When it comes to sci-fi TV shows, no streaming service is operating at as high a level as Apple TV. The platform launched on the back of the popular sci-fi show, See, and while it may have been more heartfelt hits like Ted Lasso (starring Jason Sudeikis) and Shrinking (starring Harrison Ford) that drew people to the service, it’s been sci-fi that kept them coming back. Apple TV’s greatest sci-fi accomplishment to date is Severance, which first premiered back in 2022 before going on hiatus for three years and coming back with its second season in 2025. Apple TV picked up Severance for Season 3, but it’s unlikely that the show will make it back to streaming before the end of this year. The same can be confirmed for another Apple TV sci-fi masterpiece, one with enough gusto to break all of Severance’s records.
The only show big enough to surpass Severance in terms of viewership came last year with the release of Pluribus, which hails from creator Vince Gilligan. The legendary TV scribe is best known for his work penning one of the greatest TV shows of all time in Breaking Bad, and he also wrote the spin-off series Better Call Saul. Pluribus premiered in November, and the first season wrapped up on Christmas Eve, but the fate of the show was decided long before then when Apple TV renewed it for Season 2. Gilligan has confirmed that he’s chipping away at the writing process for Pluribus Season 2, but also that there’s no chance the show will be back before the end of the year. It’s still one of the top 10 most-watched titles on Apple TV, though.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
What Else Is Streaming on Apple TV Right Now?
The most popular show on Apple TV at the time of writing is Cape Fear, the remake of the popular Robert De Niro psychological thriller. The Apple TV version of the tale stars Javier Bardem opposite Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson. Cape Fear is holding a narrow edge over Colin Farrell’s popular sci-fi detective show, Sugar, which recently returned for its second season after a two-year hiatus. As for movies, Brad Pitt’s F1 has still yet to be dethroned at the top of Apple TV streaming charts, but Anya Taylor-Joy’s The Gorge is giving it a run for its money.
Check out the first season of Pluribus on Apple TV, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Season 2.
