time travel series latest

  • Tickets & Showtimes
  • Trending on RT

time travel series latest

  • News & Guides
  • Premiere Dates
  • Renewed & Cancelled

Time-Travel TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

2022's quantum leap , the peripheral , and paper girls are the latest to join doctor who , manifest , star trek , and beyond in our list of 41 tv and streaming time-travel shows..

time travel series latest

TAGGED AS: streaming , television , time travel , TV

Quantum Leap stars Raymond Lee

(Photo by NBC)

Time travel has been on television since the The Twilight Zone ’s 1958 original pilot episode, “The Time Element,” visited Pearl Harbor in 1941 (airing under Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse ) and the Enterprise was hurled back to 1960s Earth in 1967 Star Trek episode “Tomorrow Is Yesterday.” Many shows devoted their entire premise to time travel, one of the best of which is the 1989–1993 NBC drama Quantum Leap . Every week, Sam Beckett would leap into a different year to right a cosmic wrong. Quantum Leap returned in September 2022 focusing on a new character, Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee). Eight season 1 episodes are now streaming on Peacock, and the show returns to NBC on January 2 to continue its weekly adventures.

The new  Quantum Leap and 2022 series The Peripheral and Paper Girls join our list of time-travel television ranked by Tomatometer. The list includes classics like Doctor Who and its time-traveling TARDIS, Lost with its time-warped island, and Outlander ’s romance epic whose characters skip through centuries. The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show brought killer robots and new freedom fighters back from the future, 1 2 Monkeys expanded its time loop on television, Back to the Future got an animated series of the adventures of Doc Brown, and even Timecop got a short-lived syndicated series.

More recently, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was all about keeping time safe, NBC’s La Brea sent modern families to 10,000 B.C., and Russian Doll went from a Groundhog Day time loop to a subway back to 1982. Fan favorites like Timeless and Manifest and short-lived wonders like Journeyman and Day Break are also worth a look.

Read on to see the full list ranked by Tomatometer. Those without Tomatometer scores are then listed alphabetically. Tell us in the comments if we missed your favorite time-travel TV show.

' sborder=

Life on Mars (2006) 100%

' sborder=

Russian Doll (2019) 97%

' sborder=

Dark (2017) 95%

' sborder=

Loki (2021) 87%

' sborder=

The Outer Limits (1963) 92%

' sborder=

Timeless (2016) 91%

' sborder=

Paper Girls (2022) 87%

' sborder=

Future Man (2017) 91%

' sborder=

Doctor Who (2005) 90%

' sborder=

Outlander (2014) 90%

' sborder=

DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016) 89%

' sborder=

12 Monkeys (2015) 88%

' sborder=

Continuum (2012) 88%

' sborder=

Star Trek: Discovery (2017) 85%

' sborder=

The Umbrella Academy (2019) 86%

' sborder=

Lost (2004) 86%

' sborder=

Star Trek: Picard (2020) 89%

' sborder=

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) 85%

' sborder=

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016) 85%

' sborder=

11.22.63 (2016) 83%

' sborder=

The Twilight Zone (1959) 92%

' sborder=

Star Trek (1966) 80%

' sborder=

The Peripheral (2022) 79%

' sborder=

Daybreak (2019) 70%

' sborder=

Doctor Who (1963) 68%

' sborder=

The Twilight Zone (2019) 67%

' sborder=

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990) 60%

' sborder=

Quantum Leap (2022) 57%

' sborder=

The Twilight Zone (2002) 50%

' sborder=

Journeyman (2007) 44%

' sborder=

Time Trax (1993) 40%

' sborder=

The Time Traveler's Wife (2022) 38%

' sborder=

La Brea (2021) --

' sborder=

Timecop (1997) 0%

' sborder=

Back to the Future (1991) --

' sborder=

Dirk Gently (2010) --

' sborder=

Life on Mars (2008) --

' sborder=

Manifest (2018) 72%

' sborder=

The Outer Limits (1995) --

' sborder=

Primeval (2007) --

' sborder=

Quantum Leap (1989) --

' sborder=

The Twilight Zone (1985) --

time travel series latest

Related News

Avatar: The Last Airbender : What It Gets Right, and What It Gets Wrong

Best Hulu Series To Watch Right Now (March 2024)

