the future.

Where to Watch:  Buy on DVD.

Whether you are a fan of pure romance or romantic comedies or love the adventure of time travel, there is something for everyone on our list of binge-worthy time travel TV shows. So dip in and travel back in time with some of the most swoon-worthy characters out there.

*Denotes a personal favorite of mine.

EVEN MORE TIME TRAVEL TV SHOWS TO WATCH (#22-80)

This section was updated in 2022 by Amber and Autumn (co-owners and editors of  The Silver Petticoat Review ). 

Numerous time travel TV series exist, and you can never have enough to watch! So, we thought adding a lot more to the list would be fun. 

Enjoy! We included a *star next to our personal favorites.

• #22:  356: REPEAT THE YEAR  (2020) – Korean Drama about ten people traveling back in time one year.
• #23: * THE 4400  (2004; 2021) – We recommend the original series over the reboot. Both shows have 4400 people appearing in the present day from different time periods, not having aged a day since they originally disappeared.
• #24: * AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.   (2013) – The later seasons of this fun Marvel series are all about time travel – and they are marvelous! The love story  between Daisy and Daniel Sousa  is perfect.
• #25:  ALCATRAZ  (2012) – Prisoners from Alcatraz disappeared in 1963 – only to reappear in the present day. The short-lived drama lasted only one season.
• #26:  ALICE  (2022) – A new time travel romance TV series on Kocowa and Viki.
• #27:  ALWAYS A WITCH  (2019) – A time-traveling witch in this Colombian series ends up in the present day.
• #28: * CHARMED (1998; 2018) – The original and new series about three sisters (and witches) include time travel episodes. Both shows are entertaining – but the original is superior.
• #29:  THE CROSSING  (2018) – Refugees from the future travel back in time to seek asylum.
• #30:  DARK  (2017) (TV-MA) – The German sci-fi thriller series deals with a time travel conspiracy in this hugely popular Netflix drama.

RELATED: 50 of the Best Romantic Period Drama TV Series of All Time to Watch

• #31:  DIRK GENTLY/DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY   (2010; 2016) – Time travel is involved in these two versions of the story about a detective investigating supernatural cases.
• #32:  * A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES   (2018) (TV-MA – mild) – A witch and a vampire fall in love while trying to unravel the secrets of witches, vampires, and demons. She can time travel and much of  Season 2  takes place in Elizabethan times.
• #33:  FAITH  (2012) – Lee Min-ho stars in this time travel Korean series.
• #34: * FELICITY  (1998) – The coming-of-age romance drama from J.J. Abrams ends with a time travel twist.
• #35:  FIND ME IN PARIS  (2018) – A children’s show about an Edwardian ballet dancer who transports into the future with a mystical necklace.
• #36:  THE FLASH (AND OTHER ARROWVERSE SHOWS)  (2014)   – The CW superhero show is fun, likable, and regularly has time-travel storylines.
• #37:  FLASHFORWARD  (2009) – Joseph Fiennes stars in this canceled too-soon series about people having visions of their future.
• #38: * FRINGE  (2008) – An FBI agent explores unexplained fringe science with a scientist and his son in this brilliant sci-fi series.
• #39:  JOURNEYMAN  (2007) – Kevin McKidd stars in this show about a time traveler who helps people.
• #40:  KAIROS (2020) – The fantasy thriller K-drama series is available to stream on Viki and Kocowa.

• #41:  LA BREA  (2021) – A sinkhole in Los Angeles sends a group of people to an ancient world. Soon, a family becomes enmeshed in a time-travel conspiracy. It’s super fun (if illogical) and crazy – especially by Season 2.
• #42:  LEGION  (2017) (TV-MA) – Dan Stevens stars in this bizarre Marvel series about a man with abilities. Time travel becomes a significant element in Season 3.
• #43: * LIFE ON MARS/ASHES TO ASHES  (2006; 2008) (TV-MA – mild) – DCI Sam Tyler wakes up in 1973 after being in a car accident. The spinoff series  Ashes to Ashes  is about another Detective who wakes up in 1981.
• #44:  LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME (2017) – It’s a rom-com time travel K-drama series about a Joseon doctor transported into the present day.
• #45: * LOST  (2004) – Survivors of a plane disaster discover they’re stranded on a mysterious island. Time travel plays an essential role in the  brilliant romantic series .
• #46: * LOKI  (2021) – Loki ends up at the Time Variance Authority – agents who stop time variants and monitor the timeline. Loki soon must fight for his survival as he travels through time.
• #47: * MANIFEST (2018) – The mystery genre series begins when a missing airplane reappears five years later – and no one has aged.
• #48:  MY ONLY LOVE SONG (2017) – An actress time travels to the past in a magical van in this historical fantasy romance show.
• #49:  NINE: NINE TIMES TIME TRAVEL  (2013) – A TV anchorman tries to change his past in this romantic K-drama.
• #50:  THE OUTER LIMITS  (1963; 1995) – The sci-fi show includes episodes about time travel.

RELATED: 10 Romantic Time Travel Movies to Binge Watch: I’ll Love You to the End of Time

• #51: * PRIMEVAL/PRIMEVAL: NEW WORLD (2007; 2012) – Primeval and its spinoff (not nearly as good) follow a team of agents and scientists capturing prehistoric creatures traveling to the present day through mysterious anomalies.  Doctor Who  fans should like this one.
• #52:  * QUEEN IN-HYUN’S MAN   (2012) – A scholar travels into the future and connects with an actress in this charming Korean fantasy rom-com.
• #53:  QUANTUM LEAP  (1989; 2022) – A scientist (Scott Bakula) becomes trapped in the past and must leap between bodies and various times. The original show is superior to the new one, but the revival is still entertaining.
• #54:  THE PERIPHERAL  (2022) (TV-MA for violence and profanity) – Chloë Grace Moretz stars in this new science fiction series with an original time travel twist.
• #55:  ROOFTOP PRINCE  (2012) – The popular fantasy rom-com Korean drama follows a Crown Prince from the past transported to the present day.
• #56:  *ROSWELL  (1999) – Two episodes of the iconic paranormal romance series deal with time travel.
• #57:  RUSSIAN DOLL  (2019) (TV-MA for lots of profanity and some explicit content) – A woman from NYC finds herself stuck in a time loop in this Emmy-winning series.
• #58:  *THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES  (2007) – The  Doctor Who  spinoff is a teen series with fantastic writing about the Doctor’s former companion, journalist Sarah Jane Smith, and her adventures with a group of teens.
• #59:  SHINING GIRLS (2022) (TV-MA) – Time travel plays into this mystery/crime drama starring Elisabeth Moss. The ending could have been better, but it’s an intriguing, well-acted series.
• #60:  SIGNAL  (2016) – This is South Korea’s version of  Frequency .

• #61: SISYPHUS: THE MYTH  (2021) – A woman from a war-torn future journeys to the past to change future events.
• #62:  SLIDERS  (1995) – A group of friends travels into parallel worlds.
• #63:  SOMEWHERE BETWEEN  (2017) – A woman relives a week to stop tragic events from happening.
• #64:  *SPLASH SPLASH LOVE (2015) – This adorable rom-com miniseries follows a teenage girl as she travels back in time to the Joseon Era.
• #65:  *STARGATE: SG-1  (1997) – A military team and scientists are part of a secret group that travels to other planets and occasionally different times through Stargates.
• #66:  *STAR TREK TV SHOWS (INCLUDING THE NEW SHOWS, PICARD, AND STAR TREK: DISCOVERY)  (Some series are TV-MA)   – Time travel plays an essential role in the  Star Trek  universe.
• #67:  STEINS;GATE  (2011) – An animated series about time travel.
• #68:  *TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES ( 2008) – This is an underrated romantic sci-fi series starring Lena Headey.
• #69:  TERRA NOVA  (2011) – A family from a dying future is transported to the prehistoric era to a colony of humans trying to survive.
• #70:  THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH  (2020) – A romantic K-drama series about two parallel worlds where time travel plays a part.

RELATED: The Day of the Doctor – An Impossible Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Theory

• #71:  THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE  (2022) (TV-MA) – Steven Moffat’s new (but short-lived) romance series is about a married couple dealing with the problems of time travel.
• #72:  TIME AFTER TIME   (2017) – A short but sweet romantic series about a young H.G. Wells.
• #73:  THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959) – The iconic classic series includes episodes about time travel.
• #74:  TOMORROW, WITH YOU  (2017) – A man can time travel with a subway and tries to avoid his future fate while also falling in love.
• #75:  TUNNEL (2017) – A detective travels 30 years into the future when chasing a suspect through a tunnel.
• #76:  *TRU CALLING  (2003) – A medical grad student develops an ability to relive the previous day and help people. 
• #77:  *THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY  (2019) – The quirky series follows former child heroes as they try to save the world.
• #78:  VOYAGERS!  (1982) – The classic family series follows a young boy and a team of time travelers as they fix history.
• #79:  11.22.63 (TV-MA for violence and profanity)   – James Franco stars in this mystery series based on the novel by Stephen King about a teacher who travels back in time to stop the JFK assassination.
• #80: MR. QUEEN (2020) – A chef is transported to the Joseon Era into the body of a queen in this Korean Comedy series.

What are your favorite time travel TV shows? What do you think is the best time travel show of all time? Drop me a line below!

Featured image credit: Doctor Who (BBC), Continuum (Showcase), 12 Monkeys (NBCUniversal Television Distribution), Torchwood (BBC), and Timeless (Universal Television/Sony Pictures Television/NBC). 

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Catherine is an avid reader and a self-declared professional binge watcher. It's not uncommon to find her re-watching a series or movie for the umpteenth time and still be crying into a box of tissues. When she's not hiding in her closet to read or watch a show or movie, Catherine is a wife, mother, and, in her spare time, a lawyer.

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26 thoughts on “80 of the Best Entertaining Time Travel TV Shows You Need To Watch”

thank you – have beeen looking forever for timetravel— y r we soooo fascinated– et me out of here i do not belon in this time — beeen this wy sincei ws 9 and read a book of a little boy being sent to mars after climbing a tree—- love fairies also — ok i am an old fashioned girl they used to call my pollyanna – then i became an out law—- my son in law does not beleive in annnnnythin but $$$$ and power– borrrrrring give me a gooood romance to live in.. oxoxoxoxoxoxox

This is a great list! I love the Korean drama Time Travel series. My favorites are Faith, Rooftop Prince, I love Lee Tae Ri, Signal and Tunnel.

Have you ever seen “Voyagers!”? It was like a predecessor to Quantum Leap and lasted 1 season on NBC. It stared one of the most beautiful men to ever grace television, the late Jon-Erik Hexum. He’s a roguish time-traveling pirate, Phineas Bogg, a Voyager that travels throughout time with a smart young boy and they have to fix moments where history’s gone wrong. It was a fun show. It’s definitely binge-worthy and Hexum was such a charming young actor. Although it was made with kids and education in mind, (Co-Produced by Scholastic) there’s plenty of romantic moments for Bogg!

