Fantasy and science fiction television shows have thrived in recent years. Who needs real-world drama when you can immerse yourself and follow the stories of vault dwellers, ring-bearers, and dragon-riders?
While audiences cannot wait to return to these stories, the wait might be longer than anticipated. Here are 5 fantasy and sci-fi shows that unfortunately will not return in 2025.
Silo
Starting our list is AppleTV+ Silo, starring Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins and Common. Based on the books by Hugh Howey, this science fiction tale about a society thriving underground in a silo after the world collapsed many years prior is already in its second season.
The show has been renewed for two more seasons, and while it's unlikely that season 3 will be released next year, it's not 100% confirmed. Still, bet on Silo returning in 2026.
Currently, main character Juliette (Ferguson) finds herself discovering lie after lie about who is really in charge of the silo. She's found out that there are many more silos out there and is finding out why all of this is happening to begin with. The outside world is indeed uninhabitable, but we do not know why and if people can ever return to the surface.
Silo continues to be an underrated television show. It's got a slow-burning narrative that's building up a lot of momentum, with constant thrilling payoffs along the way. We can only anticipate how season 2 will conclude, hopefully with Juliette returning to her silo before a rebellion breaks out. Season 3 could be when this show truly blows up in the wider culture.
Fallout
The Last of Us walked so that Fallout could run. The age of quality video game-to-TV adaptations is here. The post-apocalypse has never been more inventive, engrossing, violent, or downright bizarre than in Fallout. Audiences had hope that the show would remain faithful to the games, and our hope paid off.
Season 1 followed three interconnecting storylines: Lucy, a vault dweller braving the outside world for the first time to find her father; Maximus, a soldier in the Brotherhood of Steel, hiding his identity while seeking an artifact; and the Ghoul, who turns out is connected to nearly every important character prior to the end of the world.
Much like in Silo, the underground vaults built for the specific purpose of keeping a portion of humanity alive after the apocalypse are full of secrets. How did the world end, why did it end and why were specific people chosen to survive? That is all part of the bigger story that we cannot wait to see continue in season 2, which most likely be out in 2026.
The Mandalorian
Without a doubt, The Mandalorian remains one of the best Star Wars shows on Disney+. Exploring the lore of Mandalorians and how the universe proceeded after the fall of the Empire, The Mandalorian focuses on Din Djarin, a bounty hunter who takes a job where he has to retrieve as asset for an Imperial remnant; this asset is the child, Grogu, a force-sensitive alien. After Din decides to rescue the child, he is tasked with returning him to his kind, the Jedi.
Over the course of three successful seasons, the duo goes on several adventures and meets new allies and foes as a grander story begins to take shape. Throughout the series, audiences get reacquainted with familiar Star Wars characters like Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano, whose stories continue in exciting and unexpected ways.
Whether you watched the show or not, you could not escape its impact. You would think season 4 would be the next step, but nope; The Mandalorian television show will not be continuing.
Instead, the story will continue in a movie called The Mandalorian & Grogu due to be released on May 22, 2026. Season 3 ends with Din adopting Grogu as his child, Grogu beginning his Mandalorian training, Moff Gideon defeated, and our father-son duo living their lives in peace on Nevarro. We can only speculate what will happen in the film and how it may impact other Star Wars shows.
House of the Dragon
Game of Thrones was a gigantic success for HBO and catapulted several acting careers, including those of Emilia Clarke, Jason Momoa, Bella Ramsey, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Pedro Pascal. The politics, scandals, and copious amounts of violence and sexual content that surrounded the fight for the Iron Throne enthralled audiences for eight seasons.
Since then, the successful spinoff House of the Dragon was released. The new show takes place nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones. The series is also full of violence, plotting, dragons, and so many confusing relationships and family trees you'll need a notebook to keep track.
Thus far, the two-season series is showing no signs of stopping; right now, the spinoff is planned to end with season 4. The third season will film in 2025, which means we can expect new episodes in 2026.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Prime Video's epic fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been at the center of a lot of drama. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics love it and audiences despise it; and now there is speculation that the show may not get renewed for a third season, although that may be overblown. The showrunners are writing season 3 as we speak.
Loosely based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Rings of Power is vastly different from the beloved films released in the early 2000s, which put actors like Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom on the map in Hollywood. This show is set thousands of years before the War of the Ring, although characters like Galadriel and Sauron are still around.
Whatever happens, it is highly unlikely that a new season of The Rings of Power will be released in 2025. We'll be keeping our eyes open for more news.
3 Body Problem
This heady sci-fi show comes to us from David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the guys behind Game of Thrones. Once again, it's a literary adaptation, this time of Liu Cixin's trilogy of sci-fi books about humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial species. The first season ended with the people of Earth learning that the hostile aliens were on the way, but they'd have generations to prepare.
3 Body Problem dropped on Netflix early in 2024 and gathered a solid fanbase, even if it didn't set the world on fire. It had some terrific episodes and built momentum as it went, which makes us eager to see how it wraps up. Netflix has renewed the show for two more seasons, which should allow Benioff and Weiss to finish the story.
That said, renewal was slow in coming, which means that we very likely won't see new episodes until 2026. If the second and third seasons are filmed back to back, maybe there will be a shorter wait between the final two seasons of the show.
The Boys
For four seasons now, The Boys has managed to stand out among many other superhero shows and movies by being more violent, anarchic and insane than all of them. The story of sociopathic superhero Homelander and the group of people determined to stop him will reach its zenith in the fifth and final season.
Unfortunately, that final season won't be out until 2026, meaning there will be a gap year between episodes. As long as the show goes out on a high, it will all be worth it.
In the meantime, Prime Video will release a new season of The Boys spinoff show Gen V in 2025.
Dune: Prophecy
HBO is bringing back its Dune prequel series, set 10,000 years before the new movies starring Timothée Chalamet. This series revolves around a pair of Harkonnen sisters as they try to expand the influence of the nascent Bene Gesserit sisterhood while dealing with a mysterious reckoning.
The first season of Dune: Prophecy was stately, cerebral and grand. Or, if you didn't like it, the show was slow, dull and ponderous. Dune: Prophecy has gotten mostly good marks and ended in a way that makes us curious to see more, but others are hesitant to get on board. Perhaps a second season will kick things up a notch.
There are other shows that are on the bubble for 2025; it's possible that we could see new seasons of Interview With The Vampire or even Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender drop late in the year, although it's also possible they get bumped into 2026. Which TV show from our list do you miss the most?
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