Shōgun First Reviews: ‘A Sweeping Historical Epic,’ Critics Say

More Countdown

All A24 Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now

Timothée Chalamet’s Best Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

Weekend Box Office Results: Dune: Part Two Scores Spicy $82.5 Million Debut

March 3, 2024

Kate Winslet’s The Regime : Premiere Date, Trailer, Cast & More

March 1, 2024

Best Women-Directed Movies of the 21st Century

Top Headlines

  • All A24 Movies Ranked by Tomatometer –
  • Best Women-Directed Movies of the 21st Century –
  • Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now –
  • Timothée Chalamet’s Best Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer –
  • Best Hulu Series To Watch Right Now (March 2024) –
  • 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –

time travel series latest

  • Top Current Shows About Tim...
  • These Time Travel Movies Ar...
  • John Litor, a Real Time Tra...
  • Pictures of Real Time Trave...
  • Horror Movies About Time Tr...
  • Underrated Time-Travel Horr...
  • All About the Montauk Project
  • Unforgettable Time Travelin...
  • Totally Convincing True Sto...
  • The Greatest Time Travel TV...
  • The Best Movies with Time L...
  • The Best Movies About Time ...
  • Real People Who Time Traveled
  • Fan Theories About 'Back to...
  • Film Plot Holes You'll Neve...
  • Paul Dienach Woke Up in the...
  • Wild, True Stories About Ti...
  • Sudden Time Jumps in Movies
  • Which Method Would You Use?
  • The Best Time Machines in T...
  • The Moberly-Jourdain Incident
  • Sergei Ponomarenko

The Best New Shows About Time Travel

The Best New Shows About Time Travel

Ranker TV

Engage in a riveting journey as we propel you into the captivating spectrum of compelling series that unfurl through time. Seamless blends of suspense, heart-thumping action, and mesmerizing storytelling characterize our carefully curated catalog of ongoing time-travel shows, promising more than a mere dalliance with the past, present, and future. 

Spanning more than 30 tantalizing shows, our lineup paints a fascinating tapestry of narratives that intrigue and inspire. From adrenaline-amplifying temporal adventures to spine-chilling thriller series that transcend perceived temporal realities, these narratives prod at the seams of the temporal fabric, offering a peek into the labyrinth of time. 

Ensuring comprehensive viewer engagement, our list is dynamically shaped by the collective preferences of an ever-evolving fandom. Check out the reviews, cast your vote using the interactive feature, and ensure your voice is heard in these crowd-sourced rankings. 

Your journey from selection to viewing is set to be a hassle-free adventure. Supporting a multi-streaming setup, each listing in our assortment comes equipped with dedicated service buttons for prominent streaming platforms. Spot these shortcuts for streaming giants like Amazon Prime, Max, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, and Disney+ conveniently positioned for each series for an easy, immersive viewing escapade. 

Our diverse suite is not merely a compilation of TV shows but is a passion-fueled, expertly curated assembly of storytelling genius. Different genres, directions, and dimensions coalesce under the broad umbrella of time travel, bringing you a rich slice of what imaginative authors and ingenious producers have dared to conceive. Steer clear of temporal paradoxes and let engaging narratives piloted by charismatic characters guide you safely through the river of time. Prepare for an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that defies the arrows of time, prying into the past, future, and everything in between.

Doctor Who

Spanning over an incredible six decades, Doctor Who has solidified its legacy as one of the most influential television shows centering around time travel. With a seemingly endless roster of captivating characters, innovative storylines, and complex relationships that transcend time and space, this long-running British series pushes the bounds of conventional storytelling to dazzling new heights. The protagonist's ability to regenerate into different forms throughout the series adds a refreshing dimensionality rarely seen in other shows. Following the various incarnations of the enigmatic Time Lord known as the Doctor, viewers are treated to an array of thrilling adventures through past, present, and future worlds.

Is Doctor Who Worth Your Time?

  • Dig Deeper... The Best TARDIS Interior Designs on Doctor Who
  • # 3 of 251 on The 250+ Best BBC One Shows, Ranked
  • # 17 of 100 on The Best Drama TV Shows Airing Now

Outlander

Outlander masterfully intertwines elements of historical fiction, romance, and fantasy for a riveting exploration of love across centuries. Based on Diana Gabaldon's best-selling novels, the show follows Claire Randall as she unexpectedly journeys from post-World War II Scotland back to 1743—a period fraught with political intrigue and danger. As Claire navigates this unfamiliar landscape while desperately seeking her way back home, she finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with highlander Jamie Fraser that defies not only societal norms but also challenges the very fabric of time itself.

Is Outlander Worth Your Time?

