time travel slave show

‘Kindred’ Is a Time-Traveling Slavery Series That Fails to Do Octavia Butler Justice

• By Alan Sepinwall

Alan Sepinwall

In the new FX drama Kindred, a young Black woman named Dana finds herself time-traveling back and forth between Los Angeles in 2016 to a slave plantation in early 19th century Maryland. On some of these trips, Dana (Mallori Johnson) takes along Kevin (Micah Stock), a white man she has only just started dating, out of an understandable fear of being in that time and place on her own. For the most part, both are horrified to be there. But there is a peaceful moment during one of their longer visits when they are surprised to recognize that the plantation has begun to feel more real than their lives 200 years in the future.

Viewers watching the series, which playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has adapted from Octavia Butler’s acclaimed 1979 novel, may find themselves having the opposite reaction. Though the show spends the bulk of its time on the plantation, it feels far more vivid, complex, and interesting during our periodic glimpses of the modern world.

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“There’s gotta be rules to this thing,” Kevin insists at one point, and the season gradually explains them. The most important is that Dana is somehow linked to Rufus (David Alexander Kaplan), the son of abusive plantation owner Thomas (Ryan Kwanten from True Blood ) and the emotionally fragile Margaret (Gayle Rankin from GLOW ). Dana’s mission, it seems, is to protect Rufus, and perhaps one or more of the enslaved Black people under Tom’s control. She gets some help from Kevin, and from a savvy free woman named Olivia (Sheria Irving), but the burden falls mostly on herself.  

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There is obvious tension and suspense in exactly how Dana and Kevin will talk themselves out of various problems, and Mallori Johnson (a TV novice seen earlier this year in a supporting role in Apple’s WeCrashed ) is more than up to the burden of how much she is required to say without words, and how much the show needs her as its charismatic center. And despite its high-concept, Kindred does not flinch in the slightest from the physical and psychological terror of an enslaved life.

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Dana and Kevin desperately want to escape the plantation forever, so it is perhaps not surprising that Kindred may have unconsciously given its audience the same desire. But it makes for a viewing experience that’s much less engaging than you would expect, given the enduring legacy of its source material.

The entire first season of Kindred begins streaming December 13 on Hulu. I’ve seen all eight episodes.

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In sci-fi series 'Kindred,' a modern-day Black woman is transported to an 1800s plantation

FX’s “Kindred,” which begins streaming Tuesday on Hulu, plunges viewers into a mystery that exists to be experienced, not solved. A young Black woman named Dana, later revealed as an aspiring TV writer in modern-day Los Angeles, lies dazed and apparently injured on the floor of her new house. Barely able to move, she grabs a bag and gathers clothes, a kitchen knife and a bottle of aspirin. She eases into a tub of water, which turns red from her wounds. Then the police start banging on her door, demanding to know whether anything is wrong.

What exactly is happening? There’s no long wait for an answer. Like the 1979 novel by Octavia E. Butler that inspired it, the new series quickly reveals that Dana somehow is time-traveling back to an early-1800s Maryland plantation, the place where her ancestors lived with the horrific reality of slavery. While the eight episodes (which arrive all at once) make some changes to the book’s narrative, the show’s creator, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, says his dream scenario would be for people to watch them in tandem with reading Butler’s print version.

“The book will always be the book, and Octavia, thank God, her work will always be there. I just wanted to celebrate her,” says the noted playwright and Obie award winner, who previously worked on HBO’s “Watchmen.”

“That’s what got me through the hardest days, thinking Octavia, Octavia, Octavia.”

“Kindred” is the latest FX show to screen exclusively on Hulu, a partnership that has resulted in the acclaimed “Reservation Dogs,” a comedy-drama about young Native Americans, and “The Bear,” which made the phrase “Yes, chef!” go viral with its intense, quirky portrayal of the staff of a Chicago Italian sandwich spot.

Like those critical hits,  Jacobs-Jenkins’ adaptation has the potential for big pop-culture impact, particularly since Butler’s writings have become a hot source for film and TV projects. “Kindred” is the first to be completed of several screen projects drawn from the author's works. They include a post-apocalyptic saga based on “Dawn” from Ava DuVernay’s production company,  a romance involving immortals spun from “Wild Seed” from Viola Davis’ Juvee Productions and a vampire tale from “Fledging” that’s being executive-produced by Issa Rae and J.J. Abrams.

 An icon in the science fiction genre, Butler is now considered one of the most notable writers of the 20 th century.  She spent years in obscurity, writing in the small hours of the morning and supporting herself with routine jobs during the day. “Kindred” was considered her breakthrough novel. In addition to winning several major sci-fi awards, Butler received a MacArthur “genius” fellowship in 1995. She was the first sci-fi author so honored.

Since Butler’s death in 2006 at age 58, interest in her short stories and novels has continued to grow as readers keep discovering the relevance of the themes that she addressed: climate change, racial injustice, economic and social inequality among them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her 1993 novel “The Parable of the Sower” reached the New York Times best-seller list, offering what Slate called in 2020 “a blueprint for adjusting to uncertainty.”

“I think if there is a resurgence of interest for her today, it’s because what really defines her is her prescience. She was a visionary, the way that she understands the issues to come. ... When you think of the ‘Parable of the Sower,’ her book on climate change, the story takes place in 2024, so we’re almost there. It’s where everything collapses,” says Benedicte Boisseron, a professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan who participated in a panel discussion on Butler’s enduring influence in March 2022 during an Octavia Butler Week at the Ann Arbor campus.

Jacobs-Jenkins, who discovered Butler’s books as a young teen, says “Kindred” always has stayed with him. When he returned to the book in 2010 as an adult, “I finished reading it and thought this is a television show.” The project was sold to FX in 2016 and stayed in development for about five years. The pilot finally was shot in fall 2021, and filming for the entire series took place for about six months in 2022, with rural Georgia subbing for Maryland.

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Despite the time-travel element of “Kindred,” it recounts what daily life was like for enslaved men and women in the antebellum South with the painful accuracy of a real memoir. Butler did extensive research for the novel, traveling by bus from California to Maryland and visiting historical sites like Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, which in the 1970s barely addressed the existence of slavery

“There wasn’t the internet, there wasn’t Google, there wasn’t really even, like, library shelves full of scholarship. She was really kind of trying to save something from oblivion, maybe,” Jacobs-Jenkins says. “For me, it’s a great irony of the book that it remains feeling so present tense because I think it just indicates how resistant the culture is to really processing the meaningfulness of this history.”

Jacobs-Jenkins read Butler’s papers and reflected on the differences between 1979 and today before choosing the departures that the series makes from the book. For instance, Dana’s time travel is changed to a generational phenomenon that was shared by certain relatives, a twist that he says was inspired by Butler's early drafts.

Also, the  character of Kevin (Dana’s white husband in the book) becomes a new love interest here who finds himself being taken along on this impossible, potentially lethal journey with a woman he barely knows. ”I just wanted to see if there was a way to build that relationship convincingly in real time," says Jacobs-Jenkins.

There also is a nod to the contemporary "Karen" meme of white privilege with the addition of a neighbor who's nosy to an intrusive level about what’s occurring at Dana’s house.

“For me, the best adaptations aren’t necessarily about translating something beat by beat, word for word, but trying to re-create in some ways what the original artist was attempting to create in their own context,” says Jacobs-Jenkins.

An Obie award winner who, like Butler, was himself a MacArthur “genius” fellow, Jacobs-Jenkins also took on the task of being the showrunner for “Kindred.” It was his first brush with being the person essentially in charge of guiding an entire series.

“The experience of going from a writer to a showrunner is like going from a beggar to a CEO overnight,” he says with a laugh. “I spent six years trying to prove to people the idea had something in it and suddenly you’re handed the keys to a thousand Mercedes.”

Despite challenges like having to shoot under COVID-19 safety precautions, Jacobs-Jenkins says he enjoyed the process, especially working with the actors. ”There were definitely a ton of difficulties, but I just felt that every day was a blessing.”

For the role of Dana, who is on-screen for most of the scenes in the series, the production found a future star in  newcomer Mallori Johnson, who was in her fourth year of studying acting at Juilliard when she auditioned for the part.  Micah Stock, her co-star as Kevin, describes her as an “astonishingly skilled actor” for someone just out of college.  “There were times on set where those of us who were a little bit older would look at her and say, 'I can’t do that.'”

Stock, one of several cast members from the New York theater scene, says he already was a friend and longtime fan of Jacobs-Jenkins when he got the "Kindred" script from his representatives. “I think at some point in the process I wrote Branden and said, ‘I just want you to know I really want to do this,’” he says.

Although “Kindred” is more than 40 years old, it's reaching small screens at a time when a debate is raging about how U.S. history and topics related to race are being taught in public schools. Stock thinks the series, like the book, will encourage dialogue.

