7 Must-See Sci-Fi TV Shows on HBO and Max Right Now (May 2025)

“All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?”

In 2005, Doctor Who returned from an 18-year hiatus with a brand-new series and a new Doctor played by Christopher Eccleston. But all of the Doctors going back to 1963 have been the same character, he just regenerates into new personas as played by David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.

That’s arguably the peak era of modern Doctor Who, and Max’s share of the episodes goes through season 13, including Jodie Whittaker‘s time as the first female Doctor — but not the last. He — and occasionally she — goes on madcap adventures in time and space with companions on a ship that’s bigger on the inside. If you’ve ever wanted to try the show, seasons 1 and 5 are the perfect jumping-on points.

Doctor Who is streaming on Max.

Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe‘s latest anime series, Lazarus, depicts a near-perfect future world where the wonder drug Hapna has cured humanity of almost every illness. After disappearing for years, Hapna’s creator, Dr. Deniz Skinner (David Matranga), resurfaces and claims that his drug is designed to kill people three-and-a-half years after they first took it. Skinner also puts forth a challenge for someone to find him in 30 days, or else a massive number of people will die.

Axel Gilberto (Jack Stansbury), Alexandra (Luci Christian) and three other outlaws have been recruited to the Lazarus team to locate Skinner before anyone else does. It’s an increasingly dangerous mission, and they’re already running short on time.

Lazarus is streaming on Max.

Fans of the two recent Dune movies starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya will dig Dune: Prophecy, which mimics the look and tone of Denis Villeneuve’s epic take on Frank Herbert’s classic novel. 

Set 10,000 years before the first Dune, the series explores the origins of the mysterious Bene Gesserit, a secret organization populated by powerful women who exert control over the universe’s political, social and religious circles. Sisters and allies Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams) want to secure the safety of humanity, but can they withstand betrayals from within their own group as well as prepare for the “reckoning,” a prophecy that could end them all?

While Dune: Prophecy looks like its cinematic brethren, it feels more like Game of Thrones due to its emphasis on politics and power struggles among the elite. It doesn’t feel derivative, though, and Watson and Williams give the show the spark it needs to make you watch all of its six episodes. 

Zombies were getting a bit stale when The Last of Us premiered in early 2023, but the show’s stellar acting and production values made them relevant again and gave star Pedro Pascal yet another iconic role. The first season was a relatively faithful adaptation of the massively popular 2013 Naughty Dog game, telling the story of outbreak survivors Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they cross a postapocalyptic United States while trying to avoid “the infected.”

Season 2 premiered in April 2025 and adapts the first half of the video game sequel, The Last of Us Part II. Ellie, now in her late teens, and Joel are still as world-weary as ever. Some major new characters this season include Isabel Merced as Ellie’s love interest Dina, Catherine O’Hara as Joel’s therapist and Kaitlyn Dever as the soldier Abby. The Last of Us isn’t just a great sci-fi series, it’s also one of the best shows streaming right now.

Noah Wyle is justifiably getting his flowers right now for his stellar work in The Pitt, but the ER actor has been regularly appearing on the small screen for decades. In between his popular hospital dramas, Wyle found the time to battle invading aliens in the enjoyably goofy sci-fi drama, Falling Skies.

Months after the world had been taken over by the Espeni, what’s left of humankind has assembled into groups of paramilitary forces around the globe. Tom Mason is the leader of one of those units, and he’s determined to not only fight the invaders but also find out what they want from Earth. That won’t be easy, and he’ll have to forge uneasy alliances with other humans he normally wouldn’t get along with while also trying to raise his teenage son (Connor Jessup). 

Falling Skies lasted for five seasons, and the longer it was on the air, the more far-fetched its stories became. It’s still enjoyable to watch, though, and Wyle proves he’s just as good at kicking alien butt as he is saving lives in an emergency room.

Shameless ripoffs can be good, and Paradise is better than it has any right to be. Set in early 1990s Spain, the supernatural show opens with the disappearance of three girls. No one knows where they went or who took them, but Javi (Pau Gimeno), the brother of one of the missing girls, thinks something sinister is at play. Together with his three friends, he decides to find out for himself what happened to his sister and her friends. 

Sound familiar? Paradise owes a lot to Stranger Things, right down to the shameless nostalgic pull of early ‘90s culture. But it all works, and the central mystery is intriguing enough to keep you guessing. The show ran for two seasons and wrapped things up in 15 easy-to-watch episodes.

Several super-powered outcasts band together to stop evildoers from taking over the world — no, it’s not the X-Men, it’s Doom Patrol. The short-lived Max show is based on the DC Vertigo comic of the same name and takes most of its inspiration from writer Grant Morrison’s genre-bending run on the series in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

When team founder and leader Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton) is kidnapped by Mr. Nobody, the Doom Patrol — Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby), Negative Man (Matt Bomer), Robotman (Brendan Fraser) and Cyborg (Joivan Wade) — must set aside their differences long enough to take back the man who cared for them when no one would. But getting Niles back isn’t easy, and along the way, each member of the team discovers some shocking secrets about their past that threatens their future.

Doom Patrol isn’t your standard superhero show — the team encounters a sentient street called Danny the Street and has to prevent a “buttpocalypse” from destroying the world. The show is weird and almost nonsensical, but it’s also a fun ride worth taking.