He and Meeno Peluce (the boy, Jeffrey Jones) made a great team. I run a fansite and FB page for the series. You can watch it on Amazon Prime, and it’s currently free on NBC.com.

I own the series and I was heartbroken when Jon died. I recently bought the 30 episode tv show from the 60’s The Time Tunnel…. Now this was where most time travel shows spawned from. Especially Quantum Leap.

Nice list! Back to the Future made me a sucker for time travel plots. So would the cartoon count as one?

How can Outlander be #16?

You NEED TO READ – It clearly states that the shows are in No Particular Order!

You forgot ‘The Time tunnel’ – The first American time travel show

Goodnight Sweetheart is THE ultimate time travel show!

Maybe you guys can help me….. I’m looking for a series perhaps a movie….. not sure. only saw a piece of it and have been searching ever since. I even looked trough all the male actors to cross reference, nothing. It seem to involve time travel an attempt to shift history. Almost achieve the goal by manipulating the son of the leader – I know its horribly vague…. but he ends up speaking to his son. He explains the situation from a watchmakers point of view- His hobby is watchmaking….the comparison he draws between ‘leading’ or directing humans where they need to be is similar to the watchmaker making a clock. its been almost two years…. but so far no luck finding this series. Help 🙂

think you may be thinking of inception (link removed)

How could you not have Netflix’s Dark on this list?

I agree. Dark is a pretty good series (3 seasons on Netflix). It’s a German show so you have to up with English lip syncing, but once you get used to it, it’s a good show.

Absolutely the best time travel show ever made imo

It is on the list (#30).

12 Monkeys needs to be #1 … Pretty sure it’s the only show that properly does time travel and causality! Love it

Continuum seems to be right on the money as we see a few corporations [e.g., Amazon] displacing small business, and taking over government. Science Fiction frequently becomes Science.

Looks like Continuum is no longer on Amazon Prime (unless you want to buy it. Is it anywhere else?

It looks like it’s only available to buy on Digital and DVD/Blu-ray now.

Netflix’s DARK is the best Time Travel show ever made. Never believe anything else!

Timeslip UK kids show from 60`s predates all these and deals with past , future, global cooling(remember that) and cloning.

I’ve never heard of it! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

It’s a indian movie named Time

Brødrene Dal og Spektralsteinene and Brødrene Dal og Mysteriet om Karl XIIs Gamasjer both have time travel as a key element. I prefer the former but both are pretty well planned out, although only the latter seems to remember concequences.

Thanks for the recommendations! 🙂

I like some others am trying to find a “Time Travel” movie that’s kind of like “If Only” Where a mans’ wife (Possibly Girlfriend) is killed in an auto accident an he keeps traveling back to that time to make her avoid it. He finds every time that it is avoided she is killed in another way. After so many attempts he goes back and gets in the car with her and they both die. So sort of like “If Only “ and sort of like the first part of “The Time Machine”(2002). I think the movie time-line was between 1970 and 2000 only guessing. I didn’t see the start of the movie. Always wanted to see it but the same accident happens or is averted only to have a new death.

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How-To Geek

The best time travel tv shows and movies.

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Bill & ted's excellent adventure, the time machine (1960), back to the future.

Time travel is a concept that's been around since the 1800s. Countless movies and TV shows have featured time travel, but it's not easy to pull off. Let's flip the switch and look back at a few of the best.

What qualifies a TV show or movie as being about time travel? Many shows and movies use a single time jump or time loops to set up the main plot---time travel isn't necessarily the focus. I tried to lean more toward shows and movies that make time travel an integral part of the story.

This list is made up of five movies and five TV shows in no particular order. Some choices are based on my personal opinion, others are based on the general consensus.

We can't talk about time travel TV shows without mentioning the one that features a main character who is literally called a "Time Lord." Doctor Who kicked off in 1963 and ran until 1989, but was later rebooted in 2005.

The show is not only about time travel. The Doctor's time machine---the TARDIS---can travel through both time and space. Each episode takes the characters to a specific time in history, often on different planets, and interacting with aliens and other creatures.

Primer is undoubtedly the most "realistic" time travel movie/show on this list. The story revolves around two engineers who accidentally discover time travel when researching electromagnetic reduction of an object's weight.

This is a movie that demands your full attention if you want to follow what's happening. Primer was made on a budget of only $7,000, and that low-budget feel really helps ground the movie in reality. It's fascinating.

Watch on Amazon Video

Timeless is a TV series that aired on NBC from 2016-18. The show follows a history professor, soldier, and engineer as the work together to stop an organization that plans to rewrite history with a stolen time machine.

This show really dives into the historical aspect of time travel. You learn about different moments throughout history and meet historical figures along the way. It's a bit of a cat-and-mouse chase through time, and you'll be sympathetic to the bad guys at times.

If you're looking for a comedy that heavily features time travel, there's no better choice than  Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure . A man from the distant future is tasked with going back in time to make sure Bill and Ted pass history class.

Bill and Ted use his time machine to go back in time and talk to a handful of classic historical figures, then bring them back to the current day to help pass their history report. There are tons of time travel-related gags throughout, and it's just a very silly, fun movie.

Travelers is one of the more unique time travel shows on the list. In a post-apocalyptic future, special operatives attempt to go back in time and prevent the collapse of society.

The "travelers" travel through time by sending their consciousness to "host" bodies of people who are just about to die. Not only do they have to work on their mission to save society, but they also have to blend in as the person whose body they now inhabit.

It wouldn't be a complete list without a love story. About Time is about a man, Tim, who has the ability to travel through time. However, he can only change past events and the future of his own life, not history.

The story follows Tim as he uses time travel to improve his life and those around him. He falls in love with a girl and uses time travel to fix his mistakes and marry her. However, he discovers things that can't be changed along the way, and has to make some tough decisions.

Loki is very different from most Marvel movies and TV shows. Time is the core component of the show. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Loki gets away with the Tesseract. In doing so, he created a new timeline.

He is captured by the Time Variance Authority, an organization tasked with maintaining the timeline. The TVA gives Loki the choice of being erased from existence or helping them fix the timeline. He chooses the latter.

We can't talk about time travel without mentioning one of the very first time-travel stories, dating back to 1895. H.G. Wells' The Time Machine has been adapted to film a few times, but the 1960 version is probably the best.

The Time Machine is about an inventor in Victorian England who creates a time machine. He uses the time machine to travel far into the future, where he finds a dark and very different society. If you prefer newer movies, there's a remake from 2002 .

11.22.63 is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. For those that don't know, November 22nd, 1963 is the day John F Kennedy was assassinated. This story revolves around a man who is trying to prevent that from happening.

Time travel in this story works differently than most others. There's no time "machine" or anything like that, just a mysterious spot that sends people back to a specific day in 1960. You get a fascinating look at the build-up to the assassination and a pretty good love story too.

For my money, there is no better time travel story than Back to the Future . Many people consider it to be a perfect movie, and I'd have to agree. Time travel is a core part of the plot, but it doesn't get wrapped up in the technical aspects. The story is grounded in real life with relatable stakes.

An eccentric scientist, Doc Brown, builds a time machine out of a DeLorean. Through a string of events, his friend, Marty McFly ends up traveling back to 1955, when his parents were in high school. Marty then has to make sure his parents end up together to save his own existence. It's funny, action-packed, dramatic, and easy to watch.

There are plenty of other time travel movies, TV shows, and books to enjoy. It's one of the best plot devices for experiencing different time periods and taking a peek into the future. Now you just have to hope your favorite streaming service has them !

Related: Which Streaming Service Has the Best Movies, By the Numbers

The 10 Best TV Shows About Time Travel, Ranked

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Time travel has fascinated audiences since H. G. Wells published his groundbreaking book The Time Machine in 1895. Today, time travel is more popular than ever—so much so that it's cliché.

Why is time travel so popular? Perhaps because, now more than ever, people want to escape the chaos and stress of their daily lives with a show that ponders the possibility of changing one's fate via time.

Shows about time travel are wildly different from one another, of course. Some tackle this issue with levity and humor while others explore complex philosophical questions.

But every TV show about time travel seems to share one thing in common: they all deal with the potential consequences of change, and how even small changes can have huge effects in the grand scheme of things.

Here are my personal picks for the greatest TV shows about time travel and what they did right when most have failed.

10. The Umbrella Academy (2019)

The Umbrella Academy is a superhero TV show based on the comic book of the same name written by Gerard Way. (Yeah, the very same lead vocalist of My Chemical Romance!)

The series follows a group of seven adopted superhero siblings who reunite to investigate their father's sudden death. But when they travel back in time, they all end up in different time periods, and chaos ensues as they try to find their way back to each other.

If you want a series with a lovable dysfunctional family, interesting character development, entertaining action, and imaginative time-traveling shenanigans, then this is the show for you.

9. Russian Doll (2019)

Russian Doll is a comedy-drama TV show created by Amy Poehler ( Parks and Recreation ), Natasha Lyonne ( Orange is the New Black ), and Leslye Headland ( Sleeping With Other People ). And yes, the series is as impressive as the creative team behind it!

The show follows Nadie Vulvokov, a young woman who finds herself trapped in a time loop after she unexpectedly dies at a party.

As she tries to figure out what happened to her, she finds another man who's going through the same thing. With both of them stuck in a time loop, together they must find a way out of it.

Even though the premise might feel familiar, Russian Doll manages to feel fresh and innovative through its creative use of time travel, interesting main characters, and successful blending of different genres.

8. Erased (2017)

Erased is a Japanese fantasy show based on the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Kei Sanbe.

The story follows Satoru, a struggling manga artist who has the ability to travel back in time, to moments right before life-threatening incidents.

When Satoru witnesses the murder of his mother, he accidentally travels back in time 18 years to his childhood. This gives him the opportunity to not only save his mother but also to prevent an incident that killed three of his childhood friends.

This is a highly imaginative, character-driven show which explores the consequences and ethical responsibilities of time travel. Definitely a must-watch for fans of these types of stories!

7. DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016)

DC's Legends of Tomorrow is a superhero TV series that's part of The CW's Arrowverse, featuring characters originally introduced in Arrow and The Flash , plus some new characters.

But even if you've never seen the Arrowverse shows, it's okay. DC's Legends of Tomorrow is an enjoyable watch. The show follows the superheroes who travel through time to prevent disasters from happening.

It might sound like a familiar premise, but this show manages to stand out thanks to its light tone, witty humor, fun character dynamics, and entertaining superhero action.

6. Quantum Leap (1989)

Quantum Leap is a science fiction TV series that originally aired between 1989 to 1993. It stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who invents a way to travel through time—by temporarily taking the place of other people in the past.