"The show will spark these conversations, I’m sure, and there’ll be lots of discourse around these things. And ultimately, that’s the win, right? It's the conversation.”

For a nation to have any true sense of reconciliation, facing the past as honestly as “Kindred” does is a necessary step. “It’s very important that people understand (that) to reckon with your history, you have to reckon with … the past of slavery,” says U-M's Boisseron.

She's glad that the book studied at universities has become a potential binge watch. “It opens Octavia Butler to a whole new audience,” she says.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at [email protected].

All eight episodes arrive Tuesday on Hulu

Screen Rant

What is kindred all you need to know about fx's time-traveling show.

FX’s adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s classic novel Kindred just had its first trailer released, leaving a bunch of massive questions unanswered.

The first trailer for FX's upcoming sci-fi thriller series Kindred is out now, and it has left a lot of questions unanswered. Based on Octavia E. Butler's critically acclaimed 1979 novel of the same name, Kindred is a time-traveling literary epic that explores themes of race, slavery, and American history, with the violent and dark story taking place over decades. Its first trailer doesn't give away much, with just hints about its time-traveling rules and complex story, leaving many viewers scratching their heads.

FX's Kindred will be an eight-episode series that adapts Butler's classic novel and is the first-ever on-screen adaptation of the story. The book is Butler's best-selling work and has an incredibly dedicated fanbase. Because of this, the trailer for FX's Kindred adaptation has garnered a lot of hype, and FX has some high expectations to meet. There's a lot of ground to cover, including what Kindred is about, how faithful it will be to the book, and when it will come out.

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What Is Kindred About?

Kindred tells the story of Dana Franklin, a 26-year-old black woman from the modern day (1976 in the novel) who is suddenly and inexplicably transported back in time. Dana finds herself at a pre-Civil War plantation in Maryland in the Antebellum south, surrounded by all the slavery, sexism, and violence that would be expected of the time period. After passing out, Dana is transported back to her 1976 home without a clue of what had happened.

Over the course of the novel, Dana passes out and is transported back to the plantation several times, attempting to figure out what is causing these episodes during each visit. Kindred spans decades, using its sci-fi concept to explore racism , feminism, social constructs, and tons of other important themes. It is a classic example of using complex science-fiction storytelling to address social horrors. Kindred spans decades, weaving together a complex plot with rich themes to create a novel that has been praised and remembered since its release in 1979.

How Does Kindred's Time Traveling Work?

Unlike other sci-fi movies and TV shows, Kindred 's time-traveling doesn't come via a machine or a magical object. In fact, throughout most of the story, Dana doesn't even know what is causing it. The main plot centers around Dana trying to stop her unexplainable jumps to the past, and while fully explaining it would spoil the show, there are some rules that are introduced early on in the novel to explain Kindred 's system of time travel.

Kindred 's time travel has one core rule : although time progresses as normal when Dana is in the past, only a few minutes have passed when she wakes up in the present. For example, Dana's second trip back in time sees her stay there for several hours, unable to leave. However, when she returns home, her husband assures her that it has only been a brief absence. At one point, Dana discovers that five years have passed in the Antebellum south, while she had only been in 1976 for eight days.

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There are some other rules revealed about Kindred 's time travel early on. Dana discovers that her time-traveling is somehow related to Rufus Weylin, the son of a slave owner that Dana rescues from death in her first trip to the past. Rufus can be seen in the trailer, being the young boy that Dana carries out of the burning building. Each time she travels to the past, Dana appears near the Weylins, making her think that Rufus is key to why it keeps happening. Dana also learns that others can time travel with her as long as they are making contact with her when she passes out. This leads to some major problems later in the novel.

What Is FX's Kindred Changing From The Book?

The extent that Kindred deviates from the book is unknown for now, with FX keeping much of the story under wraps, but it seems to be fairly faithful to the book story-wise, with several shots from the trailer being ripped straight from the novel. However, FX's Kindred seems to change one key thing from the novel: its tone. The trailer for Kindred gives off more of a psychological thriller vibe, almost sci-fi horror flavor instead of the mystery drama style that the novel sticks close to. While the book does have some horrific moments of violence, Kindred isn't really a scary story. Considering it's just a trailer, though, it could be misrepresenting the tone of the final show.

Will Kindred Season 1 Tell The Whole Story?

FX's Kindred is currently only eight episodes, which may not be enough to tell the whole story. Kindred is a fairly complex novel, with its story taking place over years and even decades. Each time Dana goes to the past, the plantation's characters have gotten older, meaning that the show would need different actors to play the same character as they age. It isn't yet confirmed if the eight episodes are just Kindred season 1, with a further season to be commissioned if it proves popular, or if the upcoming 2022 show is a limited sci-fi series .

Kindred could easily fill up several seasons of television on its own. FX can even continue the Kindred series past the book, telling original stories in the same universe — something that has a lot of potential. While the question of how much of the novel is being adapted is still open, Kindred 's strange release pattern may hint at an answer.

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When Does FX's Kindred Come Out?

Although Kindred 's first trailer was released just recently, the show is dropping sooner than such traditionally early marketing might suggest. Like many of FX's other shows, Kindred will be released on Hulu, with the series premiering on December 13. The first episode won't be the only thing coming out that day, though. In a surprise twist, all eight episodes of FX's Kindred will be released on Hulu on December 13, allowing the exciting story to be binged by viewers. The 2022 TV calendar has already been packed with fantastic content, and eight episodes of FX's Kindred landing at once will be the perfect way to close out the year.

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TV and Streaming | How ‘Kindred’ brought Octavia…

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Tv and streaming, tv and streaming | how ‘kindred’ brought octavia butler’s time travel and slavery story to fx.

Actress Mallori Johnson first encountered the work of writer Octavia Butler when she read “Fledgling,” a novel about a young Black vampire. It was the summer before she left home for the Julliard School in New York City.

“I just fell in love with the fact that she was able to create these kinds of fantastical, magical worlds that centered on Black people,” says Johnson, who grew up in San Diego. “That was something that I had never heard or experienced before, so that was really exciting.”

A year or two later, Johnson’s mom gave her a copy of “Kindred,” another novel by the late Pasadena-based writer , and that book – in which a young Black woman suddenly and unpredictably begins to time-travel between present-day Los Angeles and a slave plantation in the antebellum South – had an even bigger impact.

“I fell in love with her intellect, and what she set out to do with the story,” Johnson says.

Mallori Johnson stars as Dana in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Micah Stock stars as Kevin Franklin in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Sheria Irving stars as Olivia in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Ryan Kwanten stars as Thomas Weylin in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Austin Smith stars as Luke in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Gayle Rankin stars as Margaret Weylin in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Sophina Brown stars as Sarah in “Kindred,” the FX network limited series based on Octavia Butler’s novel of the same name. (Photo by Pari Dukovic/FX)

Creator Branden Jacobs-Jenkins arrives for the premiere of FX’s “Kindred,” a limited series based on the book by Octavia Butler, at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles on Dec. 5, 2022. (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images)

As she was finishing her studies at Julliard just a few years ago, Johnson saw an audition notice for a television adaptation of “Kindred.” She went for it, never mind that she had no professional credits at the time and the audition was for the lead role of Dana, an aspiring writer whose life is turned upside down when she experiences time jumps.

“Kindred” showrunner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who adapted “Kindred” for FX on Hulu, where it premieres Dec. 13, says that lack of experience might have mattered – except Johnson’s audition immediately made it clear that the part belonged to her.

“I’ll be honest, the one thing you’re freaking out about the most is, ‘Who is gonna be Dana?’” says Jacobs-Jenkins, a MacArthur Fellowship recipient in 2016 and a Pulitzer finalist in 2018 for his play “Everybody.” “And I would say it was kind of clear to me from the minute I saw Mallori’s audition that she was that person.

“It was like an alien who dropped out of the sky, you know, and kind of claimed this for herself,” he says. “I look back on it and it was almost like a no-brainer. It was just so clear to me.”

From page to screen

In the series, Dana has just moved to Los Angeles when the time travel starts. She’s terrified that she might be losing her mind until her new boyfriend Kevin, played by Micah Stock, sees her vanish and later reappear one night.

During time jumps to the plantation, the year is 1815 and Dana meets its residents. Its owners, Thomas and Margaret Weylin, played by Ryan Kwanten and Gayle Rankin, terrify her with their cruelty and racism. Others she meets include a pair of slaves, Luke, played by Austin Smith, and Sarah, played by Sophina Brown.

And in an addition to the 1979 novel, she meets there her mother Olivia, played by Sheria Irving, who apparently had experienced the same phenomenon years earlier.

Jacobs-Jenkins says he first discovered Butler’s books as a sci-fi and horror fan obsessed with Ray Bradbury and his college-student babysitter brought him several of her books.

