The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the movie of the same name, uses the trope of the alien coming to Earth to explore many pressing social issues, ranging from climate change to the plight of the undocumented. Though it might have become little more than a rehash of familiar narrative tropes, powerful performances, along with a well-written script, help to elevate it above many other similar science fiction series.
Fortunately for those who enjoyed this series, there are a number of other television series that address similar issues or have similar approaches to their material.
Invasion (2021-present)
Streaming On Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has quickly shown that it is very skilled at providing various types of original programming, and Invasion is one of the streamer’s best offerings. Like The Man Who Fell to Earth, it focuses on an alien invasion. Unfortunately for the residents of Earth, these aliens are far more sinister, very willing to simply destroy any humans that they come into contact with.
As terrifying as they are, however, the most unsettling aspect of the series is how much it reveals the ugliness of human nature.
Station Eleven (2021-2022)
Streaming On HBO Max
Station Eleven takes its place as one of the best post-apocalyptic stories. Focusing as it does on a pandemic that decimates the planet, it is more than anything else about the durability of the human spirit, the ability of people to endure even when the world falls apart around them.
Like The Man Who Fell to Earth, Station Eleven is a series designed to stimulate and trouble the viewer, to make them rethink their assumptions about the world and their place in society.
The Time Traveler’s Wife (2022)
Streaming on HBO Max
One of the key narrative concerns of The Man Who Fell to Earth is the idea of a man being out of place and, to an extent, out of time. The series’ main character, as an alien, struggles at first to figure out how to live among humans.
Though The Time Traveler’s Wife isn’t about aliens, it is still about someone, in this case a time traveler, who has to contend with his own disorder of temporal displacement. Just as importantly, it also focuses on his lover and eventual wife, who has to contend with the difficulties inherent in their romance.
Raised By Wolves (2020-2022)
Streaming On HBO Max
Raised by Wolves is arguably one of the best science fiction series of recent years, thanks to its unsettling atmosphere and its disturbing performances. It is, in a way, an inversion of The Man Who Fell to Earth, in that it focuses on a pair of androids who flee to a distant planet in order to raise a new group of humans away from the conflicts that destroyed most life on Earth.
As the series goes on, it explores more thematically dense material, including the nature of religion and whether humanity’s desire for self-destruction can ever be escaped. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after its second season, though fans are hoping it gets picked up on another network.
Foundation (2021-present)
Streaming On Apple TV+
One of the narrative concerns of The Man Who Fell to Earth is the main character’s attempt to rescue his planet. This is also the main story of Foundation, the epic science fiction series based on the Isaac Asimov series of the same name. It focuses on a group of scientists who are charged with preserving civilization’s knowledge in the face of an inevitable societal collapse.
The series skillfully balances the personal dramas of its various characters with the broader conflict that is poised to engulf most of humanity. It has earned its place as one of the best series on Apple TV+.
Terra Nova (2011)
Streaming On Apple TV+
The power of science fiction series like The Man Who Fell to Earth is that it enables viewers to inhabit new and strange worlds. This is also true of a series like Terra Nova, in which a group of humans goes back in time to the prehistoric world in order to escape from their own polluted presence.
The series uses the fish out of water narrative conceit to provide a thrilling adventure, and it is especially notable for its striking CGI realization of its dinosaurs.
La Brea (2021-present)
Streaming On Peacock
The Man Who Fell to Earth isn’t the only contemporary series dealing with a person thrust into a strange and unsettling new world. This is the premise of La Brea, in which hundreds of people find themselves in a primordial world as the result of a time portal located at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Obviously, a key part of the series’ pleasure stems from its depiction of this ancient world, but it also is very much a family melodrama, allowing the viewer to care about these characters.
His Dark Materials (2019-present)
Streaming On HBO Max
Like Faraday, the alien of The Man Who Fell to Earth, His Dark Materials explores what it means to come to a new realm in an effort to save one’s own. The series has quickly become one of the best fantasy series on television, in part because it so ably captures the spirit of the original series by Philip Pullman.
What’s more, its two main characters, the young girl Lyra and the boy Will, draw the viewer in as they struggle against both the inevitability of prophecy and the malevolent intentions of the theocratic organization known as the Magisterium.
Shining Girls (2022)
Streaming On Apple TV+
To some extent, The Man Who Fell to Earth is a series about the world being somewhat out of joint. A similar ethos permeates the Apple TV series Shining Girls, which focuses on a young woman’s attempts to stop a time-traveling serial killer.
Elizabeth Moss delivers one of her best performances as Kirby Mazrachi, one of those who survived his attempt on her life, and Jamie Bell turns in a searing turn as the serial killer, a man named Harper Curtis.
Resident Alien (2021-present)
Streaming On Peacock
The concept behind The Man Who Fell to Earth – of an alien landing on Earth – is one that has emerged time and again in popular culture. In some cases, it is dramatic but in others, such as Resident Alien, it is played for comedy.
The series focuses on an alien who comes to Earth with the intention of wiping out humanity but finds his original intentions derailed once he gets to know his victims better. The series makes skilled use of both science fiction and comedy tropes to create a unique set of pleasures.
