10 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows Set In Space

It's a true crime that we were only gifted one season of Firefly, resulting in a mere fourteen episodes, but treasure it we have and always will. Airing in 2002, Firefly is a space Western created by Joss Whedon, director of Avengers and Buffy, and follows the adventures of the dysfunctional crew aboard the Serenity, a spaceship in the class known as Firefly, in the year 2517.

Firefly is adored by fans because of its more realistic approach to the science-fiction genre, despite being set hundreds of years in the future. The show uses weapons which could be plausible in today's world, and the technology used for the spaceships are not too far off what is deemed possible by humanity's current spaceships.

Firefly features welcome humour in the face of tragedy, and has many likeable characters. Nathan Fillion's Mal has gained great pop-culture status from fans and strangers alike, and the show has influenced many other great sci-fi shows, most recently The Mandalorian on Disney+.

Firefly was cancelled after only its eleventh episode - however, this does have its silver lining as the show was never even given a chance to turn bad, therefore forever remaining one of the greats. The franchise was briefly resurrected in 2005 for a follow up film titled Serenity, which gave the characters one last deserving send off.