“It was really profound because it was the first time I’d ever had a book like that with a brown-skinned person on the cover and, like, a cool landscape,” he says. “The first books I read were the Patternist books that start with ‘The Wild Seed,’ and they still have the most sentimental place in my heart.”

But “Kindred,” which he first read in college, stuck with him and six or eight years later while living in Berlin, Jacobs-Jenkins says he decided to pitch it as a TV project.

“Of course, I could not get arrested,” he says, laughing. But he didn’t give up, and in 2016, the FX network expressed interest, and after years of struggling with seemingly no end in sight, “Kindred” suddenly was a go.

Jacobs-Jenkins went to work adapting the book, digging into Butler’s papers that are held at the Huntington Library in San Marino to find out as much as he could about her thoughts and process as she wrote “Kindred.”

“I think we struggled because at that time Octavia Butler was this very well-kept secret amongst certain kinds of readers,” Jacobs-Jenkins says. ‘But for whatever reason, after 2016 she kind of mainstreamed, and I think a lot of the work that she did was sort of being thought of as prophetic or visionary.

“You know, she got the Mars landing pad named after her , she was inducted into the Library of America. I just felt really fortunate enough to be the dummy who decided early on I wanted to make this TV show, and the winds of fortune blew in the right direction, it seems.”

Sci-fi and enslavement

While “Kindred” unfolds in the realm of speculative fiction thanks to the time-traveling mystery at its core, there’s a reason Butler saw it more as “a grim fantasy” than science fiction. Slavery was a brutal institution, and racism still a blight on the United States and the world.

The themes and stories of “Kindred” feel as relevant today as ever, its actors all agree.

“The horrors and the oppression in the ways in which this country was founded, which was on the backs of the enslaved, is no mystery to those who are true students of history,” says Stock, who like the character Kevin in the novel, is White.

The resurgence of interest in Butler’s books is partly due to the issues she explored in the past which are even more a part of the societal conversation today, he says.

“Alienation, oppression, racism, familial ties, gender dynamics,” Stock says. “All of those, it’s unfortunate that it’s taken us this long, but at least we’re talking about it.”

Irving, Smith and Brown, say that as Black actors playing slaves in the past world of “Kindred,” was a powerful experience.

“I’m a trained actor, I went to Yale. I should be able to rip it off,” Irving says of the figurative bandages over her character’s trauma. “But I found myself sometimes really sucked into the gravitas, the pain that my ancestors felt. Even being on the land (of the Georgia locations), there was a palpable sense of spirit there.”

Brown pointed to the way the Black community in 1815 embraced and protected Dana in her appearances there and said that made her think differently about the role of communities today.

“Hopefully, we’ll not only have that conversation as the Black community, but what does it mean to be part of the American community and dealing with this history?” Brown says. “How can we reconcile it?’

Smith added that he hopes “Kindred” can offer some enlightenment as well as entertainment.

“I hope that a show like this will strengthen our resolve to not actually go backwards in time,” he says. “I think that there are people who want us to, and I think that what we’re witnessing now is a resistance to that.”

Kwanten and Rankin, who play the plantation owners, are not American – he’s Australian, she’s Scottish – but they well know the history of slavery in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

Despite their characters living lives and benefiting from the enslavement of others, both actors say they worked to make Thomas and Margaret Weylin fully formed people to challenge viewers to consider who they might have been and what they would have done in the Weylins’ places.

“We’re both so diametrically opposed to these people and their actions,” Rankin says of their characters. “But like Ryan was saying, I think it’s very easy and kind of dangerous to work with a kind of separation from these people.

“Especially as White people, I think it’s unhelpful for anyone to say, ‘Well, they’re evil people, this is not me,’” she says.

“I would say we pull back the curtain and we sort of say, ‘Look, scream, but never forget,’” Kwanten says. “The past is never dead and you are accountable for your actions and they have consequences.”

A unique performer

Jacobs-Jenkins says he felt Johnson was a star almost from the minute he met her.

“There’s no one that acts like her, there’s no one that talks like her, and the camera loves her face,” he says. “When I think of Octavia Butler’s female heroines, they’ve very unique individuals, and she just screamed that.”

This is not to say Johnson walked onto set the first day and felt right at home.

“Um, yeah, it was terrifying,” she says, laughing. “It was everything you could possibly imagine. I was just coming out of school. I didn’t have a process. I didn’t even know what it meant to work on a set for as long as that, for six months, where you’re basically the only person working every single hour of every single day.”

Stock, who shares the screen with her more than perhaps any other actor, says it was clear to him when he first read with her while auditioning for Kevin, that she was preternaturally talented.

“There was no mystery in my mind as to why this person had landed the role,” Stock says. “And that continued to be true. She’s a joy to act with. She’s terrifying to act with. She’s wild, she’s wonderful.

“And as our friendship grew, and we became closer, I mean, I just feel a really intense amount of pride in what she did,” he says, wiping at his eyes as Johnson reached out to touch his arm. “Yeah, I think she’s risen to the whole thing with aplomb.

“And magic.”

‘Kindred’

When : Tuesday, Dec. 13

Where : All episodes streaming on Hulu

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FX's 'Kindred' Brings Octavia Butler's Classic Time Travel Novel to Life in Terrifying Trailer: Watch!

The adaptation will air all eight episodes exclusively on Hulu Dec. 13.

FX has released the first look at its upcoming series,  Kindred , offering a look at a terrifying concept -- time traveling while Black.

The eight-episode limited series is based on Hugo Award winner Octavia Butler’s acclaimed novel of the same name, starring Mallori Johnson as Dana James, a young Black aspiring writer living in Los Angeles with her husband, Kevin Franklin. 

In the trailer, Dana, who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, wakes on a riverbank in antebellum Maryland. When she saves a white boy drowning nearby, she's quickly rewarded with a gun to her head. Her screams transport her back to her home in the present day, where Kevin (Micah Stock) finds her panicking in the living room.

Thus begins Dana's viciously horrifying ping-ponging between the present and a life of brutal enslavement at a plantation owned by the wealthy Weylin family. While she fights to survive her new reality, her relationship with Kevin is put to the test as Dana struggles to confront secrets and reckon with the racial violence she never knew ran through her blood. 

Kindred  also stars Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, Austin Smith, David Alexander Kaplan, Sophina Brown and Sheria Irving.

The series was developed for television by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who executive produces the series with Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields, Courtney Lee-Mitchell, Jules Jackson and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel for Protozoa Pictures. Janicza Bravo directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.

All eight episodes of Kindred  will premiere on Hulu, Dec. 13.

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Review: Octavia E. Butler's genius comes to life with haunting slavery story 'Kindred'

" The Underground Railroad ." " Antebellum ." "12 Years a Slave." "The Birth of a Nation." "Harriet." "Them." "Lovecraft Country." " Emancipation ." 

There's something of a cottage industry in Hollywood's recent stories of slavery and historical racism, and an even more specific subgenre with a science fiction, fantasy or horror elements. Some of these films and TV shows are transcendent and affecting, while others are exploitative and in poor taste. With saturation can come exhaustion, repetition and stereotype: Will Smith's "Emancipation," which arrived on Apple TV+ this month, was met with some criticism for its use of the tropes of the slavery narrative. 

It is in this context that  FX debuts "Kindred" (streaming Tuesday on Hulu, ★★★ out of four), an eight-episode adaptation of celebrated science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler's 1979 novel about a modern-day Black woman (Mallori Johnson) who's transported back in time to the slavery plantation of her ancestors. 

More: 'Kindred': How the new Hulu show compares to Octavia E. Butler's book

The recent spate of similarly themed projects may make "Kindred" feel derivative, even though its source material predates most of them. And perhaps on the surface, "Kindred" looks like many of these other stories. But it is far closer to the breathtaking "Railroad" than the graceless "Antebellum."

It is a haunting, horrific story, told with nuance, care and excellent timing by creator Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ("Watchmen"). It is not just another one of those slavery stories, where the humanity of the enslaved characters is wiped away by the narrative need for them to be heroes, defined only by their enslavement and quest for freedom. This is a story about one woman, her past and her future, and its scope is both intimate and epic.

More: How Octavia Butler's legacy was born out of a bad science-fiction movie

Dana James (Johnson) has just left a life of familial obligation behind in New York and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of writing for television. She barely has time to furnish her new house and spend time with her new romantic interest Kevin (Micah Stock) when she starts to see flashes of a very different world: a plantation in the antebellum era owned by Tom Weylin (Ryan Kwanten), a brutish dullard of a man. It becomes clear all too quickly that these aren't visions or dreams, but that she is being yanked to and fro through time. Eventually, Kevin, who is white, is transported with her, and the two are forced to play the narrative of slave owner and slave in order to survive. 

