As science fiction in film becomes glossier, bigger, and more dependent on CG, there’s often something lost to the imagination–and this is exactly why science fiction podcasts are so great.

Fiction in podcasting often goes for high-genre concepts that would be too difficult or expensive to put into a visual medium, relying instead on their sound design and the listener’s imagination to set the scene. We’ve curated some of the best sci-fi podcasts to immerse yourself in strange and exciting worlds.

The podcasts are listed in no particular order, but almost all of the podcasts are serialized stories, so make sure you start at the beginning of each.

1. Marsfall

Marsfall is stunningly emotional, cinematic, and immersive. It’s the story of the first colonists on Mars, and each episode is told from a different character’s perspective. As you learn more about the crew, you also learn more about Mars–and about their journey. The podcast ask questions about the objective truth and what it means to be human, about what happens when we try to start anew when our planet falls apart. It’s got the best action scene audio fiction has ever done, and one of the most beautiful soundtracks in any medium.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | Podchaser

2. ars PARADOXICA

ars PARADOXICA is one of the best time-travel stories ever written. Following Sally Grissom, a scientist who accidentally discovers time travel, this podcast has some of the tightest timeline plotting out there without sacrificing great character and plot writing. Its meticulous timeline isn’t a gimmick; instead, it works to help create commentary that relates to identity, memory, isolation, and plenty of political intrigue. As a product of The Whisperforge, it’s also one of the best sounding podcasts to date, with an incredible cast the keep everything grounded.

Listen: Apple | Spotify | Google | RSS | Podchaser

3. Arca-45672

Arca-45672 has some overlap with Marsfall: they’re both space operas with fascinating AI systems, but where Marsfall focuses on that intersection between humanity and technology, Arca-45672 focuses intently on the human. It asks questions about what humans will do when they need to survive, and how humans will react to a situation they’ve created, like climate change.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

4. StarTripper!!

StarTripper!! is the perfect fix for if your style of sci-fi is less doom and gloom, more goofy hijinks. Taking notes from greats like Galaxy Quest, Futurama, and Cowboy Bebop, StarTripper!! is the story of Feston Pyxis, who leaves his job and sells all his stuff to buy a spaceship and have adventures. It’s one part sci-fi, one part travel podcast, and all revolving around a delightfully charismatic lead performance by Ian McQuown (and The Whisperforge’s signature gorgeous sound design). Be sure to check out our interview with creator Julian Mundy to get some background on this podcast, too.

Listen: Apple| Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

5. Adventures in New America

If you’re looking for goofy but still steeped in cutting, scathing, rapidfire social commentary, you’re going to love Night Vale Presents’s Adventures in New America. Following IA, a man with terminal cancer desperately seeking the funds to pay for his medical treatments despite his deep depression, Adventures in New America takes place in a surreal version of New York called New New York, where the black citizens are being preyed upon by white zombie vampires from outer space.

Listen: Apple| Google | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | Podchaser

6. A World Where

A World Where is an unsettling anthology podcast where the sci-fi setups seem both hyperbolic and a little too close to home. Sound designed with binaural audio–easier heard than explained, so just know that headphones are mandatory–it’s easy to slip not just into the sounds themselves, but also each episode’s plot. For episodes that are short, there’s a slow burn feeling to how intense A World Where can get. Erasing traumatic memories goes to as unexpected places as a cooking competition show do, but with completely different trajectories.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

7. The Big Loop

The Big Loop is like if you took the concept of Black Mirror but made it a seires of monologues and subtracted most of the cynicism. A deeply intimate anthology series, The Big Loop covers a wide range of genres but usually ends up in some form of sci-fi. From a ghost stories to superhero (villain?) origin stories to stories about Lovecraftian horrors and mermaids, you’ll come away from each questioning some part of the world while also being deeply moved.

Listen: Apple | Google | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

8. Janus Descending

Starring audio fiction gems Jordan Cobb and Anthony Olivieri, Janus Descending is a story told in two alternating, opposite chronologies: one protagonist, Chel, is followed chronologically, while the other protagonist, Peter, is followed in reverse. It’s a story that begs being put together with theories as it goes, wondering how everyone got from the start to the end, what chaos happened between. The writing changes tone completely while still remaining cohesive, and the sound design is truly chilling.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | Libsyn | Google | RSS | Podchaser

9. The Deca Tapes

The Deca Tapes is a found audio podcast of leaked audio from a strange experiment in which people were locked in confinement together for unknown reasons. The story unfolds in a strange mystery over eight episodes, hitting unnerving and dark moments that show the perils of prison systems that thrive on capitalism.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

10. Solutions to Problems

Solutions to Problems is a comedic advice show parody set in space. The series lampoons some of what makes humans so annoying: our rigid ideals, our hatred of clear communication, our abundance of emotions, and our love of bringing in some cash. Each episode features questions submitted be someone across the galaxy, and the range of questions is wild and hilarious. The two hosts have a great, usually contentious dynamic, that continually subverts expectations.