The show also stars Dean Stockwell as Admiral Al Calavicci, a colleague of Dr. Beckett who guides him through his travels. Despite being one of the oldest TV shows on this list, it still holds up today!

Its groundbreaking take on time travel and innovative use of technology inspired numerous TV shows and movies, including Avengers: Endgame , which referenced the show when the characters tried to explain their time travel technology.

5. Outlander (2014)

Outlander is a historical drama TV series based on the romance novels of the same name by Diana Gabaldon.

The show follows Claire Randall, a military nurse who accidentally travels back in time from 1945 to 1743. There she ends up marrying a handsome man named Jamie Fraser to avoid being taken prisoner.

While trying to get back to her time, she starts to fall in love with Jamie, all while being caught in the middle of a Scottish uprising.

Want something unique to watch? This might be the show for you. It has steamy romance, time travel fantasy, and wartime drama.

4. Timeless (2016)

Timeless is a sci-fi TV show about a group of people who attempt to stop a mysterious organization from changing the course of history.

The story involves a history professor, a soldier, and an engineer as they try to track down the people who stole an experimental time machine to rewrite American history.

The interesting part of Timeless is that it steers clear of the usual historical figures—like Benjamin Franklin or George Washington—and instead shines a light on lesser-known historical subjects, including historical women and people of color.

If you're looking for an interesting, entertaining, and even educational show, then Timeless is the time travel TV series for you.

3. 12 Monkeys (2015)

12 Monkeys is a sci-fi mystery show based on the 1995 movie of the same name. The series stars Aaron Stanford as James Cole, a scavenger who's recruited to travel back in time from 2043 to 2015 in order to stop a deadly virus from wiping out most of the planet's population.

Across four seasons of thrilling mystery and character development, the show ends up surpassing its big-screen predecessor and delivers a top-class story about time travel, complete with explorations of philosophical conundrums plus epic romance.

It's definitely worth watching, not jus tas one of the best time travel shows but as one of the best sci-fi shows of the 21st century.

2. Dark (2017)

Dark is a German sci-fi series created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. Not only is it the first German show created by Netflix, but it's also one of the most critically acclaimed series on the platform.

Dark focuses on multiple generations of four interconnected families living in the fictional town of Winden, Germany. In the aftermath of a child's disappearance, they manage to unravel a time-traveling conspiracy that spans several decades.

This is a cerebral show that demands 100% attention while watching. All the little details matter and you'll be solidly rewarded for your focus.

Between its remarkable narrative, crazy visuals, and complex themes, Dark is one of the best TV shows of the streaming era.

1. Doctor Who (2005)

Any discussion about time travel has to include mention of Doctor Who . And when it comes to TV shows with time travel? It reigns as king.

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi TV show about a time-traveling alien known as the Doctor who travels to different times to prevent evil forces from changing history and hurting innocent lives.

Whenever the Doctor is hurt beyond healing, he can transform into a new body, which is why there have been 14 different actors so far who have portrayed the titular character of the series.

The show originally premiered in 1963 and ran until 1989, then was relaunched in 2005 and has been running ever since. For its influence and longevity, it's no stretch to call Doctor Who the most successful and most important TV show about time travel.

Doctor Who is now an integral part of British pop culture and science fiction history. Its innovative use of time travel, its lovable main characters, and its iconic production design make it a must-see show if you're a fan of time travel and science fiction.

Best 10 TV Shows About Time Travel Ultimate List

There have been numerous TV shows about time travel in the past. Although some shows did have time travel included in part of their plot (like Marvel Agents of Shield), in this list we focused on series that have time travel as a basic premise of the show. With that in mind, we narrowed down our picks to the top 10 TV series that are worth your time. However, keep in mind that there are other fantasy shows that you might like – this is just our pick of the best ones so far.

Table of Contents

10.  Timeless [2016-2018]

A hidden gem among TV series about time traveling is NBC’s Timeless. The show is a quick watch – it only has two seasons and 28 episodes in total but don’t be discouraged by that fact. Timeless still manages to land a meaningful, educating, heart-warming story with a compelling ending. The cast features Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston a history professor, Matt Lanter as Wyatt Logan, a USA Delta Force Sargeant, and Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, a programmer. The trio is tasked with capturing a terrorist Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic) who is trying to rewrite history.

Although the premise of the show looks very much like what we have seen in Continuum, Travelers and 12 Monkeys, Timeless also offers a variety of real historical events that are shown in the series. The historical part might not always be 100% accurate but it is fun to see the fictional characters interacting with real-life events that took place. Although the show was canceled after two seasons, the viewers still got a well-deserved ending so we highly recommend Timeless.

9. Continuum [2012-2015]

One of the classic TV shows that exploited the topic of time travel is Continuum. Stretching through 4 seasons and 42 episodes, Continuum tells a story about detective Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) who goes back in time by accident with a group of criminals called Liber8. The plot takes place in present-day as Kiera tries to stop members of Liber8 from altering the timeline and destroying the future in which corporations have sized the roles of the governments. A teenage wunderkind Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen) helps her out on her quest as well as her partner Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster). 

Although the plot seems like more of what we saw in some earlier TV shows about time travel, the cast does a pretty decent job and the overall setting is fun to watch. As you can see, this show has been produced more than a decade ago but the CGI elements are not that bad and are watchable. But what really gives Continuum a place on our list is the character development that Kiera as a protagonist goes through.

8. Quantum Leap [1989-1993]

Quantum Leap is an old-school TV show that older viewers must have watched during 90s. The importance of this show is the fact that after its initial success, many directors pitched ideas for similar shows in the future – and that’s how we got so many time travel series. Although Quantum Leap is highly praised, it is a bit outdated nowadays, so it might not be the best choice for younger viewers.

Be it as it may, the show focuses on Dr. Sam Beckett, who gets thrown back in time while experimenting on his own project (Quantum Leap). The protagonist is accompanied by his friend Admiral Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell) but in the shape of a hologram. Dr. Beckett continues to leap to different people in his own timeline and hopes to correct the past in order to finally leap to the presence. Quantum Leap offers a unique mixture of science fiction, drama, and comedy all while exploring the topic of time traveling.

7. 12 Monkeys [2015-2018]

12 Monkeys is a sci-fi masterpiece remake of a 12 Monkeys movie (1995) that has time travel in the essence of its plot. As you might remember from the movie, a mysterious group called “12 Monkeys” released the virus which killed over 7 million people and brought humanity to its downfall. The same plot premise is in the show as time traveler Cole (Aaron Stanford) uses an experimental time-traveling device to come back to the present and assist Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull) in stopping the virus.

The cast does a great job, especially Amanda Schull, and really brings out the darkness of events that are about to come. This show is perfect for viewers who like disaster like shows combined with time travel – 12 Monkeys has it both.

6. DC Legends of Tomorrow [2016-2022]

Superhero TV shows have all the rage nowadays so it’s just fair to put one that’s about time travel on this list as well. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow might not have the most interesting story but boy, they are fun to watch. Most of the episodes are stand-alone and you can simply sit on your sofa, watch one and continue after a month without worrying about missing the parts of the plot. When it comes to the story, basically, a team of superheroes travels back in time to prevent bad things from altering the timeline, thus saving the future.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is a part of the Arrowverse so the show crosses over with Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl several times. The main reason why this show is on our list is the fact that it’s relaxing to watch, witty, and overall entertaining. Caity Lotz, Amy Louis Pemberton, and Dominic Purcell are just some of the names that star in this show – the cast is full of superstars well-known to superhero fans.

5. Manifest [2018-2023]

The show was canceled after three seasons and picked up and renewed by Netflix for the fourth and final season. Manifest tells a story about Flight 828 which vanished into thin air and reappeared five and half years later. The problem is that the passengers have no idea what happened since from their perspective, they just went through a troublesome storm but landed on time, as planned. As they rejoin society, numerous problems arise, especially when some passengers start getting visions (“ Callings “) of future events.

The show has a strong “Leftovers” vibe to it, exploring the topic of how humans are unable to cope with things that they can’t explain. Melissa Roxburgh (Michaela Stone) and John Dallas (Ben Stone) are the stars of the show and have received numerous praises for their performance in Manifest. This TV series is about time travel but also offers a lot more and tells a mysterious story that you will surely enjoy.

4. Dark [2017-2020]

Dark is the first Netflix German series. The show itself is difficult to place as it combines several genres, including sci-fiction, horror, mystery, drama, and thriller. While this combo might not work for some other shows, Dark is an exception – the show delivers magnificently although one might argue that it’s a slow-burn in the beginning. Dark is one of the shows like Black Mirror in a suspenseful feeling that you get while watching it.

Dark starts in Winden, a small fictional German town in 2019. Children begin to disappear from the town so an investigation led by four families takes place. Throughout the three seasons of Dark, the truth will include multiple timelines, wormholes, conspiracies, and parallel worlds. We won’t say any more since the whole point of the show is for the viewer to try to understand the events that took place (and when the events took place). The German cast is lead by Louis Hofmann, Karoline Eichhorn, and Lisa Vicari. This time-travel TV series received praise from both the audience and the critics and is a must-watch. 

3. Fringe [2008-2013]

When it comes to TV shows about time travel, supernatural phenomena, parallel worlds, and doomsday events, Fringe is a must-see masterpiece. First of all, the show has that 2000’s vibe to it which is sure to evoke memories from older viewers. Fringe is well-written and humorous and even a non-fiction fan will be able to enjoy it.

The cast is just astonishing: Anna Torv plays FBI Agent Olivia Dunham who leads Fringe Division. This division is kinda similar to “unsolved cases” that Molder and Scully used to investigate in X-files, although without (that many) aliens. Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) assist her in solving these cases. The show has many episodes that are stand-alone type but in the end, it wraps up nicely and tells a compelling story about father and son love filled with sci-fi elements.

2. Travellers [2016-2018]

Travelers have a unique story that widely differs from similar TV shows about time travel and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so high on our list. The basic premise of the show is that the future is ruined and people from it ( Travelers ) transfer their conciseness into humans that are about to die in the 21st century in order to alternate the timeline, following orders from an AI called “Director”. Sounds wild, right? Well, it works pretty well –  Travelers are super fun and the characters are well-written and very diverse.

The cast is brilliant and is led by Eric McCormack (Grant MacLaren) and MacKenzie Porter (Marcy Warton). Another thing that puts this show at the top of our list is the fact that the sudden ending of season 3 really leaves a massive impact on a viewer. We must admit that a decision from Netflix to cancel Travelers after three seasons is baffling. Be it as it may, we are sure that you will enjoy this story and the ending will leave you breathless.

1. Doctor Who [1963-1989; 2005-present]

When a TV show has an actual Guinness record category of longest-running science fiction series, it is hard not to put it in the first place in our list. Doctor Who is a british sci-fi TV show about time travel and numerous other fictional motives and it has been on BBC since 1963. The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord ( The Doctor ), a being that appears to be human but explores the universe, combats foes and helps people in need using his time-traveling ship ( TARDIS ).