Dana's familial connection to the plantation comes into focus slowly over the course of the series. The title provides a clue to the themes and intricacies of the story; this is an intimate tale about kin, family and roots, and what happens when, as a Black person descended from enslaved people, Dana feels unmoored. 

More: Afrofuturism beginner's reading list: Octavia E. Butler, N.K. Jemisin, Janelle Monáe, more

Dana is an ideal protagonist for a story as complex and layered as this, a woman who took control of her life at last only to have it brutally pulled away from her by whatever force is sending her back and forth through time. Dana is an observer, a writer and student of humanity. In the series premiere, she is busy diagramming old episodes of the 1980s soap "Dynasty," documenting every element of the story and the larger-than-life characters who populate it. She applies her keen awareness throughout her ordeal. 

Johnson carries the weight of Dana's trauma and emotional whiplash handily, managing scenes of horror and lightness with equal aplomb. The actress anchors a strong cast that stands out amid a flurry of time-traveling and period costumes that in lesser shows can detract from the performances. 

Considering the breadth and depth of Butler's bibliography in the past half-century, it's shocking that Hollywood has never gone to the well of the award-winning author's oeuvre before (more are currently in development).

I'll let her fans decide if it's a worthy representation of her prose, but as a stand-alone series, "Kindred" has plenty to say.

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One of the best time-travel books ever gets a great-looking adaptation

Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred comes to FX and Hulu in December

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Plans to adapt Octavia E. Butler’s seminal novel Kindred for screen have floated around Hollywood since the book was published in 1979. But with the help of writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ( Watchmen ), the science-fiction story has finally found a home at FX and Hulu. FX premiered the first full trailer this Tuesday, following an earlier teaser released last week , revealing that the entire first season would arrive to Hulu this December.

Executive produced by Darren Aronofsky and Janicza Bravo ( Zola ), who also directed the pilot, Kindred takes a more grounded approach to a sensational time-travel odyssey. Mallori Johnson ( WeCrashed ) stars as Dana, a young Black woman and aspiring writer who relocates to Los Angeles to put her life on track. But, as FX puts it in the show’s official synopsis,” before Dana can settle, she “finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time to a nineteenth-century plantation with which she and her family are surprisingly and intimately linked. An interracial romance threads through her past and present, and the clock is ticking as she struggles to confront the secrets she never knew ran through her blood, in this genre-breaking exploration of the ties that bind.”

The full-season release of Kindred bears a striking resemblance Amazon Studios’ approach to The Underground Railroad , Barry Jenkins’ 2021 television adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel of the same, which was released in full last year on May 14. While the latter series went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film, as well as receiving a Peabody Award, one cannot help but wonder whether the series might have enjoyed a larger, word-of-mouth audience had it been released episodically. And what could possibly be more ready for word-of-mouth success than a fantastic looking sci-fi series based on an all-time classic book.

In her storied career, Octavia E. Butler was a Hugo Award winner and MacArthur Fellow, but Kindred remains her most popular and influential novel. We’ll see if the series adaptation can make the same kind of connection with audiences when it drops in full on Dec. 13.

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‘kindred’ review: fx/hulu’s octavia butler adaptation takes risks that don’t pay off — yet.

The revered novel about time travel and slavery gets a series iteration starring impressive newcomer Mallori Johnson.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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As the recent kerfuffle involving a producer of Apple TV+’s Emancipation bringing an 1863 photograph of a horrifyingly abused slave to a red-carpet premiere reminded us, trauma is not a thing to be treated glibly, regardless of intent.

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Trepidation might explain why boundary-breaking scribe Octavia Butler ‘s Kindred , despite its iconic literary status, has never been adapted to the screen until this upcoming FX-produced Hulu series. Kindred is a time-travel novel and a slavery novel, and the possibility of blending those elements in a way that yields the opposite of alchemy is high.

Johnson plays Dana, an East Coast transplant who arrives in Los Angeles in 2016 with dreams of writing for TV. At a tense dinner with her local family, Dana meets waiter Kevin (Micah Stock) and they begin a flirtation that soon becomes intimate, which proves handy because Dana is going through some stuff. See, at apparently inexplicable moments, Dana is disappearing and emerging on a Maryland tobacco plantation in the early 1800s. Dana’s arrivals seem to coincide with moments of jeopardy for young Rufus Weylin (David Alexander Kaplan), son of boozy estate owner Thomas (Ryan Kwanten) and pathologically insecure Margaret (Gayle Rankin).

This is convenient for Rufus, who has a tendency toward near-drowning, near-burning and other near-death escapades, but it’s vastly less convenient for Dana, a young Black woman whose first moment of real independence keeps being marred by unplanned jaunts to a time and place where everybody assumes she’s property. Is Dana’s traveling entirely about saving Rufus’ life over and over again, or does it relate to the maintenance of distant branches in her family tree — the title indicates a big ol’ “Yes!” on that one.

I don’t think Jacobs-Jenkins is wrong to recognize that both the mechanics of Dana’s time travel and her life in the present day had to be more substantively developed for Kindred to function as an ongoing series.

In the book, for example, the present day of 1976 exists thematically for bicentennial parallels — the gap between the 200-year-old aspirations of the country and its nascent realities are hard to miss — and practically as a place for Dana to take baths and do basic research. In the series, Dana has an aunt and uncle who can tell her family lore, which involves a missing mother and connections to Olivia (Sheria Irving), whom she meets in the past.

Dana also has nosy white neighbors (Brooke Bloom and Louis Cancelmi) whose distrust — somewhat well-earned, since Dana’s comings and goings often include screaming and unexplainable wounds — makes them Karens several years before the term existed. As palpable as the threats are for Dana in the past, there’s no moment in the series more chilling than the nighttime arrival of the LAPD at her house — which is even more menacing if you recall the connection between modern policing and slavery-era patrolling.

I can accept that the Weylin farm is intended to seem underpopulated and a little drab, but the few slaves we meet — Austin Smith’s Luke, Sophina Brown’s Sarah, Christopher Farrar’s Nigel, Lindsey Blackwell’s Carrie — fail to materialize as characters. Their relationships with Dana never make sense because it’s almost impossible to fathom how anybody at the plantation is viewing Dana, or how she’s viewing her own predicament, without any interiority or voiceover to match the book’s internal monologue. It’s six or seven episodes in before Dana broaches the idea that she’s becoming inured to her circumstances in the past — a contention that doesn’t really make sense since there’s been so much back-and-forth with the present.

Johnson has to carry a lot of the stakes on her shoulders. We see just enough of the light-hearted young woman watching episodes of Dynasty to learn television structure — a character detail that, thus far, has paid no dividends — that there’s effective pathos in watching first the joy, and then even the spirited curiosity, drain. She’s modern in affect, but not too modern, and I think that lets the series accept she could fit in on the plantation in ways the scripts don’t really otherwise justify.

Though Kindred has this big loss at the center of the story, I can see easily how the concentration on time-travel mechanics, how giving Kevin his own delineated character journey, how raising the stakes in the present day might eventually pay off. The show isn’t there yet. So far, those choices have the effect of upstaging the sequences set in the past — something not helped by the series’ restrained handling of the atrocities of slavery. The decision to shy away from fetishized violence will help viewers with no interest in another stylized depiction of trauma and it probably makes the parallels between 1800s and 2016 more unsettling and relatable, but it lowers the overall stakes in ways that are confusing and a little disappointing.

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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. 

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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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 ]

15 Time Travel TV shows: past, present and future

Time travel has been a television mainstay for at least fifty years and has, appropriately enough, gone through the decades (sometimes) growing more sophisticated along the way. There have been at least fifty such shows, but Empire has distilled them to a sampling of fifteen that span from 1963 ( Doctor Who ) to 2017 ( Time After Time ).

1963-1989, 2005-08, 2010-15, Specials Airing between 2005 and 2016

If you’re thinking of traveling through time, best utilize a TARDIS, the safest way to move through the ages, and certainly a lot more reliable than, say, a souped-up DeLorean. After all, the Doctor and his various companions have been using it for over half a century, much to the delight of generations of viewers. And part of the genius of the show is the fact that the Doctor can regenerate, so when an actor decides he wants to move on (or even if he demands too much of a raise), it’s easy enough to explain why someone else is playing the role. Doctor Who remains the longest-running time travel series, initially spanning twenty-six straight seasons between 1963 and 1989, and resurrected in 2005 for an all-new ten-plus-year run. Additionally, it’s spawned almost as many series spin-offs as Star Trek : Torchwood (2006-2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011), K-9 (2009-2010) and this year’s Class .