  • Dig Deeper... 20 Fascinating Facts From Behind The Scenes Of 'Outlander'
  • # 7 of 72 on The 70 Best Current Shows About Women
  • # 16 of 141 on The Best Of Premium Cable TV Series

Loki

Marvel enthusiasts can revel in Loki’s compelling foray into time manipulation as the mischievous god—played by Tom Hiddleston—navigates his way through an intricate web of quantum possibilities under duress from the Time Variance Authority (TVA). This gripping expansion of Marvel’s cinematic universe delves into themes such as destiny versus free will and examines how manipulation of timelines can have far-reaching consequences in a multiverse teetering on chaos. Combining action-packed sequences with moments brimming with existential introspection makes Loki essential viewing for fans of both superhero epics and thought-provoking sci-fi dramas.

Is Loki Worth Your Time?

  • Dig Deeper... 'Loki' Rolled Out So Many Easter Eggs in Episode 5, They Must Now Be Ranked
  • And Deeper... 23 Reactions To The 'Loki' Finale That Drove Us To The Point Of Madness
  • # 9 of 655 on The 600+ Best TV Shows Of The Last 5 Years

The Flash

The Flash showcases themes including alternate realities, time paradoxes, and cosmic consequences through the prism of a classic superhero story. Centered on Barry Allen, a forensic scientist endowed with supernatural speed after a freak accident, the show follows his efforts to protect Central City from malevolent forces while grappling with the repercussions of manipulating timelines. Brimming with well-developed characters, emotional depth, and captivating story arcs that stretch across multiple timelines, The Flash delivers an exhilarating exploration of how even the most well-intentioned acts can have unforeseen consequences.

Is The Flash Worth Your Time?

  • Dig Deeper... The Best Episodes Of 'The Flash'
  • And Deeper... The Best Characters On 'The Flash'
  • # 12 of 100 on The Best Drama TV Shows Airing Now

Twinkling Watermelon

Twinkling Watermelon

A hidden gem in time travel television is Twinkling Watermelon —a fantastical journey into mysticism and interdimensional realms led by a pair of endearing protagonists. This whimsical tale explores deep existential questions as it weaves through parallel existences, challenging viewers' perceptions of reality while maintaining a quirky charm that sets it apart from traditional sci-fi fare. As our heroes navigate both temporal and metaphysical quandaries to unravel the secrets behind their entwined destinies, audiences are enchanted by this unforgettable adventure that pushes the boundaries of storytelling with each unexpected twist.

Is Twinkling Watermelon Worth Your Time?

  • # 140 of 325 on The Best Korean Dramas Of All Time
  • # 86 of 169 on The 150+ Best K-Dramas On Viki, Ranked
  • # 1 of 84 on The Best Korean Dramas Of 2023

Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap remains an iconic entry in time travel television due in part to its innovative premise: Dr. Sam Beckett's consciousness leaping through time within various people's lives in order to correct historical wrongs—often discovering profound personal insights along the way. This 90s cult classic skillfully blends elements of drama, comedy, and science fiction while providing valuable commentary on societal issues still relevant today. Aided by his endearing holographic guide Al Calavicci, Dr. Beckett's heartrending journey back to his present offers poignant reflections on humanity’s capacity for redemption.

Is Quantum Leap Worth Your Time?

  • # 248 of 655 on The 600+ Best TV Shows Of The Last 5 Years
  • # 196 of 273 on The 260+ Best SciFi Shows Of All Time
  • # 27 of 35 on The 25+ Best Current Sci-Fi Shows

La Brea

La Brea presents a unique spin on time travel by plunging its diverse cast into an uncharted prehistoric world following a catastrophic sinkhole event in modern-day Los Angeles. Armed with only their wits and survival instincts, these involuntary time travelers must navigate the treacherous landscapes of this primeval realm while grappling with impossible choices that could disrupt the fragile balance of time itself. This ambitious series provides a fresh take on the genre, seamlessly blending action-packed adventure with emotionally resonant human stories.

Is La Brea Worth Your Time?

  • # 226 of 619 on The 500+ Best Drama Shows
  • # 54 of 63 on The Best NBC Dramas of All Time
  • # 9 of 28 on The Best Current NBC Shows

Tales from the Loop

Tales from the Loop

Inspired by Simon Stålenhag's hauntingly evocative artwork, Tales from the Loop explores the lives of individuals living in an alternate reality where advanced technology is integrated into daily existence. The show's subtle approach to time manipulation offers viewers a refreshing departure from more overtly fantastical entries in the genre. Featuring a captivating ensemble cast and expertly crafted narratives that delve into themes such as love, loss, and longing across temporal dimensions, this mesmerizing anthology series invites contemplation of life's most profound mysteries.

