6 Thriller Sci-Fi Shows Like Sunny to Check out Next
Apple TV+‘s latest sci-fi series that blends genres is Sunny, a 10-episode thriller with a dark comedy component to it. Created by Katie Robbins (The Affair, The Last Tycoon), who also serves as showrunner, and executive producer and director Lucy Tcherniak (Station Eleven, The End of the F***ing World), Sunny stars Rashida Jones (On the Rocks, The Other Black Girl), who also serves as executive producer.
The series is based on the book Dark Manual by Japan-based award-winning Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan, and also stars Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car, Riding A Unicorn), Joanna Sotomura (Barry, Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story), Judy Ongg (Wu jia zhi bao, Money Wars), YOU (Reverse, Nobody Knows), singer-songwriter annie the clumsy, and Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill: Vol 1., Kate).
Sunny follows Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan in the near future, whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As “consolation” she is gifted Sunny, a domestic robot made by her husband’s electronics company. Suzie first resents Sunny’s attempts to fill the void in her life, but they soon develop an unexpected friendship and uncover the truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family.
New episodes drop very Wednesday through September 4th, and if you’re looking for other shows like Sunny that blends sci-fi with other genres, here are 6 recommendations.
Devs (2020 miniseries)
Cast: Nick Offerman, Sonoya Mizuno, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Karl Glusman, Alison Pill,
Synopsis: “Devs follows the story of a young software engineer, Lily Chan, who investigates the secretive development division of her employer which she believes is behind her boyfriend’s murder.”
Where to watch: Hulu
Humans (2015-2018)
Cast: Katherine Parkinson, Gemma Chan, Lucy Carless, Tom Goodman-Hill, Colin Morgan, Theo Stevenson, Ivanno Jeremiah, Pixie Davies, Emily Berrington, Ruth Bradley, Will Tudor, Neil Maskell
Synopsis: “In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’–a highly-developed robotic servant that’s so similar to a real human–is transforming the way we live.”
Where to watch: Hoopla, Apple TV
Made for Love (2021-2022)
Cast: Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen, Ray Romano, Dan Bakkedahl, Noma Dumezweni, Caleb Foote, Sarunas J. Jackson, Chris Diamantopoulos, Dutch Johnson, Kym Whitley, Ashley Madekwe, Paula Abdul
Synopsis: “A young woman, on the run after 10 years in a suffocating marriage to a tech billionaire, suddenly realizes that her husband has implanted a revolutionary monitoring device in her brain that allows him to track her every move.”
Where to watch: Prime Video
The Signal (2024 miniseries)
Cast: Florian David Fitz, Peri Baumeister, Yuna Bennett
Synopsis: “A missing astronaut sets her family on a frantic hunt for answers. But the more they uncover, the greater the threat becomes to them — and the world.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Undone (2019-2022)
Cast: Rosa Salazar, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie, Bob Odenkirk, Daveed Diggs, Siddharth Dhananjay, Luna-Marie Katich, Kevin Bigley
Synopsis: “Undone is a half-hour, genre-bending, animated series that explores the elastic nature of reality through its central character Alma, a twenty-eight-year-old living in San Antonio, Texas. After getting into a car accident and nearly dying, Alma finds she has a new relationship to time. She develops this new ability in order to find out the truth about her father’s death.”
Where to watch: Freevee, Prime Video
Upload (2020 – )
Cast: Robbie Amell, Andy Allo, Allegra Edwards, Zainab Johnson, Kevin Bigley, Owen Daniels, Andrea Rosen, Josh Banday
Synopsis: “After his premature death, a man’s consciousness is uploaded into a virtual world. As he gets comfortable with his surroundings, questions about his death arise.”
Where to watch: Prime Video
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