Since Doctor Who had over 850 episodes so far, we won’t try to dig into the plot too much – it would require multiple articles just to cover it. The show gained so much popularity that it is considered a part of British culture and the fans call themselves “Whovians”. We highly recommend that you give this show a try (or a rewatch) since Doctor Who is a classic among TV shows about time travel.

Vuk Radulovic is a graduated historian with a keen interest in the fantasy genre. For over 20 years he watched, listened, and read basically everything that came across his hands when it comes to fantasy TV shows, books and movies.

He has a particular interest in the Witcher realm as well as the Sword of Truth book series. He thinks the Demon Cycle book series is one of the most underestimated fantasy books of all time. He is looking forward to The Last of Us series.

When he is not in the fantasy realm, Vuk likes to nurture his interest in SEO marketing and content writing.

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The 10 Best Time Travel TV Shows of All Time

Time-traveling stories make the best TV shows, as they can explore the characters, while trying not to destroy the past, present, and future.

Time traveling has always been a rich place for fiction, as the idea has been used in many novels and movies. In the last few years, and with the Golden Era of television, more shows have been using this subgenre, as it’s a great way to explore characters and their actions, and it gives big stakes to every one of their stories.

There have been all kinds of time-traveling TV series. Some follow the Back to the Future idea of going to the past while trying not to change anything. Others are more like Groundhog Day , and use the time loop idea to examine their characters. Some try to use the science behind such a thing as one of their storytelling pillars, while others say that time traveling is just “A big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey whimey stuff”, so the subgenre has many possibilities and sides. Here are the 10 best time-traveling TV shows of all time, ranked.

10 12 Monkeys (2015 - 2018)

Inspired by the 1995 movie of the same name, starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, 12 Monkeys is a show about a deadly virus and traveling through time to stop the sinister organization that creates it, the Army of the 12 Monkeys. That’s what James Cole (James Stanford), Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull), and the maybe crazy Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire) try to do in every episode.

Why We've Included 12 Monkeys

What starts as a simple time-traveling mystery gets more complicated as time paradoxes, surprising twists and turns, and new characters appear. The lead characters and the chemistry between them are what make the show worth it, as they try to keep connected through time and space while knowing that they might never see each other again.

Stream on Hulu

9 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2016 - 2022)

Dc's legends of tomorrow.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow started as a serious time-traveling show where some discarded heroes from the other Arrowverse TV universe became heroes. What started as a serious story about destiny and avoiding time aberrations became something much more fun and hilarious.

Why Legends of Tomorrow Makes the List

Every season has some great moments , but from the second season on, the series improved greatly. From then on, it never took itself too seriously, and it became the show in that universe with more diversity, fun, queerness, meta-commentaries, and a great running gag about a weird toy named Beebo. They always break the timeline, but they’re also the ones who fix it in the end.

Stream on Netflix

8 Lost (2004 - 2010)

Oceanic Flight 815 has an emergency landing on a strange island, and as they try to survive, they discover this place is like no other, as it has polar bears, and maybe even a monster. That’s what happens in the Lost pilot, and from there, things keep only getting weirder and weirder.

Why Lost Belongs Here

The show was many things all at once. It created a new narrative tool in TV series, as it used flashbacks in every episode to tell the survivors' stories from before they landed on the island, and worked in all kinds of genres, from drama, and action, to sci-fi and, yes, time traveling. The show has an incredible cast who has kept working , and the latest seasons of the show are the ones that are more in this list genre, but what makes it great is how that phenomenon affects Desmond (Henry Ian Cusack), and his love story with Penny (Sonya Walger), especially in the time-traveling episode, “The Constant”, one of the shows’ best.

7 Outlander (2014 - Present)

Based on the series of novels of the same name by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander tells the story of Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a World War II nurse who is somehow transported into 18th-century Scotland. There, he meets Jamie (Sam Heughan), and they fall in love.

Why We've Included Outlander

There are not that many time-traveling romance stories, and only because of that, this TV series should be on the list. But this show is much more; the chemistry between the two actors is swoon-worthy, and once she goes back to her original present, things get much more complicated for both characters, for the better, making their love story one for the ages.

6 Timeless (2016 - 2018)

Timeless tells the story of a team trying to stop time from being changed for the worse, as an ex-NSA agent, (Goran Visnjic) steals and uses a time-traveling machine for his nefarious purposes. The team is formed by the three kinds of people you would always need on a time-traveling adventure; a history professor (Abigail Spencer), an engineer who helped create the time machine (Malcolm Barrett), and a soldier (Matt Lanter), for when everything goes wrong.

Why Timeless Makes the List

The chemistry between the three leads is great and makes you want to spend time with them on their adventures. If that wasn't enough, most of their time traveling takes them to times known to audiences, from the killing of Abraham Lincoln to the Hindenburg disaster, or the killing of Bonnie and Clyde, creating stories that also affect the lead characters directly or indirectly.

5 Russian Doll (2019 - Present)

Russian doll.

Read Our Second Season Review

Russian Doll is a time loop show as Nadia (Natasha Lyonne, who also created, wrote, and directed the show) keeps repeating her 36th birthday party. Things get even weirder when she discovers the same is happening to Alan (Charlie Barnett), a man she has never met.

Why Russian Doll Is Included

The time loop idea can get tiring, but Russian Doll keeps finding ways to change and improve the idea in every episode, creating a show that has comedy, drama, and many surprises, while keeping the sarcastic, sardonic, voice of her creator and star, Lyonne. The second season is even weirder and wilder, and fans are still hoping for a third one.

4 Quantum Leap (1989 - 1993)

Quantum Leap was one of the first TV series about time travel, and it still holds up . The show explores the time jumps of Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), as he helped good people in the past, “leap” into their identity, and better history in the process with the help of his hologram companion Al (Dean Stockwell).

Why Quantum Leap Is a Must-Watch

The show might look a dated now, but it had a great premise and was the perfect idea for a procedural show, where in every new episode, Sam had to play someone different with their own problems, making it a rom-com one episode, a thriller another, and giving it space for social commentary the next, so that the character could learn some lessons and help those in need. The idea was so ahead of its time, that the show got a revival two years ago and is back on TV, with Raymond Lee playing the scientist leaping through time, while his friends and fiancée are trying to help him in 2023.

Rent on Apple TV

3 The Lazarus Project (2022 - Present)

Read Our Review

The Lazarus Project starts when George (Paapa Essiedu) notices he’s repeating a day in his life, and he doesn’t understand what’s going on. He later discovers there’s an organization, The Lazarus Project, that can reset time to July 1st, if there’s a need to prevent a mass extinction-level event. Since he can see those resets, he becomes the newest agent in the organization.

Why The Lazarus Project Makes the List

After a first episode with a lot of exposition, what makes The Lazarus Project great is how it focuses on its characters and how the knowledge that there’s the possibility of resetting a timeline affects their behavior, and what they would do for a loved one. The characters are the most important thing in the show, although that doesn’t mean avoiding car chases, shooting, and fun spy shenanigans, so they can avoid the world’s end.

2 Doctor Who (1963 - Present)

Doctor Who has had many lives since it started in 1963, but the gist of it is always the same: The Doctor (who has been played by many actors over the years), explores time and space through the TARDIS with a human companion, and has unique adventures.

Why Doctor Who Is an Obvious Choice

The imagination of its stories, the many time periods it holds, and how you can see the changes in society and technology through the years and its more than 800 episodes. Since the show was revived in 2005, the storytelling has been less innocent and has given the Doctor dilemmas like never before. When the show comes back, it will have a new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa ( Sex Education and Barbie ), and we can’t wait to see what kind of personality he has, and what kind of time-traveling adventures he gets into.

Stream on Max

1 Dark (2017 - 2020)

Dark starts with the story of a child being kidnapped in the quiet German town of Winden. From there, the whole community is affected by many time-travel stories, as this has happened before, and their people experience the past, and the present, and how that changes their actions.

What Makes Dark the Best Time Travel Show of All Time?

This is not an easy story to follow, as there are stories in more than one time, and it rewards multiple viewings. What makes it great is the fact that it uses time travel not as a means to an end, but as a way to explore family, love, how a person can touch another and change their behavior, and much more. The show keeps surprising viewers, as nothing is what it seems, and has incredible acting, script, and visuals that lasted three seasons, and has a perfect ending, making it great for a time-traveling binge.

15 Best Time Travel Movies & Shows to Stream Now

May 6, 2022

Time travel, much like magic wands or fairy godmothers, seems like something out of stories and not real life. While that may ( or may not ) be true, that doesn’t make it any less fascinating. 

Even though the events in time travel movies and shows are improbable (though not proven to be entirely impossible ), getting the chance to go back and fix wrong decisions or save someone important is something we all have fantasized about. 

Whether you’re into infinite time loops or races to prevent apocalyptic events, Hulu is the place to find some of the best time travel movies and shows.

Time Travel Movies on Hulu

In 2074, the mob has gotten… creative in how they handle hits. When they’re ready to “get rid of” someone, they simply send them to the past where specialized assassins, called “Loopers,” are waiting in the middle of the desert to finish the job. Eventually, every looper has to “close the loop” or, in other words, murder their future self to protect the secrets of their trade—but what happens when a looper’s future self outsmarts them?

Watch: Looper

Fast forward 45 years into the future. The earth has been destroyed by climate change, forcing humanity to live on artificial oxygen that is causing an incurable illness in humans. The only hope for the future of humankind comes in the form of one message: “Send Ethan Whyte.” In this pulse-pounding sci-fi thriller , Ethan Whyte (Kodi Smit-McPhee), an underground tunnel worker, is called to the future to finish the job his scientist father started.   

Watch: 2067

Demolition Man

In 1996, Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), one of the world’s most prolific criminals and his arresting officer, John Spartan (Sylvester Stalone), aka “The Demolition Man,” were sentenced to life in a cryogenic prison meant to reprogram their violent nature. Decades later, in a utopian, post-apocalyptic society, Phoenix is unfrozen for a parole hearing and escapes. With a police force that has forsaken violence in any form, no one is able to catch him—no one except The Demolition Man.

Watch: Demolition Man

Peggy Sue Got Married

Back in high school, Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) was completely infatuated with her boyfriend (now husband), Charlie (Nicholas Cage). However, just before their high school reunion, Charlie runs off with another woman, sparking a divorce and forcing Peggy Sue to rethink her entire life. When Peggy Sue passes out at the reunion, she wakes up in her high school gymnasium—as a senior in high school. With the chance to live her life over again, will Peggy Sue make the same choices, romantic and otherwise?   

Watch: Peggy Sue Got Married

Time Loop Movies

Groundhog day.

We can’t talk about time loops without mentioning the most iconic time loop movie ever— Groundhog Day . 

