7 Great Alternate History Sci-Fi Shows If You Like For All Mankind

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The Apple TV+ series For All Mankind explores a fascinating ‘what if’ scenario: what if the Soviet Union beat the United States to the moon in 1969? This leads to a reimagined history where the space race intensifies and the world evolves in unexpected ways. After five seasons, the show will conclude with a sixth and final season in 2027, wrapping up its decades-spanning story. If you enjoy alternate history like For All Mankind, many other TV shows offer similar explorations of changed timelines and drastically different worlds.

If you enjoyed For All Mankind, here are seven excellent science fiction shows that explore alternate histories – from stories with world-altering events to those imagining completely different versions of Earth.

7) Timeless

Timeless, created by Eric Kripke (known for Supernatural) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield), was a time-travel show that ran on NBC from 2016 to 2018. The series centers around a team – historian Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), soldier Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter), and engineer Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett) – who travel through time to stop a criminal from changing historical events.

This show presents a fascinating ‘what if’ scenario centered on a secret society named Rittenhouse, which has been manipulating history for centuries to gain control of the present. Every time the team travels to the past, they risk returning to a drastically altered timeline. Fortunately, despite being canceled after two seasons, NBC allowed the show to conclude its story with a two-part finale. Season 2 of Timeless received a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

6) Dark Matter

If you enjoyed the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind, you might also like Dark Matter. Be aware that this isn’t the same Dark Matter that aired on SYFY from 2015 to 2017. This new 2024 series, based on Blake Crouch’s novel, features Joel Edgerton as physicist Jason Dessen and Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Daniela.

The story begins with Jason being attacked, and he awakens to find himself in a world drastically different from his own – a world where he made different life choices and prioritized his career over family. To make matters worse, his alternate self is the one who attacked him, and has now stolen Jason’s life, taking his place with his family. As Jason attempts to return home, he travels to numerous alternate Earths, each with its own unique history, and some of which have experienced complete societal collapse.

5) The Man in the High Castle

When The Man in the High Castle first appeared on Prime Video, it seemed like a typical alternate history show, exploring a world where Germany and Japan had won World War II. But the series took a turn toward science fiction when viewers discovered strange films depicting a reality where the Allies had won – essentially, the world we know.

This series is based on Philip K. Dick’s award-winning novel and stars Alexa Davalos, Rufus Sewell, and Joel de la Fuente. It explores a world where shifting realities threaten to destroy everything. While seeing a fascist society was disturbing, the story became truly captivating when science fiction elements were introduced. The show successfully completed its planned storyline, telling the entire story from start to finish.

4) Counterpart

Counterpart is a thrilling sci-fi show that originally aired on Starz, featuring J.K. Simmons in a dual role. Created by Justin Marks (known for Shōgun), the series centers on Howard Silk, a seemingly ordinary worker at the UN Interchange Office in Berlin. Howard’s life changes when he discovers the agency protects a gateway to a parallel world, and he comes face-to-face with a more formidable version of himself.

In 1987, a science experiment in Germany caused Earth to split into two identical worlds with diverging histories. The show Counterpart isn’t about a simple alternate reality; it’s a spy thriller exploring how different choices shaped these parallel universes and the lives of everyone in them. Both seasons of the show have received perfect scores on Rotten Tomatoes, and it also won a Creative Arts Emmy Award.

3) 11.22.63

The eight-part Hulu series 11.22.63, based on the Stephen King novel and produced by J.J. Abrams, follows Jake Epping, a Maine teacher played by James Franco. Jake discovers a time portal and is tasked with traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This novel tells the story of Epping, who is recruited to travel back in time and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from altering the course of history. It’s a classic time travel tale that explores the idea that even preventing a tragedy doesn’t guarantee a better future, highlighting the complex consequences of changing the past.

2) Watchmen

The 2019 HBO series Watchmen continues the story from the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Unlike the movie adaptation, this series builds directly on the events of the comic books and is set 30 years later. The show explores the lasting impact of Ozymandias’s attempt to prevent a global war, revealing that his efforts didn’t truly solve the world’s problems.

The graphic novel Watchmen originally presented an alternate history, imagining a world altered by the Vietnam War and the character Doctor Manhattan. The HBO TV series continues this theme, setting its story in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and powerfully exploring the often-forgotten 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. It highlights how racism and prejudice have persisted and even worsened over time. The show was critically acclaimed, winning 11 Emmy Awards – including Outstanding Limited Series – from a total of 26 nominations.

1) Fringe

Fringe was Fox’s attempt to follow up the popular sci-fi show, The X-Files. However, it took a distinctly different approach. Where The X-Files was known for its exciting action, monsters, and conspiracy theories, Fringe was a smart, complex story focusing on unconventional science. Importantly, it never sacrificed scientific accuracy for the sake of simplicity, maintaining a high level of intelligence throughout.

This sci-fi series centers on an FBI team in Boston that handles strange and unusual cases involving unconventional science. Their investigations lead them to discover a parallel universe – an alternate version of Earth where major historical events unfolded differently. For example, the 9/11 attacks never happened, President Kennedy lived, Martin Luther King Jr. is on the $20 bill, zeppelins are a normal mode of transportation, and the Soviet Union never dissolved. The show concluded as planned and is widely considered one of the most intelligent science fiction programs ever made.

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2026-06-10 02:41