10 Best TV Shows About Time Travel, Ranked

Does time move in one direction? Or, as physicist Michio Kaku posited, is it like a river? And can that river "fork into two rivers"? And does that mean, as he suggests, that Albert Einstein's theory of relativity shows that time travel is possible?

These kinds of questions have long fascinated science fiction writers, from H. G. Wells in his 1895 novella "The Time Machine" to today's scribes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ergo, there's quite a bit of time travel on television.

In this attempt to cull the time-travel TV canon to 10, we're missing a lot of wonderful and influential shows that surely deserve their flowers in a different, kinder timeline. But in this cruel timeline, there can only be 10.

Though this classic from David X. Cohen and Matt Groening is not exclusively about time travel, the "Futurama" pilot episode heavily involves cryogenic freezing, which is certainly one way to travel through time. And yet, over the Planet Express' many adventures over many networks, there are numerous journeys back and forth through the centuries.

Most notable is the fourth-season, Emmy-winning episode "Roswell That Ends Well." Fry's (Billy West) misuse of a microwave oven sends the crew to Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, which any American history buff will tell you is when that area was home to alleged sightings of and experiments on alien life. The crew must fix their microwave, find their way back through time without the use of any far-future technology, and try to save Zoidberg (West) and Bender (John DiMaggio) from being misconstrued as hostile aliens or saucers, respectively.

The episode memorably ends with Fry breaking one of the most well-known time-travel paradoxes of all, cementing "Futurama" as a smart work of sci-fi comedy that takes time-travel thought experiments seriously.

Many must-watch episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" heavily involve time travel. For one instance, the third-season marvel "Yesterday's Enterprise." In it, the USS Enterprise enters a rip in the space-time continuum and emerges into a dark and devastating future. Gone is the noble mission of exploration and curiosity. Instead, and missing some of its key members, the Enterprise is locked in a brutal war with the Klingons.

"The Next Generation" also ends with a banger two-part time-travel episode, "All Good Things...". In the series finale, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) consciousness bounces around between different points on his personal timeline. These jumps are uncontrollable, perhaps representative of the captain's fragile mental health. The final moments will make any Trekkie cry.

One of the best Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series, "Loki" is also one of the best time-travel series, blending darkly funny, retro-futurist shenanigans with a brilliant and bleak character arc.

You know Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, as Thor's brother and a thorn in the side of the Avengers. But here, he's our hero, captured by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) after running off with the Tesseract (as seen in "Avengers: Endgame"). However, instead of facing a metaphysical prison sentence, he is taken under the wing of TVA Agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) and recruited to help find an even more volatile enemy passing through time.

The resulting two seasons on Disney+ are full of inspired gags, bold visual choices, and excellent performances. Hiddleston has great chemistry with Wilson and Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie, a variant of Loki from another strand of the multiverse. It's storytelling that expands outward while looking inward.

Based on the beloved book series from author Diana Gabaldon and originally developed for TV by "Battlestar Galactica" guru Ronald D. Moore, "Outlander" is a savvy blend of science fiction, historical speculation, and steamy romance.

"Outlander" stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, a World War II nurse who travels through time from 1945 to 1743. There, she becomes embroiled in the Scottish rebellion brewing and entangled with the dashing warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Sex, violence, and attempts to correct the timeline ensue over eight seasons. And worry not, "Game of Thrones" fans — there are enough completed novels to inspire the team to the end, though the cast tells us that reading all the "Outlander" books won't spoil all the surprises.

The Starz show is a crossover hit because of its emphasis on universal emotions. There's no pretense of getting bogged down in the nerdiness of time-travel mechanics — we have plenty of series that do on this list. Instead, the device is used as a catalyst to explore the primal instincts of love, power, self-preservation, domination, and redemption. 

"The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." is a one-season cult hit created for Fox by the dream team of Jeffrey Boam ("Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade") and Carlton Cuse ("Lost").

The always roguish Bruce Campbell stars as a well-educated bounty hunter at the turn of the century. He and his crew are hired to travel across the plains of the Wild West and capture the vicious outlaw John Bly (Billy Drago).

Thus far, sounds like a typical Western series, right? Not so fast. "Brisco County, Jr." gets its unique juice from juggling science fiction and steampunk-flavored elements — including a MacGuffin sent from the future and a reveal that one key character has been a time traveler this entire time.