Disgruntled weatherman Phil Conners (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover Groundhog Day and report on whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow. Upset by the assignment, Phil is glad when the day is over. But, when he wakes up in the morning and it’s Groundhog Day…again, Phil decides to use it to his advantage—until he realizes he could be stuck in this time loop forever.

Watch: Groundhog Day *

*Groundhog Day requires STARZ® on Hulu add-on subscription.

Palm Springs

When Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) have an interrupted encounter while at a wedding in Palm Springs, they find themselves waking up to the same day over and over again. When faced with this situation, there’s only one thing to do—whatever you want. 

In this outlandish and hilarious romantic comedy , Nyles and Sarah have free reign over the wedding day—and they make the most of it. However, eventually even a rule-free life has to come to an end. The only problem is that no one knows how to end it.

Watch: Palm Springs

In one of the best movies on Hulu , former special forces agent, Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) gets trapped in a time loop that forces him to relive his assassination day over and over again. As he fights through each somewhat new day, Roy discovers a secret government project that may explain his repeated death. The more times he dies, the closer he gets to discovering the truth, saving his ex-wife and son, and staying alive.

Watch: Boss Level

Time Travel TV Shows

While you may not be able to watch time travel favorite, Manifest on Hulu anymore, that doesn’t mean all time travel shows are in the past. From Hulu Original Future Man , to Rick and Morty , check out our favorite time travel shows streaming now on Hulu.

From Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg comes the Hulu Original Series , Future Man , which follows Josh Futturman, aka “Future Man” (see what we did there?), in his attempt to save the human race. 

Josh (Josh Hutcherson), a janitor in a medical research facility, is an avid gamer—but when he beats “Bionic Wars,” he learns his favorite futuristic video game isn’t just futuristic, it is the future. When tasked with saving the world before it’s wiped out, Josh must use his gaming skills to defeat his former boss and protect humankind from a terrible fate.

Watch: Future Man

Cole (Aaron Stanford), a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic future, has traveled back in time in hopes of preventing a deadly plague that wiped out 7 billion people. The virus was released by an elusive organization called the “Army of the 12 Monkeys,” whose leader, “The Witness,” is a mystery and the key to saving humanity. Cole, with the help of renowned virologist Cassie Railly (Amanda Schull), must find The Witness and prevent him from unleashing the virus before it’s too late.  

Watch: 12 Monkeys

On November 22, 1963, the world was rocked by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Based on the novel by Stephen King, 11.22.63 follows Jake Epping (James Franco) as he’s asked to do the impossible—travel back in time to solve the mystery of JFK’s death and perhaps, even prevent it from happening. However, changing the course of history can have devastating effects on the present. Can Jake solve the mystery without disrupting the future? 

Watch: 11.22.63

Time travel is real. The past can be altered. The future is in danger. 

When scientist Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer) discovers that time travel is real and, at the same time, that a man has stolen a time machine and is going back in time to change history, her world is turned upside down overnight. Alongside a soldier and a history professor, Lucy travels to the past in order to apprehend the man and save the future from a catastrophe before everything is erased.

Watch: Timeless

Rick & Morty

Rick, a scientific genius and alcoholic, and Morty, Rick’s average teenage grandson, embark on dangerous and mind-bending adventures into alien worlds , alternate dimensions, and infinite universes. The adult animated show follows the pair as they cause mayhem and get into trouble across the multiverse and at home. 

Watch: Rick and Morty

Time Travel Anime

Japanese anime , InuYasha , follows Kagome Higurashi, a 15-year-old girl living at a historic Japanese shrine, who just so happens to be the reincarnation of ancient priestess Kikyo, guardian of the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls. When Kagome accidentally falls into a well, she’s thrust back to feudal Japan in order to help young half-demon InuYasha find the scattered shards of the Shikon Jewel and protect it from the demons who seek it.   

Watch: InuYasha

Steins;Gate

Okabe Rintarou, or self-proclaimed Crazy Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma, and his team of university science students are working on a device to send messages to the past. Much to their surprise, it works! Once the device is operational, Okabe and his team must stop an evil organization from carrying out their diabolical plans.

Watch: Steins;Gate

29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist with a secret and strange ability—he can travel back in time to the moment before something life-threatening happens and is forced to continue doing so until the event is prevented. 

In this limited series , Satoru and his mother are in a deadly accident. In hopes of saving his mother, Satoru travels back in time, but finds himself traveling all the way back to his childhood, where he uncovers a series of events that led to his mother’s death.

Watch: Erased

Feel like traveling back in time yourself? We’ve got you covered—check out the nostalgic blasts from the past in our watchlists featuring shows from the 80s , 90s , 2000s , and old-school MTV.

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Netflix Just Quietly Dropped The Best Time-Travel Show of 2023

“Know you are loved.”

Netflix has made a name for itself in mind-bending science fiction. Between Stranger Things , Dark , The OA , and Sense8 , the streamer keeps finding new and exciting ways to shape how we think about the world. Usually, these new shows are met with a big fanfare, an even bigger marketing campaign, and, in the case of Stranger Things , a tie-in ice cream.

But recently, Netflix dropped a series that more than deserves to stand next to these tentpoles: a graphic novel adaptation that takes a fresh approach to one of the oldest genres and adds a huge time-travel element that changes everything.

Bodies, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Si Spencer, emerges from a simple concept: four detectives from four different points in time all find a strange body on the ground. It’s naked, missing its left eye, and there’s no trace of any bullets found in it. In 2023, Muslim detective Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) tries to stop what she thinks is a terrorist plot. In 1941, Detective Charles Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) deals with antisemitism while investigating a death that couldn’t have come from a bomb. In 1890, Detective Alfred Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) gets caught up with a journalist and a strange society. Finally, in 2053, Detective Iris Maplewood (Shira Haas) finds the same body... alive.

It’s a complicated premise, but Bodies expertly weaves four different mysteries on top of each other. A strange boy discovered in 2023 informs a strange man in 1941. A message scrawled into a wall in 1890 is still there in 2053. While there are four different investigations, there’s only one big mystery, and every character has a role in it.

The climax of the story happens in 2023, meaning when we first take a peek into 2053, we know what will happen in the “present.” Bodies , though initially a straightforward whodunit, quickly becomes a hard sci-fi story about time loops, quantum physics, and quite literally changing history. It all circles around one phrase told to each detective in their respective times: “Know you are loved.”

Four different detectives find the same body in four different eras.

Apart from its time-travel element, Bodies is simultaneously a period piece, police procedural, dystopia, conspiracy thriller, family drama, and cult story. It’s a lot for any series to attempt, but Bodies is able to incorporate each through its divided plot. When the action jumps from era to era, the tone is effectively reset. One scene may be a gripping chase scene between Hasan and a suspect, but then it will cut immediately to Whiteman in 1941 bonding with a little girl.

Bodies is a stealth time-travel show. The science fiction elements are added so gradually that it’s hard to even notice until the last episode where events are changed and characters even embrace their future selves. It’s a testament to the all-star cast to balance the tones so excellently: it could be tempting to shift from “detective show acting” to “science fiction acting” but everything is played with the utmost seriousness.

Detective Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) appears in the 2023 and 2053 eras.

Maybe this is why this series isn’t getting the same acclaim as its spiritual successors: calling it a time-travel show betrays the shift of the series altogether. But this show should be on the watchlist of every sci-fi fan, whether they’re the kind who misses the grandfather paradoxes of Dark or the political commentary of Stranger Things .

Bodies is now streaming on Netflix.

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• Wed. Apr 17th, 2024

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10 Best Time-Travel TV Shows You Shouldn’t Miss

By Chris Pearson

Who doesn’t love time travel shows? The concept itself is magical. As we cannot go back or forward in real life, watching shows that make this happen gives a whole different kind of excitement. There are many such time travel shows that will make you feel out of the world. However, very few shows have succeeded. The main reason for this is the failure of handling the concept when it comes to a logical explanation. Most shows mess up with narration and hence fail to reach a larger audience. That is why we decided to list the best time travel shows to make your life easy when it comes to picking the next show to watch.

All the shows mentioned here are available on a variety of streaming services. While Netflix has most shows from the list, you will be surprised to know that some of the best shows are even available on Hulu as well. Let’s look at them in detail.

10 Best Time Travel Shows

• Umbrella Academy
• The Time Traveller’s Wife
• Legends Of Tomorrow

1) Umbrella Academy

Umbrella Academy is one of the most-watched shows on Netflix. The show sets a unique screenplay in which seven siblings reunite to solve the mystery of their father’s death. These siblings are from different mothers, adopted by billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, and possess a superpower ; Luther Hargreeves is known for super strength; Diego Hargreeves has trajectory manipulation meaning he can control projectiles; Allison Hargreeves can influence people to her command with the phrase “I Heard a Rumor”, followed by what she wants to happen; Klaus Hargreeves can communicate with and summon the dead; Five Hargreeves can teleport and time travel; Ben Hargreeves can summon monstrous tentacles from his torso; and Viktor Hargreeves can control sound waves. These unique superpowers make them strong in finding the truth about their father’s death and they also work in unison to stop the imminent global apocalypse. The story runs between the past, present, and future making it binge-watch-worthy!

Currently, three seasons are available on Netflix. The fourth and final season will be released in 2023 or 2024 as per the statement released by Netflix.

Dark is one of the best Netflix TV Shows you should watch! Dark stands unique and best because of its successful implementation of the time travel concept with top-notch quality. It runs in three timelines, past, present, and future making it a perfect trilogy.

The show begins with the disappearance of a child in the small German town of Winden. As many children start vanishing in the air, they try to follow the connection by gathering information from all those families. As they continue their investigation, they will learn about the conspiracy of time travel and its link with several generations. People have been comparing Dark with Stranger Things which completely makes sense but deep down Dark is a completely different show. It is a completely unpredictable show with its mysteries, suspense, supernatural, and family drama. It set the bar high with its tone, visuals, acting, casting, musical score, ambition, and complexity of its narrative. 

Three seasons are available on Netflix. Season three is the final season of the Dark so the show has officially ended.

3) Outlander

Outlander is an award-winning show based on the concept of time travel with a bit of historical touch. It is based on the  Outlander  novel series by Diana Gabaldon.

Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe ) is a former Second World War military nurse living with her husband in Scotland in 1945. She finds herself transported back in time to 1743. In this world, she feels threatened and the situations make her marry a Highland warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). She keeps traveling forth and back and hence her emotions are shared between her two lives.

A prequel of Outlanders, “Blood of my blood” is in the making. Six seasons have been released so far and Netflix has only the first five seasons. The latest season was aired on Stars from Mar 6 to May 1, 2022. The seventh season of Outlanders is supposed to be released in the summer of 2023.

4) The Time Traveller’s Wife

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the debut novel by American author Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003. This is the story about a Chicago librarian who suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to drift uncontrollably back and forth through time.