It’s About Time

Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz came up with this little “gem” about a pair of astronauts whose space capsule travels back to prehistoric times, where they begin interacting with a cave family, getting involved in one wacky adventure after another (some involving stop motion dinosaurs). The premise quickly ran out of steam and was retooled mid-season to have the astronauts return to the 20th Century, cave family in tow, thus thrusting them into their own wacky adventures. Trust us when we say the theme song (below) was more entertaining than the show.

The Time Tunnel

Producer Irwin Allen ruled much of the sci-fi airwaves throughout the 1960s with shows like Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea , Lost In Space , Land Of The Giants and this show, The Time Tunnel . The premise is kind of cool: Project Tic-Toc (okay, that part definitely diminishes much of the cool) has developed an experimental time machine (which remains a great visual) in which Dr. Douglas Philips (Robert Colbert) and Dr. Anthony Newman (James Darren — hey, Vic Fontaine from Deep Space Nine !) enter, and are plunged through time. The Tic-Toc team (okay, it’s sounding sillier by the minute) are able to communicate with them in the different eras they arrive in, and attempts to pull them back to the present but send them instead to different periods in history. But, hey, these guys with knowledge of the future can actually influence history, can’t they? Unfortunately, they frequently get this close before being yanked back into the time stream. The pilot for a new series was produced in 2002, but never went forward.

Quantum Leap

Oh go ahead, bitch and complain that Scott Bakula wasn’t your idea of a starship captain on Star Trek: Enterprise , but there’s a reason the actor was chosen for the part, and much of it had to do with what he brought to Quantum Leap . The premise for the series is that physicist Sam Beckett (Bakula) is performing experiments in time travel when he finds himself traveling backwards in time where he “leaps” into the bodies of different people and takes their place to, as the opening narration proclaims, “make right what once went wrong.” To the audience, those people look like Bakula, but to everyone else — as revealed whenever he looks into a mirror — he looks like the person whose body he is in control of. This was not a big effects show, but instead a more intimate drama with plenty of humor, and a genuine opportunity for Bakula to showcase his acting skills as he became different men, women, a mentally challenged youth and even a chimpanzee . Dean Stockwell co-stars as Admiral Al Calavicci, who appears to Sam as a hologram.

Tru Calling

Having had her fill of slaying vampires, and actually turning down the potential to star in a spin-off series featuring her Buffy character of Faith, Eliza Dushku moved on to this show, which had a unique procedural time-travel twist. She plays Tru Davies, a medical student by day who, following the collapse of her internship, takes a job at the city morgue where bodies that are brought in start to open their eyes, look in her direction and utter the words, “Help me.” This projects her back to the beginning of the day (which sucks if you're having a particularly good day), providing the opportunity for her to either stop or solve the crime. The show’s mythology expanded to include another time traveler ( Jason Priestley ) who is determined to put the timeline back on its natural course and stop Tru. Zack Galifianakis co-stars as Davis, her employer at the morgue. Definitely underrated.

Life On Mars

You’ve got to applaud any time travel shows that bring with them a unique twist (no, seriously, you have to applaud. Thank you). After being struck by a car in 2006, policeman Sam Tyler ( John Simm ) awakens in 1973, working for the Manchester And Sealford Police in the same building where he works for the Greater Manchester Police in the future. What follows is Sam’s attempts to use his expertise in crimefighting from the future to apply to crimes of the era, and the conflicts that arise from interactions with commanding officer Gene Hunt ( Philip Glenister ),who obviously feels that Sam doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. The big question hanging over the show is whether all of this is real, or if Sam is actually lying in a coma in 2006. Impressively, the show spawned the spin-off Ashes To Ashes , focusing on the Hunt character; a 2006 American version with Jason O’Mara as Sam, a Spanish version named La Chicade Ayer , which translates to The Girl From Yesterday ; and a Russian version under the title The Dark Side Of The Moon .

Rachel Nichols (she was the green Orion Starfleet cadet, and Uhura’s promiscuous roommate, in 2009’s Star Trek ) is City Protective Services officer Kiera Cameron, who is inadvertently brought back in time from 2077 to the present with a group of “terrorists”. Their goal: to stop future corporations from taking the place of the government, and hers is to prevent them from changing history and potentially wiping her family in 2077 out of existence. A well crafted series bringing together action and sci-fi concepts with intelligence.

Quite literally a love that spans the ages, married World War II nurse Clare Randall ( Caitriona Balfe ) is mysteriously transported from 1945 to 1743 Scotland. There she is forced to start a whole new life, and connects with Jamie Fraser ( Sam Heughan ), a Highland warrior. What follows is their growing relationship as Clare struggles to survive in a far harsher time than her own, as the two of them become a part in, and try to influence, the Jacobite risings. The show is based on the bestsellers by Diana Galbaldon, and the showrunner is Battlestar Galactica ’s Ron Moore .

What’s it’s not is a gathering of a dozen denizens of the Planet Of The Apes. What it is , is the television version of Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film, utilizing the strength of the medium to expand and elaborate on the premise. Aaron Stanford is James Cole, who has traveled to the present from 2043 to try and stop The Army Of The Twelve Monkeys from unleashing a virus that is destined to wipe out nearly ninety-four percent of humanity. Things begin with him collaborating with virologist Cassandra Railly ( Amanda Schull ) and psychologically challenged math genius Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire) and expand from there, with the team moving on to different eras in their efforts to save the human race.

One of the fun time travel games to play is to ponder what you would change if you could actually go back to the past. Preventing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy ranks high on that list (though, personally, we’d show George Lucas reviews of the Prequel Trilogy before they went into production, but that’s us). That notion certainly intrigued Stephen King , the resulting novel of which was adapted into the Hulu series 11.22.63 . James Franco is English teacher Jake Epping, who is shown a portal in a diner that leads to Dallas, Texas circa 1960. Jake is begged by a close friend to use the portal to prevent the assassination of Kennedy, and is gradually convinced of the validity of the plan. What he does’t expect is to fall in love back in time, or the ramifications that saving Kennedy could have on history. Produced by King and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow

Born out of the success of Arrow and The Flash , this spinoff series focuses on a group of characters that travel through time, initially to stop immortal Vandal Savage from taking over the world in the future, and then to serve as time cops (no relation to Jean Claude van Damme ) to police the space-time continuum. Characters include The Atom ( Brandon Routh ), Firestorm ( Victor Garber and Franz Drameh ), White Canary ( Caity Lotz ) and Heat Wave ( Dominic Purcell ), among others. A sporadically successful first season has led to far more solid footing in season two.

Ah, nothing like a good old-fashioned pursuit through time! There’s the bad guy who’s stolen the time machine “mothership” ( Goran Visnjic’s Garcia Flynn), intent on destroying history; and the team (Abigail Spencer’s Lucy Preston, a history professor; Matt Lanter’s Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan, a soldier; and Malcolm Barrett’s Rufus Carlin, an engineer) determined to stop him in a prototype device. So far they’ve dealt with the Hindenburg, the assassination of President Lincoln, Nazis (what’s a time travel series without Nazis?) and the Alamo, among others. Creators are Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan .

Based on the 2000 film, this story has gone through a sex change with Jim Caviezel’s John Sullivan being replaced by Peyton List’s Raimy Sullivan. Coming across the old ham radio of her deceased father ( Dennis Quaid then, Riley Smith now), Raimy finds that she can actually communicate with him before he died some twenty years earlier. Seeing this as an opportunity to save his life — he was an undercover New York detective killed in the line of duty — she inadvertently triggers a butterfly effect, they key to which seems to be within an unsolved murder case that they have to work together over time to solve.

Making History

In what seems like a throwback silly time travel show (see It’s About Time above — okay, maybe not that silly), a college professor (Adam Pally) creates a time machine that he hopes can be used to improve both his life and that of a fellow teacher (Yassir Lester). But things go awry when one of them starts dating Paul Revere’s daughter, Deborah ( Leighton Meester ), threatening all of American history. Exec producers are Lego Movie maestros Phil Lord and Chris Miller . The series has not been given a 2017 debut date yet.

Time After Time

Based on the 1979 Karl Alexander novel and Nicholas Meyer film, this show, debuting in 2017, begins in Victorian England when John Stevenson/Jack The Ripper (Josh Bowman) steals a time machine created by author H.G. Wells ( Freddie Stroma ) and travels to the present. Wells follows him there intent on returning him to justice, and gets involved in a series of adventures that will reportedly prove inspiring to Wells in the writing of his other novels. The series is developed by Kevin Williamson ( The Vampire Diaries , The Following ).

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1. Timeless (2016–2018)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

An unlikely trio travels through time to battle unknown criminals and protect history as we know it.

Stars: Abigail Spencer , Matt Lanter , Malcolm Barrett , Paterson Joseph

Votes: 47,079

2. DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016–2022)

TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter must recruit a ragtag team of heroes and villains to help prevent an apocalypse that could impact not only Earth, but all of time.