Listen: Apple | Podbean | Podchaser

11. Directive

Stuck in a life of corporate mediocrity due to crippling debt, when protagonist Frank Torrez finds himself unemployed, he has no choice but to start working for a secretive operation: the Caretaker Directive. They need people to help test a method of bodily preservation for longer space travel, and plan to send him–and a few others–deep into space with no way of being hurt, but kept completely alone, separated from the others. Each episode’s dialogue is edited to be listened to with headphones and interwoven with an inner monologue that feels just as sci-fi as it feels noir.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

12. We Fix Space Junk

We Fix Space Junk is the story of two repairwomen traveling through space to take repair jobs while rebelling against the oppressive government that put them there. The tone is somewhere between The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Firefly, mixing the absurd and hilarious with the raw and moving. It’s a sci-fi comedy that aims to do more while never losing its hilarious, strange edge.

Listen: Apple | Libsyn | Podbean | Podchaser

13. Moonbase Theta, Out

With short-form episodes and a sweet narrative, Moonbase Theta, Out is a series from a–you guessed it–moon base from an astronaut to his husband. While the podcast does eventually up its stakes and dive into plot, it always has a sense of kindness, sincerity, and tenderness to each episode. If you’re looking for sci-fi but not necessarily horror or a dramatic space opera, Moonbase Theta, Out is a great place to start.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

14. The Infinite Now

Written by the person behind one of the best Twitter accounts, Richard Penner, The Infinite Now is a surreal time/space travel podcast in which the host, The TIMESCANNER, slips between different realities. It’s a bit like if Welcome to Night Vale leaned even more into absurdity and, sometimes, even more into direct scathing takedowns of current societal ills. All of those features surround strangely realistic performances, including Penner’s own hypnotically smooth voice.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | Podchaser

15. Ostium

Inspired by the classic games Myst and Riven, Ostium is a podcast about a man who stumbles into information about a strange town called Ostium while looking around maps online. When he finds Ostium, he comes across a complex world of doors and mysteries. A story of exploration, escapism, and trust, Ostium is largely told through single-narrator perspectives, giving it a diary-like feel.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | Podchaser

Bonus Sci-Fi Podcasts

2298

Told in 9-minute episodes (later compiled into one whole, two-hour piece), 2298 is a classic dystopian sci-fi that feels at home with works like 1984, Brave New World, and Black Mirror. The podcast centers on 24, a man living in a universe completely dictated by social media and government surveillance. 24 doesn’t question this life, always going to work exactly as and when he’s told, until he’s visited by a strange bird–and suddenly, everything starts to change.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | PlayerFM | Podchaser

Within the Wires

Also from Night Vale Presents, Within the Wires is a strange, unnerving podcast with a different format each season. The first season is a set of relaxation tapes with a dark twist; the second is made up of guides listening for museums; and the third is a bureaucrat’s dictation tapes for his secretary. Ostensibly, none of these stories are sci-fi . . . until you pay attention. All three take place in the same universe, and that universe is one of strange government offices, medical facilities, and strange applications of art.

Listen: Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | Podchaser

Wolf 359

Wolf 359 is one of the most beloved pieces of audio fiction, and for good reason. It’s the story of a small crew on a massive space station, and while it starts off silly, it becomes something absolutely heartbreaking and stunningly beautiful. Wolf 359 has science fiction features galore and plenty of twists, turns, suspense, and character development. It’s a true space opera, rooted in increasingly incredible writing and a phenomenal cast.

Listen: Apple | Google | RSS | Podchaser

Steal the Stars

Written in partnership with Tor labs, Steal the Stars is a blockbuster audio fiction that blends a romance, a heist, a political thriller, action, and aliens. Protagonist Dakota “Dak” Prentiss works at a secret government operation to study a massive alien they call “Moss” (named for the moss that covers its body) and the deadly harp-like device found with it. In the facility, all emotional and psychical contact between employees is forbidden–which is made difficult when the gorgeous Matt Salem is hired.

Listen: Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Girl in Space

Voted our readers’ favorite audio drama of 2018, Girl in Space by Sarah Rhea Werner follows X, a girl . . . in space. Initially, X is isolated in her station, but as she finds other travelers in the cosmos, she finds herself pulled into a space drama and being completely disinterested in falling into the genre’s trappings. X is a captivating protagonist. She’s charismatic, jovial, astute, and so relatable (her love of cheese is so many of us). Slowly, more of her mysterious past an family are revealed, making each episode another step into a fascinating mystery.

Listen: Apple | Google | Spotify | Podchaser

Tides

Tides is an audio fiction that blends space travel, biology, and a great unreliable narrator. Julia Schinifi plays Dr. Winifred “Fred” Eurus, xenobiologist stranded alone on an earth-like planet with tremendous tidal waves. As Fred explores, she encounters alien life, but she also talks about the humans who abandoned her here: her crew, all of whom are doing their best to save her. Fred is aggressively self-sufficient–or, at least, she thinks she is–but finds she may need help more than she wants to admit. You can read our full review of Tides‘s first season here.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | Libsyn | Podchaser

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