The Time Traveler’s Wife showcases love, loss, relationships, and most importantly how we are bound to time. It is a love story between Clare and Henry. Clare meets Henry when she is 6 years old but Henry is from the future. Fourteen years later a beautiful girl walks into the library where Henry is working and claims she knows him very well. She also says that she is his future wife! As Henry keeps disappearing into the past and future, Clare does everything to save her love.

HBO has the first season with six episodes. The next season of ‘The Time Traveller’s wife” has been cancelled as stated by HBO.

5) Manifest

Manifest is about a mysterious plane that lands years after takeoff, the people onboard return to a world that has moved on without them and face strange new realities.

In this series, the time froze when they were in the air. A plane with 191 passengers and crew was flying from Jamaica to New York, and on the way, it experiences severe turbulence. When they land they surprisingly find out that they have been presumed dead for five and a half years. Their family is happy to reunite but they find many things have changed in this time period.

Manifest is available to watch on Netflix and currently, there are three seasons available. Manifest’s fourth and final season was released in November 2022.

6) Travelers

‘Travelers’ is one of the gripping shows based on science fiction and time travel. IThe show will you want to binge it as quickly as possible with its gripping plot.

The storyline is; hundreds of years from now, the last surviving humans discover the means of sending consciousness back through time, directly into people in the 21st century. They secretly work as a team to save humanity from the horrific future. Six of them have their own lives along with this secret mission. The show keeps you hooked up with its fast-moving, engrossing plot. Though there are a few flaws in the storyline there is no doubt that Travelers is purely entertaining.

Netflix has three seasons of Travelers and the fourth one has been canceled for unknown reasons.

7) Legends Of Tomorrow

If you are a fan of Disney comics then you will definitely love this one. A time-traveling rogue and a ragtag team of famous heroes and villains battle an immortal threat that could destroy not only Earth but all of time.

Legends of Tomorrow is a spin-off featuring characters introduced in Arrow and The Flash along with new characters, set in the Arrowverse. Time traveler rogue Rip Hunter has been given a new task. To prevent an apocalypse he has to recruit a rag-tag team of heroes and villains. This team has to stop the threat that is impacting both the earth and time.

Netflix has 7 seasons of Legends Of Tomorrow DC Show. The series officially ended after the cancellation of season 8.

8) Doctor Who

One of the classic and long-running British shows broadcasted in 1963. The series is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the most successful science-fiction series of all time

Doctor Who depicts the adventures of a Time Lord. This doctor who looks like a human is an extraterrestrial being meaning he has an alien life. The doctor works for the people facing troubles and saves civilization as he explores the universe in his time traveling space ship TARDIS. He has stolen this ship from the planet of the Time Lords where he was staying before beginning this adventure. In the long history of this series, a total of 6 actors have played the role of a doctor.

All 13 seasons of Doctor Who are available to watch on HBO max. Season 14 is set to release in 2023 with Neil Patrick Harris as the new addition to the cast.

9) Timeless

Timeless is a historical science fiction highlighting historical facts with accuracy. To know the history you should watch Timeless. The show is comparatively dark and gets more violent at the end of the first season.

In Timeless, one of the organizations is trying to change history through time travel. A team of three Lucy Preston, Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan, and Rufus Carlin try to prevent it from happening. They have to travel back to critical events using the prototype of the state-of-the-art time machine which has been stolen.

Hulu has two seasons of Timeless. Season 3 has been canceled as per the latest update.

Looking for the best time travel show to binge-watch? Here it is. Lost on Amazon Prime is 6 seasons long and consists of a total of 121 episodes! This series has everything! Supernatural elements, science fiction, and time travel concept hence because of all these factors it is one of the best shows available on Amazon Prime video .

A flight flying from Sydney to Las Angeles crashes in between an island located somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean.  From there the story unfolds focusing on the past, present, and future. There is a lot to see in the show so go for it if you love such dramas.

Lost is one of the greatest television series of all time known for its fast-paced, suspenseful, and surreal action. Seson 6 is the final episode of Lost.

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15 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows, Ranked

For decades, sci-fi has dominated the airwaves and taken fans to far away worlds and on special adventures. Here are some of the best sci-fi shows.

Science fiction has been a popular genre in novels and pulp magazines since the turn of the 20th century and a part of movies as early as 1902's A Trip to the Moon . With the introduction of radio and television, the science fiction genre is most prominently exemplified by long-standing series like Star Trek and Doctor Who . While some appear not to understand or have an interest, longtime fans of the genre can see the potential and entertainment in telling a very human story under the guise of an adventurous space opera.

For this reason, there are a considerable number of good sci-fi TV shows available. For a sci-fi show to be considered the best, it has to tap into core science-fiction elements, like artificial intelligence and extraterrestrial life, and explore them in an interesting manner. However, like any other show, it has to be consistently good, too: with compelling characters and interesting stories to tell with them. The very best combine it all into something special. Not all of them last -- some only make it a single season or two -- but all of them leave a deep impression on the genre when they go.

Updated on April 12, 2024 by Robert Vaux and Jennifer Melzer: Science fiction TV has been mesmerizing viewers for generations, and the best of the best in sci-fi TV includes so many unforgettable series. This list has been updated to include even more of the best sci-fi TV series, as well as adhering to CBR's most recent formatting standards.

15 HBO's Westworld Got Off to a Great Start but Overcomplicated Itself

• 2016 Critics' Choice Television Awards' Best Actress In a Drama Series: Evan Rachel Wood - Won
• 2016 Critics' Choice Television Awards' Best Supporting Actress In a Drama Series: Thandiwe Newton - Won

Westworld Might Still Get Its Final Season After All, Co-Creator Teases

The first season of the HBO series Westworld is some of the best science fiction television ever created. A common aspect of the genre is the role of artificial intelligence, popular in movies ranging from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Wachowski's The Matrix . The idea of man-created life is at the center of the themes in Westworld . At a Wild West-themed vacation amusement park run by androids, wealthy guests can indulge in their wildest fantasies.

Accompanied by fantastic performances, the series was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The basic premise was taken from the 1973 movie Westworld , written and directed by Michael Crichton, and its 1976 sequel, Futureworld . After 36 episodes and four seasons, HBO canceled the show, which a lot of fans started to feel had lost its way. That first season, however, is unparalleled, and that alone is enough to earn a spot in the rankings, albeit at the bottom of the list.

At the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.

14 Futurama's Sci-Fi Satire Is Built to Last

From the creators of The Simpsons comes the best science fiction sitcom ever created. When pizza delivery boy Fry is accidentally cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years, he awakes on the eve of 3000. The series first aired in 1999 and has had eight seasons with 150 episodes and counting, the last airing in 2023.

Futurama is the grandchild of The Twilight Zone in a sense because of the way it conveys social commentary in a futuristic setting. However, where The Twilight Zone pulls the viewer in with bewilderment, Futurama maintains its fans over the years through various forms of satire. Thanks to science fiction's enduring popularity as a genre, it never runs out of targets for satire. Along the way, its oddball collection of characters has become as endearing as those in its sister series, The Simpsons.

Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy, is accidentally frozen in 1999 and thawed out on New Year's Eve 2999.

13 Legion Broke New Ground for Superhero Stories

Aubrey plaza's previous marvel role proved she's perfect for agatha: darkhold diaries.

One of the coolest science fiction series comes in the form of a superhero psychological thriller. Legion is about David Haller, a man who grew up believing the voices in his head were the result of schizophrenia, discovers he is actually a mutant with telepathic abilities.

The exciting twist of the show is the finding that David is actually both a mutant and suffers from schizophrenia. Inspired by characters from X-Men comics and taking place in an alternate history to the movies, Noah Hawley created Legion, giving it a three-season run with 27 episodes and a complete beginning, middle, and end. In the process, he showed what superhero stories were capable of, and opened the door for the likes of WandaVision and The Boys.

Legion is about David Haller, a man who grew up believing the voices in his head were the result of schizophrenia, but later discovers he is actually a mutant with telepathic abilities.

12 The Prisoner Was a Daringly Different Sci-Fi Concept

British science fiction television has a small presence compared to U.S. television, but has still delivered its share of inspiring series. The Prisoner stands among the very best, despite running just a single season of 17 episodes in 1967. Patrick McGoohan plays a British intelligence officer who resigns from his post, only to find himself trapped in a surreal "Village" whose residents cannot leave.

Espionage shows were very big when The Prisoner was released -- James Bond was the undisputed king of the pop-culture cage at the time -- but nothing looked or felt quite like it. It became equal parts paranoid thriller, social satire, and sci-fi meditation on the nature of free will. It probably couldn't have lasted much longer than it did, but what it delivered is still affecting the genre today.

11 Firefly Has Survived Its Creator's Disgrace

Nathan fillion says he'd work with joss whedon again 'in a second'.

The best science fiction series to receive its flowers way too late was the Joss Whedon-created TV show Firefly. After a civil war in the future, the show followed the lives of a crew of smugglers aboard a spaceship and their dealings with the "winning" side, an intergalactic superpower known as the Alliance. A common aspect of science fiction and a recurring theme throughout the show is that although technological advancements will improve life in some ways, society will always suffer the same problems.

This short-lived series is the best version of science fiction meets the Wild West, with charming characters and thrilling action. Unfortunately, because of poor marketing and subsequent poor ratings, the show was canceled after one season. However, because of its later success, fans received some closure to the series in the form of the 2005 movie Serenity, but for years they have been demanding a continuation of the much-beloved show. Chances are, they won't get what they're asking for -- credible allegations of abuse against Whedon have all but guaranteed it -- but the fact that fans are still asking after it is a testament to its place among the best sci-fi shows of all time.

*Availability in US

Not available

Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.

10 Max Headroom Was Too Innovative to Last

Like The Prisoner, Max Headroom is a show resolutely ahead of its time, and similarly was canceled after just a single 14-episode season. Its title character was created as the fictional host of a music video series in the mid-1980s. A short made-for-TV movie was filmed establishing his origin story: an AI created by accident in a dystopic future controlled by large television corporations. Max proved a sensation, and a regular series followed.

The show depicted Max partnering with his human "template" -- a crusading journalist named Edison Carter -- and his allies as they attempt to expose the truth and corruption of their world. It proved a brilliant catalyst for the growing cyberpunk sub-genre, and in its fourth-wall-breaking hero found an ideal way to make it fun as well as thought-provoking. Decades on, a disquieting number of its predictions about the future have come true.

9 Stargate SG-1 Went Far Beyond The Original Movie

Stargate sg-1: why janet fraiser actor teryl rothery left the show.

The original big-screen movie Stargate was a grand bit of mid-90s popcorn, with clear potential to expand beyond just a single story. The TV adaptation -- ostensibly a sequel, albeit with different actors in several of the key roles -- harnesses that potential in a huge way. It depicts teams of scientists and soldiers traveling through the titular alien artifact, which connects to a vast network of alien worlds. Many are occupied by humans, the descendants of slaves abducted from Earth centuries ago. The sinister Goa'uld -- alien parasites who served as the source of myths about ancient Earth deities -- control a stellar empire, with "free" Terran humans a most unwelcome intrusion.