Stars: Caity Lotz , Amy Louise Pemberton , Dominic Purcell , Nick Zano

Votes: 110,013

3. Doctor Who (2005–2022)

TV-PG | 45 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

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

Stars: Jodie Whittaker , Peter Capaldi , Pearl Mackie , Matt Smith

Votes: 246,412

4. Continuum (I) (2012–2015)

TV-14 | 45 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A detective from the year 2077 finds herself trapped in present-day Vancouver and searching for ruthless criminals from the future.

Stars: Rachel Nichols , Victor Webster , Erik Knudsen , Stephen Lobo

Votes: 63,519

5. Time After Time (2017)

TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

The adventures of young H.G. Wells and his time machine.

Stars: Freddie Stroma , Josh Bowman , Will Chase , Genesis Rodriguez

Votes: 3,977

6. Travelers (2016–2018)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Hundreds of years from now, surviving humans discover how to send consciousness back through time, into people of the 21st century, while attempting to change the path of humanity.

Stars: Eric McCormack , MacKenzie Porter , Nesta Cooper , Jared Abrahamson

Votes: 64,338

7. Tru Calling (2003–2005)

TV-14 | 43 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

A university graduate working in the city morgue is able to repeat the same day over again to prevent murders or other disasters.

Stars: Eliza Dushku , Shawn Reaves , Zach Galifianakis , A.J. Cook

Votes: 17,261

8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy

Set after the events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Sarah Connor and her son, John, try to stay under-the-radar from the government, as they plot to destroy the computer network, Skynet, in hopes of preventing Armageddon.

Stars: Lena Headey , Thomas Dekker , Summer Glau , Richard T. Jones

Votes: 62,814

9. Outlander (2014– )

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Claire Beauchamp Randall, a nurse in World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to Scotland in 1743. There, she meets a dashing Highland warrior and gets drawn into an epic rebellion.

Stars: Caitríona Balfe , Sam Heughan , Sophie Skelton , Richard Rankin

Votes: 178,954

10. 12 Monkeys (2015–2018)

TV-14 | 42 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

Follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will nearly destroy the human race.

Stars: Aaron Stanford , Amanda Schull , Noah Bean , Barbara Sukowa

Votes: 48,684

11. 11.22.63 (2016)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

Jake Epping, a teacher, gets a chance to travel back in time to avert the death of John F. Kennedy. However, history's aversion to alteration and his love for the era and a woman endanger him.

Stars: James Franco , Sarah Gadon , George MacKay , Chris Cooper

Votes: 99,212

12. Doctor Who (1963–1989)

TV-PG | 25 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

The adventures in time and space of the Doctor, a Time Lord who changes appearance and personality by regenerating when near death, and is joined by companions in battles against aliens and other megalomaniacs.

Stars: William Hartnell , Patrick Troughton , Jon Pertwee , Tom Baker

Votes: 39,509

13. Quantum Leap (1989–1993)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During an experiment into time travel, a scientist finds himself trapped in the past, "leaping" into the lives of different people, sorting out their problems and changing history in hopes of getting back to his own life in the present.

Stars: Scott Bakula , Dean Stockwell , Deborah Pratt , Dennis Wolfberg

Votes: 36,454

14. Terra Nova (2011)

TV-14 | 46 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

Centers on the Shannons, an ordinary family from 2149 when the planet is dying, who are transported back 85 million years to prehistoric Earth where they join Terra Nova, a colony of humans with a second chance to build a civilization.

Stars: Jason O'Mara , Shelley Conn , Christine Adams , Allison Miller

Votes: 86,050

15. Frequency (2016–2017)

TV-MA | 42 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

A police detective in 2016 discovers that she is able to communicate with her father via a ham radio, despite the fact that he died in 1996.

Stars: Peyton List , Riley Smith , Devin Kelley , Mekhi Phifer

Votes: 14,375

16. Primeval (2007–2011)

When strange anomalies start to appear all over England, Professor Cutter and his team must track down and capture all sorts of dangerous prehistoric creatures from Earth's distant past and near future.

Stars: Andrew Lee Potts , Hannah Spearritt , Ben Miller , Juliet Aubrey

Votes: 15,432

17. Life on Mars (2006–2007)

TV-14 | 959 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

After a near-fatal car accident, smart, savvy, sharp-suited detective Sam is mysteriously transported back to 1973. Confused by his new surroundings, Sam tries to return to the present, but the police force of long ago needs his help.

Stars: John Simm , Philip Glenister , Liz White , Dean Andrews

Votes: 32,343

18. Flashforward (2009–2010)

TV-14 | 42 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A special task force in the FBI investigates after every person on Earth simultaneously blacks out and awakens with a short vision of their future.

Stars: Courtney B. Vance , Joseph Fiennes , Jack Davenport , Zachary Knighton

Votes: 62,086

19. Being Erica (2009–2011)

TV-14 | 45 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

"Therapist" Dr. Tom - who is constantly spouting famous and not so famous historical quotes - is Erica Strange's savior and worst enemy.

Stars: Erin Karpluk , Reagan Pasternak , Michael Riley , Kathleen Laskey

Votes: 10,201

20. The Crossing (2018)

TV-PG | 42 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Refugees from a war-torn country 180 years in the future start showing up in the present to seek asylum in an American town.

Stars: Steve Zahn , Natalie Martinez , Tommy Bastow , Rob Campbell

Votes: 10,184

21. Alcatraz (2012)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama

In 1963, all the prisoners and guards mysteriously disappear from Alcatraz. In the present day, they resurface and a secret agency are tasked with re-capturing them.

Stars: Sarah Jones , Jorge Garcia , Jonny Coyne , Parminder Nagra

Votes: 40,278

22. Phil of the Future (2004–2006)

TV-G | 25 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

A family from 2121 is stuck in 2004, trying desperately to fit in.

Stars: Raviv Ullman , Amy Bruckner , Craig Anton , Lise Simms

Votes: 7,985

23. Ashes to Ashes (2008–2010)

TV-MA | 1,320 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy

After being shot in 2008 while investigating DCI Sam Tyler, DI Alex Drake wakes up in 1981.

Stars: Philip Glenister , Keeley Hawes , Dean Andrews , Marshall Lancaster

Votes: 11,059

24. Goodnight Sweetheart (1993–2016)

Not Rated | 30 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

British sitcom in which an unhappily married man discovers he can time travel back to 1940s war-torn London where he masquerades as an MI5 agent and part-time songwriter whilst courting the local barmaid.

Stars: Nicholas Lyndhurst , Victor McGuire , Christopher Ettridge , Elizabeth Carling

Votes: 3,334

25. The Time Tunnel (1966–1967)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Two scientists with a secret time travel project find themselves trapped in the time stream and appearing in notable periods of history.

Stars: James Darren , Robert Colbert , Whit Bissell , John Zaremba

Votes: 4,227

26. Making History (2017)

21 min | Adventure, Comedy, History

Making History follows three friends from two different centuries as they try to balance the thrill of time travel with the mundane concerns of their present-day lives.

Stars: Adam Pally , Leighton Meester , Yassir Lester , John Gemberling

Votes: 2,611

27. Life on Mars (2008–2009)

TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A present day car accident mysteriously sends a detective back to the 1970s.

Stars: Jason O'Mara , Michael Imperioli , Gretchen Mol , Jonathan Murphy

Votes: 10,723

28. Primeval: New World (2012–2013)

Canadian spin-off of Primeval (2007). A new team of scientists from the Cross Photonics company in Vancouver track down dangerous creatures emerging through anomalies in time.

Stars: Niall Matter , Sara Canning , Danny Rahim , Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe

Votes: 4,864

29. Seven Days (1998–2001)

42 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

An ex-CIA is the point man for a government organization dedicated to time traveling to correct errors that occurred in the previous week.

Stars: Jonathan LaPaglia , Don Franklin , Justina Vail , Nick Searcy

Votes: 3,947

30. New Amsterdam (2008)

TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi

A New York homicide detective is cursed with immortality.

Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , Zuleikha Robinson , Alexie Gilmore , Stephen McKinley Henderson

Votes: 7,433

31. Voyagers! (1982–1983)

TV-G | 60 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

A member of a league of time travelers and a boy travel through time repairing errors in world history.

Stars: Jon-Erik Hexum , Meeno Peluce , David Cadiente , Stephen Liska

Votes: 1,752

32. It's About Time (1966–1967)

30 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

Two astronauts traveling faster than light go back in time to prehistoric Earth. Unable to return, they make friends with the "natives".

Stars: Frank Aletter , Jack Mullaney , Imogene Coca , Joe E. Ross

33. Journeyman (2007)

45 min | Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi

A San Francisco journalist mysteriously travels to the past and alters the path of people's lives. When his travels reunite him with his long-lost fiancée Livia, life with his present-day wife gets very interesting.