Is Tales from the Loop Worth Your Time?

The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time

Hailing from Spain, The Ministry of Time expertly weaves elements of historical fiction with thrilling adventures through past and future eras as agents work to maintain the integrity of history itself. From ancient Rome to futuristic utopias, each episode immerses viewers in meticulously crafted worlds rich with intrigue and danger—all while maintaining a keen focus on character development that keeps audiences invested in every twist and turn. Blending humor and drama seamlessly, this international gem boasts enthralling storytelling that transcends both language barriers and conventional expectations for television.

Is The Ministry of Time Worth Your Time?

The Lazarus Project

The Lazarus Project

The Lazarus Project probes the depths of human morality by presenting its characters with an irresistible opportunity: a chance to rewrite their own personal histories free from pain or regret—a tantalizing premise fraught with unforeseen consequences. As these ordinary people grapple with questions surrounding fate versus free will and assess their true desires when granted absolute power over their destinies, viewers are treated to a thematically rich exploration of humanity’s potential for both greatness and self-destruction.

Is The Lazarus Project Worth Your Time?

  • # 394 of 655 on The 600+ Best TV Shows Of The Last 5 Years
  • # 822 of 1,028 on The 250+ Best Streaming Shows Of The Last Few Years
  • # 74 of 206 on The 150+ Most Popular Shows Right Now

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract seamlessly combines elements of time-bending supernatural intrigue with tender romance in this captivating Korean drama. When a mysterious contract sends the main protagonist spiraling back through time, she becomes entwined in an emotional love triangle that forces her to confront the limits of her own heart and the true nature of fate itself. This well-crafted narrative invites viewers to marvel at both fantastical temporal twists and authentic character connections that make for an unforgettable viewing experience.

Is The Story of Park's Ma... Worth Your Time?

  • # 139 of 169 on The 150+ Best K-Dramas On Viki, Ranked
  • # 42 of 84 on The Best Korean Dramas Of 2023
  • # 133 of 162 on The Most Romantic Korean Dramas Ever

Secrets of Sulphur Springs

Secrets of Sulphur Springs

Secrets of Sulphur Springs offers a unique perspective on time travel by presenting it through the eyes of teenagers experiencing its miraculous possibilities first-hand as they uncover dark secrets within their small town. Blending elements of mystery, adventure, and heartache, this family-friendly series demonstrates how even seemingly insignificant choices can have far-reaching implications across generations while delivering a poignant message about the power—and potential peril—of friendship when faced with life-altering decisions.

Is Secrets of Sulphur Spr... Worth Your Time?

  • # 24 of 172 on The Best Newer TV Shows The Whole Family Can Enjoy
  • # 14 of 22 on The Best Kids Shows Grown-Ups Should Be Watching
  • # 27 of 67 on The Best New Adventure TV Series of the Last Few Years

M.O.D.O.K.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. provides an unexpected twist on time-travel tropes by exploring them within an offbeat animation series centered around a megalomaniacal supervillain striving for world domination. As M.O.D.O.K.’s hapless attempts at conquering humanity repeatedly face setbacks—including encounters with alternate versions of himself from different timelines—he ultimately learns valuable lessons about personal growth and self-reflection amidst his twisted quest for power. Striking a perfect balance between irreverent humor and heartfelt character moments, this quirky show appeals not only to fans of superhero tales but anyone seeking a fresh take on familiar themes.

Is M.O.D.O.K. Worth Your Time?

  • # 308 of 1,028 on The 250+ Best Streaming Shows Of The Last Few Years
  • # 389 of 567 on The 500+ Best Animated TV Shows Ever Made
  • # 163 of 307 on The Best Shows Canceled After a Single Season

A Time Called You

A Time Called You

A Time Called You delves into the intricacies and implications surrounding second chances as its protagonist unexpectedly finds herself transported 10 years into her past—a pivotal moment that forever altered her life's trajectory. Torn between the desire to rewrite a painful chapter and an innate understanding of the delicate balance governing temporal order, she faces impossible choices that challenge both her own sense of identity and viewers' preconceived notions about the nature of time itself.

Is A Time Called You Worth Your Time?

  • # 257 of 325 on The Best Korean Dramas Of All Time
  • # 103 of 166 on The 150+ Best K-Dramas On Netflix, Ranked
  • # 23 of 84 on The Best Korean Dramas Of 2023

Back to 15

Back to 15 draws upon its protagonist’s journey back in time as an opportunity for poignant self-discovery and a reflection on the decisions that shaped her life. Employing clever narrative devices and emotionally charged storytelling, this Brazilian series offers relatable musings on adolescence, love, friendship, and personal growth—all wrapped up within a captivating exploration of time travel's potential consequences.