Stargate SG-1 thrives on the clever and organic way it develops its universe, one very different from other science fiction series at the time. It developed multiple successful spin-offs during its run, and while it can't match Star Trek for sheer pop-culture impact, it demonstrated that smart, well-written science fiction would always attract a loyal audience.

Stargate SG-1

The Stargate is an intergalactic gateway, developed by an ancient civilization, that links other planets from other solar systems to ours. The U.S. Air Force assembles a Stargate team headed by Colonel Jack O'Neill for interstellar peace-keeping missions, but soon war comes for planet Earth and their allies.

8 Babylon 5 Saw Both Light and Darkness in the Future

Babylon 5 arrived in the wake of the extraordinary success of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with show runner J. Michael Straczynski determined to tell a very different kind of story. He conceived of Babylon 5 as a space opera that told a centralized story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Set aboard a space station created as "the last, best hope for peace" between various alien races, it proved so compelling that Paramount may have put Star Trek: Deep Space Nine into development solely to counter the competition it would provide. (The two series premiered within a few weeks of each other in 1993.)

Whatever competitiveness emerged between the two series made both of them better by default. Babylon 5 boasted a strong stable of writers, including the likes of Neil Gaiman and Harlan Ellison, as well as Star Trek alums D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold. It embraced the same commitment to high-minded ideals as Star Trek and -- like Deep Space Nine -- it wasn't afraid to explore the darker side of the future. It depicts a galaxy that has advanced, but still remains divided and warlike, with no sign of the utopia Star Trek always promised. Boosted by Straczynski's early embrace of the internet, it became a key part of the genre's big 1990s resurgence.

7 Farscape Looked Like Nothing That Had Come Before

15 best episodes of farscape.

Both Star Wars and Star Trek were thriving in 1999, with the former just launching its hotly awaited prequel trilogy, and the latter in the midst of its post- Next Generation renaissance. That made it exceedingly difficult to carve out any original space in the genre, and while the late 90s were full of notable sci-fi TV series, only a handful really distinguished themselves from the Big Two. Farscape was perhaps the biggest exception: the brain child of Brian Henson who hoped to make good on his father Jim's belief that puppets weren't just for children.

The results are one of the most gleefully unhinged space operas ever created, as American astronaut John Crichton is shot through a wormhole of his own creation into a galaxy rife with turmoil. Morality is a subjective thing in this universe, with Crichton and his friends -- fugitives one and all -- weave a dangerous path between equally oppressive galactic empires. The show was canceled after a fourth-season cliffhanger, but Henson pulled a final rabbit out of his hat with The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries: bringing closure to the story and cementing one of the most unique sci-fi shows in memory. James Gunn has publicly cited the series as a major inspiration for the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and Farscape star Ben Browder has a role in the second Guardians movie.

Thrown into a distant part of the universe, an Earth astronaut finds himself part of a fugitive alien starship crew.

6 Battlestar Galactica Reimagined a 1970s Science Fiction Classic In Spectacular Fashion

The eight cylon prototypes created by the final five.

After the Cylons attack the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, humanity's survivors found themselves on the run through uncharted space and on the hunt for a new world to call home. With a large population of survivors being military, the series followed the Battlestar Galactica, a ship on the verge of retirement alongside its commander, William Adama. Society's collapse saw the inexperienced Secretary of Education, Laura Roslin, next in line to become President of the Colonies. As she and Adama clash early on about what humanity needs in order to survive, the small fleet of survivors find themselves constantly on the run from pursuing Cylons. Little do they know, the Cylons have evolved. Indistinguishable from humans, the crew is in an ongoing state of panic and distrust, questioning the nature of everyone around them.

Inspired by Glen Larsen's 1977 series of the same name, one of the most iconic aspects of BSG was the hard line it drew between man and machine. Exploring one of science fiction's most prominent questions -- do machines have souls -- Battlestar Galactic left a lasting impression on sci-fi TV that fans of the genre won't soon forget. The series was so well-received, it landed two spin-off prequels, Caprica, which explored the origins of the Cylons, and Blood and Chrome , which followed the early adventures of young Bill Adama. There were also multiple made for TV movies that tied into and expanded events in the series.

Battlestar Galactica

When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.

5 The X-Files Was an Iconic Contributor to Science Fiction Television

Gillian anderson open to returning for ryan coogler's x-files reboot.

A successor to The Twilight Zone in science fiction TV is a series that includes other genres, too. The X-Files combined elements of a police procedural with the tropes of science fantasy stories, drawing inspiration from the recent success of The Silence of the Lambs , with a paranormal twist. The show follows FBI Agents Fox Mulder, a believer played by David Duchovny, and Dana Scully, a skeptic played by Gillian Anderson, as they discover and investigate unexplained phenomena.

Between 1993 and 2018, The X-Files, created by Chris Carter, released 11 seasons with 216 episodes and two spin-off movies. The winning combination of pairing a nonbeliever with a die-hard conspiracy theorist is a character dynamic that has since grown popular on TV, echoing in series like the first season of True Detective . Some of sci-fi's greatest shows of all time struggle to age well with the changing times, because much like science itself, the rules are always changing. While The X-Files is certainly still a worthy sci-fi tv show, there are parts of the series that just didn't age well, and that alone lands it mid-list in the rankings.

The X-Files

Two F.B.I. Agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained, while hidden forces work to impede their efforts.

4 The Mandalorian Was Star Wars' First Live Action Star Wars TV Series

This slot could just as readily be occupied by Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which threw open the doors of television for the venerable franchise after decades spent largely on the big screen. But Jon Favreau reinvigorated the Star Wars franchise -- as well as bringing live-action into the mix -- with the space Western series The Mandalorian . Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi , the story follows a lone bounty hunter who takes in a child with Force abilities the remaining Imperialists are after. The true genius of the series is how Favreau brings Star Wars back to its roots by delivering jidaigeki stories and Western themes disguised under the galaxy of Star Wars .

It's no surprise the writer-director has given fans the best Star Wars live-action treatment since the original trilogy. George Lucas first based Star Wars on Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress . Jon Favreau follows in those footsteps by drawing the same basic premise from a series of Japanese movies called Lone Wolf and Cub . The best science fiction can adapt old stories and present them in new and exciting ways, and The Mandalorian succeeds in both.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian

A Star Wars story about a lone Mandalorian gunslinger tasked with protecting a young Force-sensitive alien.

3 Doctor Who Has Been Taking Fans Through Time & Space for Generations

Doctor who franchise actor wants his villain to meet ncuti gatwa's doctor.

It's hard for science fiction fans to imagine a world without Doctor Who , as it's nearly as old as The Twilight Zone , and generations of viewers grew up with the TARDIS in their living room and the Doctor's space-time shenanigans tugging heartstrings and hitting funny bones. The number of times the Doctor saved Great Britain, the world, the universe has become impossible to count over the decades. The Doctor's changed faces through genetic regeneration multiple times over the years, but the one thing that never changes is his choice in travel companions.

From Sarah Jane Smith to Donna Noble, one could almost argue that despite The Doctor being central to the stories, it's the companions that truly make him who he is. Exploring his complicated origins and history, The Doctor often loses sight of what's right in front of him. When combined with the brave souls who dare to travel through space and time, it creates a great balance between science and humanity, making for some of the most outstanding science fiction television of all time.

The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor and his companions from planet Earth.

2 The Twilight Zone Wasn't Afraid to Take Risks In the Science Fiction Department, & It Paid Off

Familiar faces from the twilight zone.

• William Shatner
• Elizabeth Montgomery
• Burgess Meredith
• Burt Reynolds
• Dennis Hopper
• Robert Redford

One of the best anthology series of all time is arguably the godfather of science fiction on TV. While it encompassed other genres, The Twilight Zone introduced audiences to science fiction stories that have inspired TV and movies since. The show has become so synonymous with the bizarre that "the Twilight Zone" is a phrase when someone has a surreal experience.

Created by Rod Serling in 1959 and running for five seasons with 156 episodes, The Twilight Zone accomplished what all science fiction should try to, second to entertain. The best science fiction stories provide social commentary on the current world. With The Twilight Zone disguising these issues in the genre, the writers could remark on topics of the time, such as racism, nuclear warfare, and totalitarianism.

The Twilight Zone (1959)

Ordinary people find themselves in extraordinarily astounding situations, which they each try to solve in a remarkable manner.

1 Star Trek Is the Quintessential Science Fiction Series, & There's Plenty of It to Watch

How star trek: discovery's trill story connects to dax on deep space nine, the most well known captains of the u.s.s enterprise.

Making its television debut in 1966, Star Trek: The Original Series set the bar for science fiction in ways no other series could claim. Focusing on humanity's futuristic explorations in space, the original crew of the Starship Enterprise went places no person had ever gone before, interacted with new species and people from all over the galaxy. For its time, the original Star Trek was groundbreaking, touching on known cultural issues and exploring them in ways no other series had done.

Following TOS in 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation revived the franchise, introducing a new captain, a new crew, a new U.S.S. Enterprise, and a whole new generation to the franchise, and it's been going strong ever since. Having expanded through multiple movies, including a series of films in the alternative Kelvin Timeline, TV series, animations, comic books and fictional novels, there is no doubt that Star Trek will go down in history as the most memorable and groundbreaking science fiction TV show of all-time. Star Trek launched an unforgettable legacy that shows no signs of slowing down.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

'Family Guy' Season 22 Is Cancelling Christianity in Epic Time Travel Finale

Brian is using Stewie's time machine for nefarious purposes again.

The Big Picture

• Jesus returns in an epic time-travel finale for Family Guy Season 22.
• Brian falls for a religious woman and tries to go back in time to cancel Christianity so she'll sleep with him.
• The Family Guy finale promises the show's trademark offensive humor and some unexpected twists.

Our dear lord and savior returns to Family Guy in the Season 22 finale. At this point, Jesus has made so many appearances that he might just move in with The Griffins . It's been a while since he's appeared to clarify some things or respond when he's called upon, but tonight he returns in an epic time-travel episode. In an interview with TV Insider , showrunners Richard Appel and Alec Sulkin previewed the season finale, which airs tonight on Fox, and what Jesus has to do with it all.

This time around, he doesn't appear to the characters, and like when he was crucified all those millennia ago, he is seemingly innocent. His only crime is being associated with a religion that puts a damper on Brian's (voiced by Seth MacFarlane ) plans. In the "Faith No More" episode, the official episode synopsis (below) teases another one of Stewie (voiced by MacFarlane) and Brian's classic adventures.

"Brian becomes romantically interested in someone and it inspires him to use Stewie's time machine. Strange consequences result from their journey"

Brian Falls In Love With A Religious Woman

The dog is in love again. He falls in love with a devout vet technician (voiced by Mae Whitman ) and pretends to be religious himself to score with her. However, things don't play out in a neat rom-com manner, something Sulkin calls a mislead. "You go a little bit down a road with something that seems like it could be a Family Guy story, and then it turns into something else," he said.