All of this, plus a pervasive sense of humor and keen sense of the absurd, makes "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." a must-watch for fans of off-beat television.

A genre-bending feat of adult animation, "Undone" is a brilliant, underseen, two-season Prime Video show that uses time travel to solve mysteries both external and internal.

Rendered in gorgeous rotoscoped animation, where traditionally filmed live-action footage is drawn over, "Undone" stars Rosa Salazar as Alma Winograd-Diaz, a woman who walks away from a brutal car crash with the ability to traverse the space-time continuum. While members of her family worry about Alma's mental health, she's newly inspired to use these abilities to find out the truth behind her father's (Bob Odenkirk) death.

The show comes from "BoJack Horseman" writers Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy, the latter of whom wrote the devastating, pseudo time-travel "BoJack" episode "Time's Arrow." That creative team should give you a hint as to this show's tonal complexities and willingness to blend humor with agony. If we had to directly compare it to anything, it has the most in common with Richard Linklater's rotoscoped freakouts "Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly."

The BBC's "Doctor Who" has been on our screens since 1963, using its time-travel conceit to justify its litany of casting changes. Throughout the many seasons and actors, some constants remain: Our hero, the Doctor, is a rebellious time lord who absconded from their home planet in a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space) — a time machine that looks curiously like a British police box. Accompanied by a companion, the Doctor travels across time and space protecting the weak from evil forces including the adversarial time lord known as The Master.

The First Doctor, from 1963 to 1966, was William Hartnell. The Fifteenth, and as of this writing, the most recent Doctor, from 2023 to 2025, was Ncuti Gatwa. That's a lot of TV history to catch up on, but if you're looking for a solid entry point, try the Tenth Doctor's (David Tennant) run.

In CBS' irresistibly high concept TV show "Early Edition," stockbroker Gary Hobson (Kyle Chandler) doesn't necessarily travel through time. Rather, time seems to travel to him in the form of a newspaper delivered by a cat.

This newspaper is, indeed, an "early edition." So early, in fact, that it doesn't report on news that has already happened. Instead, as Gary deduces in the pilot episode — which aired in 1996, launching the dramedy's four-season run — the paper describes a future that might happen, a sort of precognition of things to come. Gary looks up the people who are ostensibly destined to have terrible things happen to them and helps them, thereby changing the course of time and history for the betterment of his fellow man.

"Early Edition" is a wonderfully wholesome show, possessing a sweet and charming tone rarely observed in contemporary prestige shows. It's a blast from the past worth revisiting.

Inspired by the time-travel "Twilight Zone" episode "A Stop at Willoughby," "Life on Mars" blends familiar ingredients like the comforting police procedural, the period piece, and the serialized sci-fi mystery to create one of the best British crime shows.

The BBC's "Life on Mars," named after the iconic David Bowie tune, stars John Simm as police officer Sam Tyler. In the mid-2000s, Sam gets into a horrible car accident — and when he arises, he finds himself in the 1970s. Somehow, he still works as a police officer for the same precinct and must now investigate new/old cases while trying to figure out how to get back to the future.

And a word to the wise, if you dig the show, check out the direct sequel series, "Ashes to Ashes," but no need to bother with the one-season American remake starring Jason O'Mara.

Our number one time-travel show dives into science while keeping its focus on characters, even just the one-episode guest stars. It's episodic, yet its overall arc packs a punch, especially with its bittersweet and unexpected series finale. And it features one of our most endearing TV stars giving his most iconic performance.

"Quantum Leap," created by "Magnum, P.I." mastermind Donald P. Bellisario, stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, an eccentric scientist who believes he's cracked the secrets to time travel. To prove it, he leaps through the folds of space and time, his corporeal form apparently disappearing. But his consciousness prevails, inhabiting the forms of others depending on where he lands in time (though the audience sees him as good ol' Bakula). Thus, throughout his leaps, Sam must try to finally get back home while helping the people he encounters along his time-bending journeys.

Bakula, joined by the inimitable Dean Stockwell as his womanizing hologram companion Al, centers the NBC show with humor, gravitas, and an ultimately optimistic message about the human spirit. They don't make 'em like this anymore — although the 2022 revival, following this one's continuity, offers some similar charms.