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Shows Like Ascension

If you enjoyed Ascension, will find these recommendations questions the purpose and weight of our choices while delivering targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a deeper look into what makes these stories stick.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Debris
7.1

Debris

2021

Two federal agents from two different continents, and two different mindsets, must work together to investigate when wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft has mysterious effects on humankind.

The Expanse
8.1

The Expanse

2015

A thriller set two hundred years in the future following the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship's captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

Defying Gravity
6.7

Defying Gravity

2009

In the very near future, a team of eight astronauts embarking on a six-year journey to explore Venus and other planets in the solar system, find their lives and destinies intertwined and carefully directed, not only by Mission Control officials on Earth, but also by an unseen force which is much closer and far more powerful.

Project Blue Book
8.1

Project Blue Book

2019

A chronicle of the true top secret U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ’60s, known as “Project Blue Book”.

Star Trek: Picard
7.3

Star Trek: Picard

2020

Set twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, we follow the now-retired Admiral Picard into the next chapter of his life.

Invasion
7.1

Invasion

2021

Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens humanity's existence. Events unfold in real time through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe as they struggle to make sense of the chaos unraveling around them.

Stitchers
6.8

Stitchers

2015

A young woman is recruited into a secret government agency to be “stitched” into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate murders.

Another Life
6.1

Another Life

2019

After a massive alien artifact lands on Earth, Niko Breckinridge leads an interstellar mission to track down its source and make first contact.

More Shows Like Ascension

The Mandalorian
8.4

The Mandalorian

2019

After the fall of the Galactic Empire, lawlessness has spread throughout the galaxy. A lone gunfighter makes his way through the outer reaches, earning his keep as a bounty hunter.

Fringe
8.1

Fringe

2008

FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop and his scheming, reluctant son Peter uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realize they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology.

Threshold
7.0

Threshold

2005

Threshold was a science fiction drama television series that first aired on CBS in September 2005. Produced by Brannon Braga, David S. Goyer and David Heyman, the series focuses on a secret government project investigating the first contact with an extraterrestrial species.

Constellation
7.0

Constellation

2024

When a fatal accident occurs on board the International Space Station, a lone astronaut makes the heroic journey back to Earth, only to discover key pieces of her life—including her young daughter—have changed.

Joan of Arcadia
7.3

Joan of Arcadia

2003

Joan Girardi has begun acting a little strange since her family moved to the city of Arcadia. No one knows that various people keep introducing themselves as God, and then giving the teenager specific directions to do things. Unsure of what God wants, and if she's even sane, Joan tentatively begins to follow God's cryptic directives, all the while trying to retain a "normal" teen-aged existence.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
8.0

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

2022

Follow Captain Christopher Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

Mr. Mercedes
7.2

Mr. Mercedes

2017

A demented serial killer taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again.

Taken
7.4

Taken

2002

The show takes place from 1944 to 2002 and follows the lives of three families: the Crawfords, who seek to cover up the Roswell crash and the existence of aliens; the Keys, who are subject to frequent experimentation by the aliens; and the Clarkes, who sheltered one of the surviving aliens from the crash.

Travelers
7.6

Travelers

2016

Hundreds of years from now, the last surviving humans discover the means of sending consciousness back through time, directly into people in the 21st century. These "travelers" assume the lives of seemingly random people, while secretly working as teams to perform missions in order to save humanity from a terrible future.

Star Trek: Discovery
7.0

Star Trek: Discovery

2017

Follow the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new life forms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself.

Believe
6.8

Believe

2014

Believe is about an unlikely relationship between a gifted young girl and a man sprung from prison, who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.

NOS4A2
7.3

NOS4A2

2019

A young Victoria "Vic" McQueen discovers she has the power to unlock portals that help her find lost objects. As she delves further into this hidden universe, she encounters many other "inscape travelers" - some benevolent, and some who have been corrupted by their power. When Vic encounters Charlie Manx, an immortal who stays that way by feeding off of the souls of children, she makes a sworn enemy of Manx.

Why These Shows Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Ascension (2014): Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Ascension.

See full details for Ascension (2014)

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