Hulu’s Returning Sci-Fi Series With 86% on Rotten Tomatoes Just Showed Apple & Netflix How It’s Done

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As a sci-fi fan, I’ve noticed it’s become really common to wait over a year for a new season of my favorite shows, especially on streaming services. Take 3 Body Problem, which came out in 2024 and is thankfully getting a second season this year. But the wait for Severance Season 2 was brutal – a full 35 months! It was absolutely worth it when it finally arrived, but that’s a long time to be patient. Apple TV+ seems to be the biggest culprit with these long gaps. I mean, think about the wait between seasons of For All Mankind, the three years for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, or even just each new season of Invasion and Foundation. It’s exciting when a show returns, but these extended breaks can be frustrating!

While Apple TV+ has consistently released new episodes of Silo since it began, it remains to be seen if that pattern will continue through its final two seasons. This makes the upcoming return of Hulu’s critically acclaimed Paradise particularly noteworthy. The first season premiered in January 2025, and a second season was quickly confirmed, set to debut on February 23rd. What’s especially welcome is that viewers won’t need to rewatch the first season to understand what’s happening in the new one – a rarity for sci-fi shows these days.

Understanding the Point of Gap Years

This isn’t unique to science fiction or streaming shows. Even long-running comedies like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia have taken breaks between seasons. And streaming services themselves often make fans wait for new installments – for example, the final seasons of Stranger Things and the second season of Wednesday.

Gap years can be worthwhile if the long-awaited season delivers on the hype. Complex stories, especially in science fiction, naturally take more time to develop than simpler shows like medical or legal dramas commonly seen on networks like NBC and ABC.

Many streaming shows, like Stranger Things and Apple TV’s Pluribus, are now produced on a very large scale. While franchises like Friday the 13th and Saw could release a new movie each year, we generally accepted longer waits—two or three years—for major franchises like Star Wars and the Iron Man films, understanding that was typical for the industry.

It seems we might need to accept longer production times for major streaming series. However, the show Paradise recently proved that completing a series within one year is achievable. Its estimated per-episode budget of $10 to $15 million was similar to that of Pluribus, suggesting that a faster turnaround could be a realistic goal for these types of shows and their creators.

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2026-01-31 22:13