Is Back to 15 Worth Your Time?

  • # 105 of 113 on The 100+ Best Dramedy TV Series, Ranked
  • # 54 of 56 on The 50+ Best Time Travel TV Shows, Ranked, Ranked
  • # 103 of 142 on The Best New Dramedy Shows of the Last Few Years

Time Hustler

Time Hustler

Time Hustler flawlessly combines elements of crime drama with thrilling temporal adventures as its protagonists bend the rules of time in pursuit of ill-gotten gains—only to find themselves increasingly entangled in moral ambiguities along the way. As both law enforcement forces and their own consciences close in on them, these enterprising criminals must grapple with the true cost of their actions while navigating an ever-shifting web of temporal possibilities. Intriguing plotlines, compelling character arcs, and high-stakes suspense make Time Hustler essential viewing for fans seeking new twists on familiar themes in television.

Is Time Hustler Worth Your Time?

  • # 386 of 460 on The 400+ Funniest TV Shows Ever, Ranked
  • # 66 of 70 on The Best New Period Piece TV Shows of the Last Few Years
  • # 37 of 43 on The Best Current Period Piece TV Shows Airing Now
  • Entertainment
  • Current Entertainment
  • Time Travel
  • Watchworthy
  • Vote on These Lists

As they say in well-written scripts, "You mean... like time travel?" + also a few bizarre stories about real people who have claimed, despite every law of physics, they have traveled through time.

These Time Travel Movies Ar...

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

time travel series latest

The Best Time Travel Shows to Watch on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, and More

We've all dreamed of living in another period

instg.png

Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander

At this point, there's no shortage of shows that deal with time travel in some capacity. It's a popular subject, and for good reason! Now more than ever you might be looking for an escape from your daily life, or from this era altogether, and no one in their right mind could blame you for that. If you're of the belief that existing in one timeline is overrated, you've arrived at the right list.

Some of the shows here are action-packed dramas, while others take a more whimsical approach to history, but all of them are absolutely binge-worthy masterpieces. Whether you want to travel back hundreds of years or just a couple of decades, you'll find the perfect time travel show recommendation in the list below!

Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next?  We have a ton of them!  And if you're looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on shows you love,  we have those too .

Tom Hiddleston, Loki

Tom Hiddleston, Loki

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU for short) already know that Loki ( Tom Hiddleston ) is a master trickster. He is literally the god of mischief, and for years his role in these movies was relegated to villain, nuisance, and foil to his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth), but with Loki , he races through time and space in a series that puts him at the forefront of his own story. The series is a crime thriller that follows an alternate version of Loki who stole the Tesseract in  Avengers: Endgame , an event that basically broke reality. And, as these things go, it's now his responsibility to fix what he started. He's recruited by  Owen Wilson 's Mobius M. Mobius at the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA) to travel through history and correct the timeline he messed up. The series is the closest thing to putting an actual comic book on screen, full of madcap twists and turns, and seemingly self-contained, without having to place so much emphasis on setting up for future MCU installments. - Allison Picurro   [Watch on  Disney+ ]

Jodie Whittaker, Doctor Who

Jodie Whittaker, Doctor Who

This one is a gimme, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Doctor Who , and honestly, if you haven't watched this long-running British sci-fi series already, we're not sure you can even call yourself a fan of time travel. Doctor Who follows a centuries-old alien known as the Doctor who has the ability to regenerate and take on different faces (hence the "long-running" bit). The Doctor, currently portrayed by Jodie Whittaker , takes unsuspecting ladies (and a few dudes) on ridiculous trips through time and space. Yep, this one checks the space travel box too! If you do choose to watch Doctor Who though, be warned -- you will end up in a fight with someone on Tumblr about which Doctor is the best. It's unavoidable.  [Watch on   HBO Max ]

Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson, and Reilly Dolman, Travelers

Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson, and Reilly Dolman, Travelers

Netflix's   Travelers , initially a co-production with Canada's Showcase, doesn't get even half the recognition it deserves for constructing impossibly complex time travel mythology that is still understandable and engaging for its audience, so we're recognizing it by putting it on this list. In the series, squads of elite soldiers travel to the present from hundreds of years in the future in order to change history and save the human race. If that doesn't sound cool enough, let us just add that they do so by sending their consciousnesses into the bodies of people about to die and assuming their identities. So. Freaking. Cool.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull, 12 Monkeys

Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull, 12 Monkeys

Based on the 1995 movie with the same name, 12 Monkeys follows a time traveler who travels from 2043 to 2015 to stop a deadly virus from wiping out most of the planet's population. However, what starts out as a simple mission to the past turns into a mind-boggling journey through some of the biggest historical events of the 20th century and a pretty epic love story. This series really digs into the rules of time travel like causation and paradoxes, so while it may give you one of the aforementioned headaches, it's seriously worth it.  [Watch on  Hulu ]

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Olivia Swan, Dominic Purcell and Nick Zano, DC Legends of Tomorrow

Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Olivia Swan, Dominic Purcell and Nick Zano, DC Legends of Tomorrow 

In a sea of series that focus on saving the world with time travel, DC's Legends of Tomorrow easily could have gotten lost in the shuffle. Luckily, this CW series quickly established itself as one part nonsense, two parts pure fun, which set it apart from all the rest. If you're looking for a lighter series to help you while the days away, this one is definitely for you. The Legends team does end up saving the world quite a few times, but most of the time they just wind up turning themselves into singing puppets or fighting giant stuffed animals.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, Outlander

If you're looking for something a little more romantic to binge-watch, Outlander is your ticket. This series follows Claire Beauchamp ( Caitriona Balfe ), an English WWII nurse who accidentally travels from 1945 back to 1743 while on a trip to Scotland with her husband ( Tobias Menzies ). Thrown into the past and desperate to get home, Claire finds herself embroiled in a Scottish uprising while slowly but surely falling in love with a ruggedly handsome redhead named Jamie Fraser ( Sam Heughan ).  [Watch on   Netflix ,  Starz ,  Hulu with Starz add-on ,  Amazon Prime with Starz add-on ]

Abigail Spencer, Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter; Timeless

Abigail Spencer, Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter; Timeless

Though Timeless was canceled twice , its devoted fanbase, known as Clockblockers, were so passionate that the NBC series ended up getting a two-hour series finale to wrap things up, so you won't have to worry about a cliffhanger ending. The show follows a history professor ( Abigail Spencer ), a soldier ( Matt Lanter ), and an engineer ( Malcolm Barrett ) who use a government-created time machine to track down a mysterious villain who is trying to rewrite American history. This series pairs the whimsy of DC's Legends of Tomorrow with the high stakes of 12 Monkeys , making it the perfect "middle of the road" option for time travel fans.  [Watch on  Hulu ]

Terra Nova

Though it was canceled after just one season, we're still including Terra Nova on this list because DINOSAURS. Set in a dying world where overpopulation has humans on the brink of extinction, scientists have found a way to send people back in time to the Cretaceous Period where the air is breathable, food is plentiful, and the human race can start over. Unfortunately, it's also where dinosaurs are hungry for human flesh, so that's a problem. This show wasn't executed very well (hence its cancellation), but it's worth a watch anyway just to see hot people running away from raptors.  [Watch on  Amazon ]

Lost in Austen

Jemima Rooper, Elliot Cowan, Alex Kingston, Morvne Christie, and Hugh Bonneville, Lost in Austen

Jemima Rooper, Elliot Cowan, Alex Kingston, Gemma Arterton, and Hugh Bonneville, Lost in Austen

When you're ready to take a break from all the action and adventure, Lost in Austen is a great time travel alternative. Rather than traveling through time per se, lead character Amanda Price ( Jemima Rooper ) travels into the world of her favorite novel, Pride & Prejudice . Caught up in the Georgian Era -- and the fictional lives of Mr. Darcy ( Elliot Cowan ) and the Bennet family -- Amanda unwittingly ends up as a character in the story she loves so dearly, and falling in love with Darcy herself.  [Watch on  BritBox ]

Dark

The critically acclaimed Netflix series  Dark  is not only a complicated time travel drama, it's also a German series, so get ready to turn those subtitles on! The series, which just wrapped up its third and final season, follows multiple generations of four interconnected families living in the German town of Winden (once you've finished the show, our family tree will help explain how everyone is connected ), which just so happens to be home to an underground tunnel and wormhole. Time travel and family drama make for an extremely complicated series (we don't recommend just having this one on in the background, folks), but once you get into it, you'll never look back.  [Watch on  Netflix ]

PureWow logo

The 25 Best Time Travel TV Shows, From ‘Doctor Who’ to ‘Timeless’

Author image: nakeisha campbell bio

There are a few reasons we’re obsessed with time travel TV shows. For one, the high-stakes adventures promise plenty of mystery and thrills. And better yet, they span across a variety of genres, from historical dramas and comedies to mystery thrillers.