Stars: Kevin McKidd , Gretchen Egolf , Moon Bloodgood , Reed Diamond

Votes: 9,617

34. Time Traveling Bong (2016)

TV-14 | 22 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

Centers on two cousins who discover a time-traveling bong and ride high as they blaze through time.

Stars: Ilana Glazer , Paul W. Downs , Kevin Heffernan , Jerry G. Angelo

Votes: 1,718

35. Strange Days at Blake Holsey High (2002–2006)

TV-Y7 | 30 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

When Josie Trent is sent to the private prep school, she comes face-to-face with paranormal things that cannot be explained. But with the help of her friends and one science teacher, maybe surviving school won't be that hard.

Stars: Emma Taylor-Isherwood , Shadia Simmons , Michael Seater , Noah Reid

Votes: 1,486

36. Odyssey 5 (2002–2004)

After witnessing the sudden implosion of Earth from orbit, a group of five Odyssey astronauts is sent five years back in time by an alien force to find the cause and prevent the disaster. A vast conspiracy stands in their way.

Stars: Peter Weller , Sebastian Roché , Christopher Gorham , Leslie Silva

Votes: 3,159

37. Time Trax (1993–1994)

60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

A cop from the future is sent back to contemporary times to track down fugitives hiding in the past.

Stars: Dale Midkiff , Elizabeth Alexander , Peter Donat , Malcolm Cork

Votes: 1,544

38. Twice in a Lifetime (1999–2001)

TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, History

Prematurely deceased people are given the opportunity to correct something that went wrong in their lives and thus change them for the better.

Stars: Al Waxman , Gordie Brown , Paul Popowich , Kim Schraner

39. 5ive Days to Midnight (2004)

210 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

When college professor J.T. Neumeyer discovers a police file that outlines the details of his murder - which is to take place five days in the future - he wastes no time trying to save his own life.

Stars: Timothy Hutton , Randy Quaid , Kari Matchett , Hamish Linklater

Votes: 2,809

40. The Girl from Tomorrow (1991–1992)

23 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

In the year 3000, Alana is kidnapped by evil Silverthorn, after a time travel experiment goes wrong. He takes Alana to the year 1990. With the help of Jenny Kelly and family, Alana must find Silverthorn before the time capsule leaves.

Stars: Katharine Cullen , Melissa Marshall , James Findlay , Andrew Clarke

Votes: 1,311

41. Startling by Each Step (2011– )

TV-14 | 46 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

After a car accident plunges a woman into the dreamy Chinese past that gave the whole life in the Beijing imperial palace after that she returns to her life in the modern world.

Stars: Kei Gambit , ShiShi Liu , Nicky Wu , Kevin Cheng

42. Nine: Nine Time Travels (2013)

52 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

A TV anchorman discovers that a mysterious bundle of incense has the power to send him back in time, where he has the opportunity to alter the past.

Stars: Lee Jin-wook , Jo Yun-hie , Jeon No-min , Hie-ryeong Kim

43. Mirror Mirror (2018– )

A "diversity expert" is given a career opportunity when she is hired to clean up a major corporation rife with sexual harassment. However, she soon finds herself struggling to avoid being ... See full summary  »

Stars: Jennifer Betit Yen , Timothy J. Scanlin Jr. , Stephen Lin , Joe Tex

44. Dr. Jin (2012)

TV-Y | 65 min | Fantasy

A surgeon treats a mysterious patient who has a human-shaped tumor in his head, only to discover himself time-travelling to the year 1861.

Stars: Song Seung-heon , Park Min-Young , Lee Beom-su , Jae-Joong Kim

45. Captain Z-Ro (1955–1956)

30 min | Sci-Fi

From his secret laboratory, Captain Z-Ro and his associates use their time machine, the ZX-99, to learn from the past and plan for the future.

Stars: Roy Steffens , Bruce Haynes , Jack Cahill , Richard Glyer

46. Love Through a Millennium (2015)

Fantasy, Romance

A rich party boy from 2016 switches body with a legendary chef from 1936. He may have to spend the next 80 years finding a way back to his time period.

Stars: Yizi Yi , Im Jin-Ah , Shuang Zheng , Boran Jing

47. La chica de ayer (2009)

80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Spanish remake of UK cult TV series "Life on Mars."

Stars: Ernesto Alterio , Antonio Garrido , Manuela Velasco , Mariano Llorente

48. Palace (2011– )

Drama, Romance

Modern woman travels back in time to Chinese Imperial court. Drama ensues.

Stars: Kei Gambit , Toby Jialin Ding , Mi Yang , Shaofeng Feng

49. Back to Sherwood (1999– )

25 min | Adventure, Fantasy

The adventures of a teen descendent of Robin Hood who regularly travels back in time to help in the fight against her ancestor's enemies.

Stars: Alexa Devine , Aimée Castle , Larry Day , Angela Galuppo

50. Dark (2017–2020)

TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.

Stars: Louis Hofmann , Karoline Eichhorn , Lisa Vicari , Maja Schöne

Votes: 443,628

51. The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.

Stars: Aidan Gallagher , Elliot Page , Tom Hopper , David Castañeda

Votes: 275,053

52. Future Man (2017–2020)

TV-MA | 30 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Josh Futturman, a janitor by day and a gamer by night, is recruited by mysterious visitors to travel through time to prevent the extinction of humanity.

Stars: Josh Hutcherson , Eliza Coupe , Derek Wilson , Haley Joel Osment

Votes: 28,676

53. Legion (2017–2019)

TV-MA | 1,316 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

David Haller is a troubled young man diagnosed as schizophrenic, but after a strange encounter he discovers special powers that will change his life forever.

Stars: Dan Stevens , Rachel Keller , Aubrey Plaza , Bill Irwin

Votes: 97,161

54. Krypton (2018–2019)

TV-14 | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The untold story of Superman's grandfather as he fights for justice on his home planet.

Stars: Cameron Cuffe , Georgina Campbell , Shaun Sipos , Ann Ogbomo

Votes: 17,687

55. The Signal (2014)

PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.

Director: William Eubank | Stars: Brenton Thwaites , Olivia Cooke , Beau Knapp , Laurence Fishburne

Votes: 69,253 | Gross: $0.60M

56. Fringe (2008–2013)

TV-14 | 46 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

An F.B.I. agent is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist and his son in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

Stars: Anna Torv , Joshua Jackson , John Noble , Jasika Nicole

Votes: 257,384

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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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“See You Yesterday” and the Perils—and Promise—of Time-Travelling While Black

By Maya Phillips

Loopholes, resurrected characters, plot resets, ever-branching arcs: time travel is an infinitely flexible conceit, limited only to its own pseudoscientific rules of causality. The new Netflix movie “See You Yesterday” makes an unusual contribution to the time-travel canon while highlighting one of its most prominent flaws: the racial privilege baked into these stories, or the dangers of time-travelling while black.

From Marty McFly to James Cole and even Wolverine, time travellers are almost always white and frequently male. It’s a practical choice on the part of writers. Post-Reconstruction? Not a problem. Colonial times? Let’s make it a three-day weekend. Time-travel shows and movies tend to fall into one of two categories: quaint personal journeys and heroic quests. In stories like “Back to the Future,” “ The Time Traveler’s Wife ,” and “The Butterfly Effect,” the scale is that of a personal narrative, with a white protagonist comfortably insulated from a larger racial history. On the other hand, in stories like “12 Monkeys,” “The Terminator,” and “Timecop,” the central conflict is so large—apocalypse, dystopias, national or global disasters—that the narrative can easily sweep past issues of race. (As for forward time-travelling, the future tends to be surprisingly post-racial, as evinced in “ Star Trek ” and “ Doctor Who .”)

“See You Yesterday,” which was produced by Spike Lee, takes a different approach. Its protagonists, C.J. and Sebastian, are black teen-age geniuses who figure out the secret to time travel for a science expo at school. When C.J.’s older brother is shot dead by police, she decides to go back in time to prevent his murder. Though the movie encounters some of the usual pitfalls of time-travel plots (predictability, muddled rules) and sports some hokey, eighties-style special effects, what it offers in terms of diversity and messaging is a treasure. As C.J. and Sebastian work out the fantastical science of time travel in a garage, it feels practical, grounded in the reality of black American life. The two don’t set out to change the world or alter their own lives, nor do they jump far into the past or future for an excellent Bill and Ted–style adventure. They’re not thrilled to have one-upped Einstein; they just want to get scholarships to college so they can leave their neighborhood. And C.J. just wants her brother back. Their actions and motivations are contained to this one very real instance of police brutality, so the plot never loses its footing in the real world.