What does a dog have to do to get frisky when his girlfriend has decided she's not having sex until marriage because she doesn't want to go to hell? For Brian, however, the answer is obvious. The dog will use Stewie's time travel tech . The goal? To cancel Christianity. How? By stopping Jesus before religion was invented and evolved to ruin his chances in the present. Stewie is not one to be left behind during a time-travel adventure, so the duo will jump back in time together.

They find themselves in medieval Israel circa A.D. 30, and they've already messed up. What can go wrong in a place and time they don't understand? And all this just so the dog can get lucky? The last time Jesus was on the show was in Episode 10 of Season 19, as Peter faced off with his mortal enemy: The Giant Chicken. It seems that we should be ready for another round of humor that will most definitely be deemed offensive , with Appel saying, “I never thought I’d hear myself say this as a writer, but the Standards and Practices department at Fox is easy to work with and pretty good with us.”

Catch the Family Guy Season 22 finale tonight on Fox. Stream past episodes on Hulu.

WATCH ON HULU

Jessica Reid | 16 April 2024

The best travel tv series to watch in 2024 (so far).

From discovering nature secrets with David Attenborough to exploring cultural treasures with Bettany Hughes, these are the latest travel series that have our eyes glued to the screen in wonder...

We may only be a few months in, but 2024 is already delivering when it comes to captivating travel shows and documentaries. Whether you're into discovering the history and traditions of little-known Europe or wanting to follow an exhilarating race across East Asia, there's something for everyone on the small screen.

Of course, there's also plenty of legendary personalities from the travel and TV world to help transport us (virtually) to each corner of the globe, from David Attenborough and Michael Palin to Bettany Hughes and Joe Lycett. The question is, what do we watch first?

Before we get started, did you know...

According to new research by   Intrepid Travel , just 13% of women feel they are represented on TV travel shows and 62% say that seeing a female host would encourage them to travel more. This is supported by the statistic that just 21% of travel shows on two mainstream TV channels have   women   presenters. To combat the perception that adventure travel is just for men and close this 'Adventure Gap', the B Corp organisation have launched a pop-up exhibition in London highlighting the untold stories of female travellers.  AdventurHER: Travel Tales of Inspiring Women  will run from 19-21 April from 10am until 6pm   at 20-22 Camden Passage, Islington.

Race Across the World

Eugenie & Isabel are contestants on this series of Race Across the World (BBC/Studio Lambert/Pete Dadds)

The fourth series of Race Across the World has now begun on BBC One. This time, the five teams of two are racing 15,000km across Asia, from the intoxicating Japanese capital of Tokyo to the paradise island of Lombok in Indonesia. En route, they will be racing to check points, which involves crossing eight borders and six seas. The catch? They have no smartphone technology, internet access or credit card – just a limited budget and the kindness of strangers to help them get them from A to B.

How to watch:  Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One, or catch up on iPlayer .

Read next: Everything you need to know about Race Across the World series four

Michael Palin in Nigeria

Michael Palin explores Nigeria in his latest series (Paramount Pictures)

This three-part series on Channel 5 sees the acclaimed travel presenter Michael Palin take on an epic 2,000km journey across Nigeria, expected to be the third most populated country within the next half a century. Beyond its blighted reputation with claims of fraud and corruption, 80-year-old Palin learns the ‘Giant of Africa’ has so much to offer the intrepid traveller, with jaw-dropping natural landscapes and complex cultural discoveries, as well as extraordinary people.

How to watch:  Tuesdays (from 16 April) at 9pm on Channel 5, or catch up on My5 . 

Travel Man: 48 Hours In...

Joe Lycett and Jessica Fostekew pose infront of volcanoes in Lanzarote (North One/Channel 4)

Comedian Joe Lycett reprises his role as Travel Man in 2024, joined by familiar faces as he explores new destinations for 48 hours each. Across four episodes, he visits the Italian port city of Trieste with Alan Davies, the Lapland capital of Rovaniemi with Desiree Burch, the fairtytale Czech capital of Prague and the Canary Island of Lanzarote with Jessica Fortekew. From an unusual Wind Museum to aurora hunting, Joe and his travel companions enjoy the best and quirkiest parts of these European gems.

How to watch: Catch up now on Channel 4 .

Treasures of the World with Bettany Hughes

Bettany Hughes explores Albania in the new series (Channel 4)

Historian Bettany Hughes returns to our screens with the third series of Treasures of the World on Channel 4. In the six episode series, she seeks out the historic and cultural secrets of Eastern Europe, from the oldest worked gold in Bulgaria to local hospitality in Albania. As Hughes describes herself, the treasures uncovered are usually ‘familiar stories found in unexpected places’.

How to watch:  Saturdays at 7pm on Channel 4, or catch up on Channel 4 .

Read next:  We catch up with Bettany Hughes on her latest series

Giraffes in Namibia are part of the latest David Attenborough series, Mammals (BBC Studios/Christophe Courteau/naturepl.com)

David Attenborough may be turning 98-years-old soon, but his new series once again delivers some of the most outstanding and surprising nature secrets of his career. BBC One’s Mammals, narrated by the legendary broadcaster, offers insight into the most successful animal group in the world. The remarkable footage explores never seen and unique animal behaviours, from the giant blue whale to the tiny Etruscan shrew. As ever, Attenborough also highlights the numerous threats these wild creatures face in a rapidly changing world.

How to watch:  Sundays at 7pm on BBC One, or catch up on iPlayer .

The Mysteries of the Pyramids

Dara Ó Briain explores the mysterious of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt (Channel 5)

Channel 5’s upcoming series The Mysteries of the Pyramids is headed by comedian and presenter Dara Ó Briain. He’ll be joined by archaeology and history experts to dig into some of the most common yet unanswered questions and theories around this ancient wonder of the world, including ‘how were they built?’ and ‘what were they originally built for?’. Viewers can expect to be captivated and surprised about the answers Ó Briain finds.

How to watch: Coming soon to Channel 5 and My5 (date yet to be confirmed). 

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The best travel TV series to watch in 2024 (so far)

W e may only be a few months in, but 2024 is already delivering when it comes to captivating travel shows and documentaries. Whether you're into discovering the history and traditions of little-known Europe or wanting to follow an exhilarating race across East Asia, there's something for everyone on the small screen.

Of course, there's also plenty of legendary personalities from the travel and TV world to help transport us (virtually) to each corner of the globe, from David Attenborough and Michael Palin to Bettany Hughes and Joe Lycett. The question is, what do we watch first?

Before we get started, did you know...

According to new research by  Intrepid Travel , just 13% of women feel they are represented on TV travel shows and 62% say that seeing a female host would encourage them to travel more. This is supported by the statistic that just 21% of travel shows on two mainstream TV channels have women presenters. To combat the perception that adventure travel is just for men and close this 'Adventure Gap', the B Corp organisation have launched a pop-up exhibition in London highlighting the untold stories of female travellers.  AdventurHER: Travel Tales of Inspiring Women  will run from 19-21 April from 10am until 6pm at 20-22 Camden Passage, Islington.

Race Across the World

The fourth series of Race Across the World has now begun on BBC One. This time, the five teams of two are racing 15,000km across Asia, from the intoxicating Japanese capital of Tokyo to the paradise island of Lombok in Indonesia. En route, they will be racing to check points, which involves crossing eight borders and six seas. The catch? They have no smartphone technology, internet access or credit card – just a limited budget and the kindness of strangers to help them get them from A to B.

How to watch:  Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One, or catch up on iPlayer .

Read next: Everything you need to know about Race Across the World series four

Michael Palin in Nigeria

This three-part series on Channel 5 sees the acclaimed travel presenter Michael Palin take on an epic 2,000km journey across Nigeria, expected to be the third most populated country within the next half a century. Beyond its blighted reputation with claims of fraud and corruption, 80-year-old Palin learns the ‘Giant of Africa’ has so much to offer the intrepid traveller, with jaw-dropping natural landscapes and complex cultural discoveries, as well as extraordinary people.

How to watch:  Tuesdays (from 16 April) at 9pm on Channel 5, or catch up on My5 . 

Travel Man: 48 Hours In...

Comedian Joe Lycett reprises his role as Travel Man in 2024, joined by familiar faces as he explores new destinations for 48 hours each. Across four episodes, he visits the Italian port city of Trieste with Alan Davies, the Lapland capital of Rovaniemi with Desiree Burch, the fairtytale Czech capital of Prague and the Canary Island of Lanzarote with Jessica Fortekew. From an unusual Wind Museum to aurora hunting, Joe and his travel companions enjoy the best and quirkiest parts of these European gems.

How to watch: Catch up now on Channel 4 .

Treasures of the World with Bettany Hughes

Historian Bettany Hughes returns to our screens with the third series of Treasures of the World on Channel 4. In the six episode series, she seeks out the historic and cultural secrets of Eastern Europe, from the oldest worked gold in Bulgaria to local hospitality in Albania. As Hughes describes herself, the treasures uncovered are usually ‘familiar stories found in unexpected places’.

How to watch:  Saturdays at 7pm on Channel 4, or catch up on Channel 4 .

Read next: We catch up with Bettany Hughes on her latest series

David Attenborough may be turning 98-years-old soon, but his new series once again delivers some of the most outstanding and surprising nature secrets of his career. BBC One’s Mammals, narrated by the legendary broadcaster, offers insight into the most successful animal group in the world. The remarkable footage explores never seen and unique animal behaviours, from the giant blue whale to the tiny Etruscan shrew. As ever, Attenborough also highlights the numerous threats these wild creatures face in a rapidly changing world.

How to watch:  Sundays at 7pm on BBC One, or catch up on iPlayer .

The Mysteries of the Pyramids

Channel 5’s upcoming series The Mysteries of the Pyramids is headed by comedian and presenter Dara Ó Briain. He’ll be joined by archaeology and history experts to dig into some of the most common yet unanswered questions and theories around this ancient wonder of the world, including ‘how were they built?’ and ‘what were they originally built for?’. Viewers can expect to be captivated and surprised about the answers Ó Briain finds.

How to watch: Coming soon to Channel 5 and My5 (date yet to be confirmed). 

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Back to Black

The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

• Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Matt Greenhalgh
• Marisa Abela
• Eddie Marsan
• Jack O'Connell
• 31 User reviews
• 44 Critic reviews
• 50 Metascore

• Amy Winehouse

• Mitch Winehouse

• Blake Fielder-Civil

• Cynthia Winehouse

• Joey the dealer

• Janis Winehouse

• Nick Shymansky

• Raye Cosbert

• Artist Development Man

• Chris Taylor

• Perfume Paul

• Aunt Melody

• Uncle Harold
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Marisa Abela did all the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse 's vocals.

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 2 minutes

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