So, for our next binge-watching session, we're living vicariously through our favorite characters as they journey through time, whether they're exploring a major period in history or visiting a futuristic society. From Doctor Who to Timeless, keep reading for the best time travel TV shows you can stream right now.

The 20 Best Time Travel Movies to Stream Right Now (That Aren’t ‘Back to the Future’)

1. Dc’s Legends Of Tomorrow

  • Rating: TV-14
  • Who’s in it: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Arthur Darvill. Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh

Set in the Arrowverse, this superhero series includes several familiar DC characters, like White Canary, Captain Cold, Firestorm and Vixen. But fortunately, you don’t have to be well-versed on all things DC comics to enjoy this one. The CW series documents the adventures of a diverse team of superheroes as they travel through time to prevent disasters. And naturally, there’s no shortage of epic combat scenes.

2. Doctor Who

  • Rating: TV-PG
  • Who’s in it: Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, David Tennant

Given that Doctor Who has become synonymous with time travel, it would be a crime to not include this classic. Over the span of 13 seasons, the show offered several versions of the Time Lord as they step into the infamous TARDIS and get swept through time. Seeing these heroes fight to save humanity and protect history just never gets old.

3. Timeless

  • Who’s in it: Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett

An unlikely team travels through time to stop the criminal mastermind, who stole an experimental time machine. And as they pursue him, they learn that he plans to change the course of history. Though it's not 100 percent perfect in terms of historical accuracy, it delivers plenty of action and thought-provoking themes.

4. Outlander

  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Who’s in it: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Sophie Skelton

Set during World War II, Outlander tells the story of a married army nurse named Claire, who time travels to the year 1743 while in Scotland and starts a passionate relationship with a Highlander. Steamy intimate scenes, feminist themes and breathtaking scenery are just a few things you can expect from this beloved period drama.

5. Manifest

  • Who’s in it: Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J. R. Ramirez

Can you imagine hopping on a plane and landing five and a half years in the future? That’s exactly what happens to the passengers of a turbulent flight in this gripping supernatural drama. When they all return, they discover that their plane went missing and mysteriously returned years later. But what really happened? (You’ll have to wait until season 4 to get that answer, but until then, enjoy the first three seasons on Netflix.)

6. Beforeigners

  • Who’s in it: Krista Kosonen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Stig R. Amdam

HBO Nordic's first-ever original series follows a group of people from different time periods, who mysteriously land in 21st-century Norway. Dubbed the "beforeigners," these migrants attempt to blend in with the modern-day world—although it proves to be more challenging for some than others.

  • Who’s in it: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick

A cross between The X-Files and The Twilight Zone , Fringe follows the FBI's Fringe Division, where the team uses fringe science (a branch that explores the most bizarre or far-fetched theories) to investigate a series of mysterious cases—some of which are connected to alternate timelines. Fun fact: The show spawned three novels and a comic book series.

8. Quantum Leap

  • Who’s in it: Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell, Deborah Pratt

Bakula plays the iconic Dr. Sam Beckett in this five-time Emmy Award-winning series, and his random adventures will give you major Doctor Who vibes. Join the physicist as he “leaps” through time to fix historical errors.

9. My Only Love Song

  • Who’s in it: Lee Jong-hyun, Gong Seung-yeon, Lee Jae-jin

Soo-jung (Seung-yeon), a self-obsessed movie star, accidentally time travels to 6th-century Gogurye after falling into a portal. There, she meets the handsome On-dal (Jong-hyun), a guy who appears to be just as obsessed with his wealth as she is. But his generosity towards people in need forces her to reconsider her own values.

  • Who’s in it: Yuki Furukawa, Mio Yuki, Jin Shirasu

Based on Kei Sanbe’s Japanese manga series of the same title, Erased revolves around a man named Satoru Fujinuma, who has the ability to go back in time and stop life-threatening events right before they happen. But when his mother gets murdered, he’s sent back nearly two decades, giving him the opportunity to save even more lives.

  • Who’s in it: Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero

Loki picks up right where Avengers: Endgame left off, with the God of Mischief accidentally creating a new timeline as a result of stealing the Tesseract. And now, the authorities present him with two options: to either accept his punishment or to travel back in time to correct his mistakes. Almost any Marvel fan will agree that this series is full of charm and a welcome change from the pacing and tone of the Marvel films.