Other shows have tried to address time-travelling while black, to different degrees of success. In the painfully juvenile, short-lived Fox comedy “Making History,” a black character who travels to 1775 is mistaken for a slave, but it’s played like a one-off joke. In the NBC series “Timeless,” which ended last year, a black programmer, a white historian, and a white soldier form a team of time-hoppers pursuing a “time terrorist” who’s out to hijack history. In the first episode, the programmer, Rufus, protests, “I am black. There’s literally no place in American history that will be awesome for me.” His discomfort is always apparent. At one point, he delivers a triumphant speech about future black American leaders, including Barack Obama, to a racist cop—but all it does is incite the cop to pounce on him, creating a distraction so that his white colleagues can break out of prison. In “Timeless,” the woe of time-travelling while black is a detail, a hiccup, sometimes a plot exigency, but never a big theme unto itself, and so Rufus always exists in a secondary position to the show’s two white protagonists.

The British sci-fi show “Doctor Who” has also recently made strides in addressing race in its narrative. For decades, one white man after another starred as the titular alien who travels in time and space. Of the Doctor’s travel companions, too, there have only been a couple of people of color, and the show has handled the issue awkwardly. In Season 3 of the rebooted series, Martha Jones, the Doctor’s black companion, asks him how her race will be addressed in seventeenth-century England; he brushes her concerns off easily, saying that she should do as he does and walk around like she owns the place. Race, he suggests, is an inconsequential construct, except when it isn’t—when they meet Shakespeare, the bard fetishizes her blackness by way of hitting on her.

It was an episode of the most recent season of the series, starring the actress Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor, that signalled a more fearless approach to race. In the episode “Rosa,” the Doctor and her three companions, Graham, a white man, Yasmin, a Pakistani woman, and Ryan, a black man, have to insure that Rosa Parks incites the civil-rights movement as planned. The episode poignantly addresses each character’s specific experience during this moment in history: Yasmin and Ryan encounter people who are either confounded by or openly hostile toward them, and they trade stories about how they still face racism in the present day. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Graham are forced to act complicit in the practice of segregation. The episode’s climactic scene, right before Parks refuses to give up her seat, is so affecting because Graham must confront the racial privilege he was born with and a history of injustice that precedes him.

When “See You Yesterday” opens, in C.J. and Sebastian’s classroom, their teacher—played by Marty McFly himself, Michael J. Fox—is reading Octavia E. Butler’s novel “ Kindred ” at his desk. In Butler’s book, a black woman living in Los Angeles in 1976 is repeatedly transported back to pre–Civil War Maryland, to a plantation where her ancestors lived. She tries to protect her lineage while also trying to stay alive, in a time when she’s deemed a slave. She’s literally beaten down by the past—whipped and nearly raped—and, after she time-travels for the last time, one of her arms is left behind, in the past. History has taken a part of her, and she will never be whole in the present. In “Kindred,” as in “See You Yesterday,” history is never just relegated to the past for black people. It’s living.

“See You Yesterday” ends uncertainly, on a long shot of C.J. Her determined expression, as she runs toward the past again, could promise hope or folly. But in every version of the story, there’s injustice and a black person inevitably hurt or dead. This cyclical sorrow, the movie seems to say, is the state and cost of institutional racism in America. Though time-travel narratives so often allow white protagonists to freely jump the time line, there’s an open field of possibilities for the genre to look at history through the eyes of the oppressed, forgotten, and marginalized. What “See You Yesterday” asserts is that, for a people hindered by prejudice and police brutality, the future is a privilege. “See you yesterday,” C.J.’s brother tells her solemnly, near the end of the film. For these black travellers, there are only yesterdays to contend with; tomorrow is just out of reach.

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By Rebecca Mead

Las Vegas Sphere: Ultimate guide to seats, prices and how to see Dead Forever in 2024

Competing for attention in Las Vegas with neon signs, billboards and mega-resorts that resemble European palaces and Egyptian pyramids is no easy feat.

But an eight-month-old orb with a talent for shapeshifting is stealing a little of their thunder.

Sphere at The Venetian Resort , an entertainment venue that opened September 2023 just off the Las Vegas Strip , has garnered much attention since its debut for its immersive audio-visual experiences.

See the 366-foot-tall venue from the outside at night and it captivates people for its ability to project images from its exterior shell (also called the Exosphere) containing 580,000 square feet of LED lights, whether it's the Earth, the surface of Mars, a blinking eye, or an emoji. It developed a reputation for causing traffic gridlock since the projections began last year during the Fourth of July.

Inside, the venue's 160,000-square-foot display with 16K by 16K resolution displays immersive visuals, backed by the world's largest beamforming audio system, according to The Venetian .

If you're planning a trip to Las Vegas, check our guides on the best ways to get there from Phoenix , free things to do , which hotels offer free parking , and how to check for bedbugs in hotels .

If you can't get to Vegas just yet, the newly opened Caesars Republic Scottsdale hotel and upcoming VAI Resort in Glendale offer the luxury of Vegas in the Valley, though neither has a casino.

Here's everything to know about the Las Vegas Sphere.

What is the Sphere in Las Vegas?

Described on its website as "a next-generation entertainment medium that is redefining the future of live entertainment," Sphere is an immersive venue that uses haptics (seats that can move and vibrate), atmospheric simulations and visual effects to "transport audiences to places real and imagined."

The Sphere Experience, the main attraction inside the Sphere, is a two-part attraction. The first part, guided by a humanoid robot called Aura, includes a 360-degree avatar capture and a 50-foot-high holographic installation.

The second part is a viewing of an immersive film called "Postcard From Earth" by director Darren Aronofsky on Sphere's largest, highest-definition screen. "Postcard From Earth" is described as part nature documentary, part science fiction movie.

Sphere has also hosted concerts, with U2 inaugurating it with a 40-show residency that launched on Sept. 29, 2023. Sporting events are coming as well: UFC President Dana White said in February that he booked Sphere for UFC 306, scheduled for Sept. 14, 2024.

Where is the Sphere in Las Vegas?

Sphere is at the intersection of Sands Avenue and Koval Lane, just off the Las Vegas Strip and about 1 mile east of The Venetian.

Its address is 255 Sands Ave., Las Vegas.

Who owns the Sphere in Las Vegas?

Sphere is owned by Sphere Entertainment Co., which was spun off from Madison Square Garden Entertainment in April 2023.

Can you go inside the Vegas Sphere?

Yes, but it will cost you. Every guest must have a ticket for a show to enter the Sphere.

How many people does the Sphere hold? 

Sphere can seat 17,500 people and has a standing room capacity of 20,000, according to The Venetian .

Do the seats move in the Sphere? 

Of the Sphere's 17,500 seats, 10,000 of them are described as "haptic seats," or seats that are capable of moving and vibrating.

Where are the bad seats in the Sphere? 

Any seats with an overhang of upper levels will obstruct the view of the stage and/or screen.

USA Today's 10Best suggests avoiding certain seats in the far right and far left sections in the 100 level, where rows 30 and higher are completely obstructed by the overhang.

The 200, 300 and 400 levels offer the best seats.

How long does the Sphere Experience last? 

The Sphere Experience lasts just under two hours, with 60 minutes for the interactive experiences and 50 minutes for the "Postcard From Earth" film.

How long will U2 be at the Sphere?

U2 played the final show of its U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency on March 2, 2024.

Who is performing at the Sphere in 2024? 

After U2's residency ended, the jam band Phish became the second music act to play Sphere. Their four-show residency ran April 18-21.

Members of Dead & Company, a spinoff of the Grateful Dead featuring former members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart along with singer and guitarist John Mayer, will perform a 24-show Sphere residency called Dead Forever. The residency, which runs from May 16 to July 13, will begin a year after their final tour made a stop in Phoenix .

How much does it cost to go to Sphere Vegas?

It depends on the show and what day you plan to visit.

The Sphere Experience starts at $79 per person during the week and $99 per person on weekends.

Tickets for Dead & Company's Dead Forever residency start at $145 per person.

Is the Sphere worth going to?

Sphere has attracted an assortment of highly positive and highly negative reviews from travelers.

It has a user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Google. One user, Phillipe Beaumier , called Sphere "a once in a lifetime experience" and described the immersive audio and visual as "so incredible, you feel like you are part of the travel!"

Tripadvisor users gave Sphere more mixed reviews, with an overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars. Most of its bad reviews were critical of the message of the "Postcard From Earth" film in the Sphere Experience.

A one-star review from a Tripadvisor user named Kathryn W. expressed disappointment with the Sphere Experience's humanoid robots and how "a couple of robots that are comparable to (Amazon's virtual assistant) Alexa can't answer a question." Kathryn added that the moving seats "could be mistaken for someone kicking the back of your chair."

Michael Salerno is an award-winning journalist who’s covered travel and tourism since 2014. His work as The Arizona Republic’s consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. He can be reached at  [email protected] . Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:  @salerno_phx .

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