At io9, we watch a lot of TV and we’re not afraid to admit it. And from all those hours binged and streamed, these 16 series rose above the rest. If that seems like a lot of favorites, well, we already made it perfectly clear: we watch a lot of TV! Here are io9’s favorite sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and animated shows of 2024.
Agatha All Along
We already knew we loved the main character—Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness—in the spin-off series from the same creator behind WandaVision, one of Marvel’s most entertaining Disney+ series to date. And Agatha All Along more than lived up to the catchy ditty that provided its title, exploring issues of power and identity as well as celebrating witches in pop-culture far beyond comic books.
Arcane
Despite losing out to Fallout as the best video game adaptation at the Game Awards, Netflix’s Arcane still stands at the top of the leader board for the year—and of all-time. Its fusion of painstakingly hand-painted animation and 3D modeling, catchy needle drops, and sprawling story represents the best exports of one of gaming’s most gatekeep communities. What’s more, you don’t have to suffer through playing League of Legends to appreciate it.
Bluey
In what is now known to be creator Joe Brumm’s final season of the animated show, Bluey season three caps off what began as the everyday adventures of the the show’s Heeler family with some big decisions for the parents in “The Sign.” Girl-dad Bandit has to make the huge decision on whether or not to sell the house where we’ve witnessed Bluey and Bingo grow up in the emotional and powerful finale (that might be very autobiographical for Brumm). And there was, of course, that time jump into Bluey’s future as a parent, which left us with so many questions. Bluey‘s future may be uncertain on the small screen but we’ve at least got the film as Brumm’s final bow for an all-time great family animated pop culture phenomenon.
Dan Da Dan
Anyone who was already reading Yukinobu Tatsu’s smash-hit manga knew pairing its oddball supernatural/sci-fi mashup with the talents of Science Saru was going to make for an incredible anime–but no one knew just how incredible its debut was going to be. Capable at being sharply funny and over-the-top and deeply sentimental and intimate in equal measure, Dan Da Dan manages to delicately spin many plates across its tonal and genre mashups to deliver a show where you never really know what to expect next, even if you’re a manga reader. We can’t wait to see how Science Saru takes on the rest of the story from here!
Delicious in Dungeon
On the surface, Delicious in Dungeon is a cooking anime disguised as a Dungeons & Dragons-type show. However, it’s actually deeper than that. If anything, it’s actually a kind of messed-up anime about how love can make folks disrespect the laws of nature to fulfill their appetites, be it literally or by using alchemy to bring back a loved one. And it’s quirky, fun, and daring on top of that.
Evil
In this Paramount+ series, which wrapped up its run this year, a trio of investigators, ostensibly working for the Catholic Church but very much bringing their own perspectives and opinions to the table, set out to debunk (or prove) possessions (and miracles, ghosts, werewolves, and beyond). Evil’s blend of fascinating characters, clever writing, and a willingness to push boundaries never disappointed, with episodes able to incorporate apocalyptic terrors and dinners made of “candy salad” with perfect balance.
Fallout
The Fallout games were already blockbuster hits, so it seemed likely that Prime Video’s series, shepherded to the screen by the help of team Westworld, would find at least an audience among its built-in fanbase. But Fallout transcended that and beyond, building a vivid post-apocalyptic world with a mystery or two at its core, and characters so cool and intriguing (and/or ghoulish and dorky, depending on who you’re talking about) we can’t wait to see what they get up to in season two.
Interview With the Vampire
The second season of AMC’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel brought the events from the first Vampire Chronicles novel to the small screen in both a faithful yet creatively reimagined way. Delainey Hayles as Claudia was a tour de force alongside Jacob Anderson, both of whom notched performances that elevated the book’s material. And of course while this season was short on Sam Reid as Lestat, he chews up the scenery with his appearances—perfectly setting up the Vampire Lestat to take center stage in season three.
Kaos
Netflix’s clever and modern adaptation of Greek myths from Charlie Covell (The End of the F***ing World) was maybe a canceled a bit too prematurely. With hit games like Hades and Webtoon comic titan Lore Olympus, the show was on track to find its audience. It had Jeff Goldblum as Zeus (!), not to mention lots of soapy drama we were left wanting more of.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season one of Prime Video’s Tolkien adaptation was… let’s just say it: it was too slow. Season two, however, picked up the pace considerably, with actual rings on-screen as well as parallel stories of characters (good guys, bad guys, very bad guys) battling for control of Middle-earth’s destiny. As before, the visuals were stunning and the performances were top-notch, and the story was so involving we now can’t wait for the next leg of this epic journey.
The Penguin
When HBO announced it was doing a TV show based on Colin Farrell’s character from The Batman, no one had any real expectations. Sure, Colin Farrell is awesome. And the idea of a Batman villain spinoff show was intriguing. But how good could it be? Turns out the answer is really, really freaking good. The Penguin was like a DC Comics blend of The Sopranos and The Wire, showing a city at war and the lengths people must go to achieve power. Through acts of pure evil, it showed us just how difficult it actually might be to become a proper supervillain. It also introduced us to Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone, instantly a top-tier DC villain.
Star Wars: The Acolyte
Toxic fans dismissed it, and Lucasfilm cancelled it. But we had a great time with The Acolyte, a show that dared to show Star Wars’ vaunted Jedi in a less-than-flattering light, while exploring darker and more mystical aspects of the franchise’s longstanding lore. It was also shockingly violent at times—and other times, perhaps even more shockingly, rather sexy. The Acolyte took big swings, and we’re glad this fresh point of view made its way to Disney+—if only for one season.
Star Trek: Discovery
Discovery bowed out this year in the way only Discovery really could: true to the totality of its earnest, messy self. Its final mission had its ups and downs, and its final moments certainly made some choices in how it ended the Star Trek show that started off this whole era. But Discovery reminded us all of the humanity at its heart with a message of constant evolution and learning—and that even in the farthest-flung future we’ve seen in Trek up to this point, even our most idealized heroes in Starfleet are constantly working on achieving the utopia the series has always dreamed for.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Lower Decks‘ final season built itself around a single message about re-learning lessons and challenging yourself to grow, and although it might have banged that drum a little too frequently, it allowed the show to go out a strong thematic core that showed us just how far these wacky ensigns (turned Lieutenants Junior Grade) have really come across the last five seasons of shenanigans. With a perfect one-two punch of a send off that balanced sincere Trek nostalgia and geekery with a fitting climax to this chapter of Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford’s adventures, one lesson we learned alongside them was that we’re gonna miss the hell out of this show. Lower decks! Lower decks! Lower decks!
3 Body Problem
A blockbuster sci-fi novel series from China, the team behind Game of Thrones, and the power of Netflix combined to bring this intellectual yet thrilling tale to the streaming realm. When one angry human invites aliens to invade Earth, a group of geniuses who’d rather that not happen try to figure out how to un-invite them. Along the way, relationships and morals are turned inside out, and big questions about life and existence get put to the test.
X-Men ’97
Coming into Marvel Animation’s resurrection and continuation of the ’90s classic, there was a concern that X-Men ’97 might just be content with fanning the flames of nostalgia and delivering throwback content to lean on the vibes and little else. What we got instead was a true spiritual sequel that did more than just rest on its laurels. X-Men ’97 celebrated the mutant metaphor as an allegorical tool, a show confident to push forward with its own riff on decades of X-Men storytelling to tell a story of resistance and resilience that championed the kind of themes that have always made mutantkind some of Marvel’s most fascinating characters. X-Men ’97 wasn’t just a fitting tribute to a golden age of Marvel animated adaptations, but a blueprint for everything any future MCU version of these characters should strive for.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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