Apple TV's 9-Part Sci-Fi Series With Rare Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Already One Of Its Best

Although Apple TV’s sci-fi hit from 2025 has only released one nine-episode season, it is already fair to say that the series is a critically acclaimed masterpiece. It can sometimes take time for a cult hit to find its footing on television, especially in the sci-fi genre. Sometimes, revolutionary shows like Lost stun critics from the moment they begin, with killer pilots that force audiences to sit up and pay attention.

However, just as often, sci-fi shows need time to set up their complex internal worlds, and establishing lore means that these shows are not necessarily as efficiently paced as they might otherwise be. Season 1 of Apple TV’s Isaac Asmiov adaptation Foundation earned a solid 76% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which was stuffed with exposition that set up its elaborate futuristic setting and sprawling cast of characters. This rating soared to a perfect 100% for seasons 2 and 3, as the show fulfilled its true potential after this slow setup.

Since this isn’t unusual for a sci-fi series, it is always notable when a show in the genre debuts to immediate and universal acclaim. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s The Twilight Zone-inspired series Pluribus is one such series, debuting to a near flawless 199% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and managing to hold onto this achievement for months after its release. A darkly comedic character study, Pluribus is a dystopia with a difference.

Pluribus Earned Its Incredible 99% Rotten Tomatoes Critical Rating

The show focuses on Rhea Seehorn’s Carol Sturka, a romantasy author who is one of just over a dozen people left unaffected by the arrival of an alien hive mind that has taken over the planet. The “Joining” saw the rest of humanity become a hive mind known as the “Others,” who live in perpetual contentment, cheerfully reminding Carol and her fellow outliers that they wish them no harm, but will assimilate them the moment they can work out how to do so.

While Carol attempts to undo the Joining, large swathes of the show’s story focus on her existential struggle with being among the only humans who haven’t already been assimilated. While season 2 of Pluribus will likely be a little more action-packed judging by season 1’s cliffhanger ending, season 1 of the series makes the bold decision to explore Carol’s plight at a surprisingly leisurely pace.

Although her story owes something to genre classics from I Am Legend to The Last Man on Earth, Pluribus never ignores the reality that Carol’s story is one that hasn’t really been seen in sci-fi before. Her plot doesn’t follow the conventional body-snatcher blueprint set up by movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Faculty, or The Thing, since the enemies are all around her, have already been assimilated, and are jarringly open about their plans to assimilate her.

Pluribus Proves Apple TV Is The Home of Small Screen Sci-Fi

Carlos Manuel Vesga in Pluribus season 1

Thus, Pluribus’s take on the body-snatching collective trope feels entirely fresh, much like Silo’s story of a mysterious self-contained setting in a post-apocalyptic reality manages to emerge from the long shadow cast by earlier, similar sci-fi stories like Snowpiercer and The Platform. The connection between these two shows is that, like Foundation, both are produced by Apple TV.

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the streaming service that made a name for itself with starry dramas and comedies like The Morning Show and Ted Lasso has pivoted to focusing on expensive, ambitious, and truly innovative sci-fi shows. This arguably began with 2021’s Foundation season 1, but the success of 2022’s Severance sealed the deal.

2023 brought Silo season 1, while 2025 saw Gilligan’s series expand the streaming service’s sci-fi offerings further. With Pluribus season 2 on the way and the upcoming William Gibson adaptation Neuromancer coming in 2027, it is clearer than ever that Apple TV is the first name in small-screen sci-fi.