12. Terra Nova

  • Who’s in it: Jason O'Mara, Shelley Conn, Christine Adams, Allison Miller

Humanity gets a major do-over in this fascinating series, and there’s more than enough compelling themes to keep you invested (like Utopias gone terribly wrong). Terra Nova follows the Shannon family as they flee from a dying Earth in 2149 and travel to prehistoric Earth, where they join a colony of people known as Terra Nova and attempt to rebuild a civilization.

13. 11.22.63

  • Who’s in it: James Franco, Sarah Gadon, Cherry Jones

Inspired by Stephen King’s novel 11/22/63 , the show details one time traveler’s efforts to go back in time and stop the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy. But when he goes to the year 1960, he builds a new life that could threaten the success of his mission. It’s worth noting that James Franco gives an unforgettable performance as Jake Epping/George Amberson.

14. Making History

  • Who’s in it: Adam Pally, Leighton Meester and Yassir Lester.

Pally, Meester and Lester star as three friends from different time periods, who take full advantage of their ability to time travel—until they realize the ramifications of their adventures. The show is humorous and silly in the best possible way.

15. Somewhere Between

  • Who’s in it: Paula Patton, Devon Sawa, JR Bourne

Laura Price (Patton) has it all: a successful career, a loving husband and a delightful young daughter. But when a serial killer murders her child, she falls into depression and attempts suicide. After the incident, Laura is stunned to find that she time traveled to the week before her daughter’s death. Can she save her daughter?

16. Umbrella Academy

  • Who’s in it: Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman

The Haragreeves have become our favorite dysfunctional family, and for good reason. In this Netflix series, the seven adopted superhero siblings team up to investigate their father’s death and save the world from an apocalypse. But when they try to travel back in time, they end up in different periods, which only complicates things.

  • Who’s in it: Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee

Amy Poehler teamed up with Natasha Lyonne ( Orange Is the New Black ) and Leslye Headland ( Bachelorette ) to create this critically acclaimed comedy drama. The series follows a game developer named Nadia (Lyonne), who finds herself trapped in a time loop after she dies at a party. As she tries to escape this trap, however, she discovers that she isn’t the only one. Yes, it sounds a bit like a modernized version of Groundhog Day , but trust us, it’s unpredictable and incredibly refreshing.

18. Travelers

  • Who’s in it: Eric McCormack, Mackenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson

A surviving group of humans, who live centuries in the future, have figured out how to send their consciousness back in time. Known as “Travelers,” they all go back to the 21st-century and assume the identities of random people with one mission in mind: to save the future of humanity.

19. Continuum

  • Who’s in it: Rachel Nichols, Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen

The year is 2077, and the U.S. has officially become a corporatocracy. But three criminals, known as Liber8, are determined to go back in time and change the course of history by stopping corporations from replacing the government. As they time travel to the year 2012, a police officer joins them and does everything in her power to stop their violent plans—all while hiding that she’s from the future.

20. 12 Monkeys

  • Who’s in it: Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Barbara Sukowa

Follow the exploits of scavenger James Cole (Aaron Stanford) as he time travels from 2043 to the year 2015 to stop a deadly virus from wiping out most of the human race. Expect plenty of twists and complex themes that’ll spark interesting convos, from corporate greed to the downsides of technological progress.

21. The Ministry Of Time

  • Who’s in it: Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, Juan Gea, Francesca Piñón

Welcome to The Ministry of Time, a top-secret Spanish organization that’s responsible for guarding the doors of time and reporting all time travel incidents to the Prime Minister. The series focuses on the Ministry’s patrol as they carry out their assignments, and while there’s no shortage of thrills, the show also does a phenomenal job of weaving in bits of Spain's history.

  • Who’s in it: Louis Hofmann, Julika Jenkins, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Schöne

Set in the fictional German town of Winden, Dark centers on four families who are connected to the mysterious disappearance of two children. Aside from exploring their relationships, the show takes viewers on a wild journey that involves a major time travel conspiracy—one that spans multiple generations.

23. Always A Witch

  • Who’s in it: Angely Gaviria, Sofia Bernal Araujo, Dylan Fuentes, Valeria Henríquez

The Colombian series follows Carmen, a 19-year-old 17th-century witch who gets sentenced to death for falling in love with her master's son. However, she escapes her fate by time-traveling to modern day Cartagena as part of a deal with a wizard. Her task? To help him break his curse.

24. Voyagers!

  • Rating: TV-G
  • Who’s in it: Jon-Erik Hexum, Meeno Peluce, David Cadiente

Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) and his partner in crime, Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Peluce), are members of a secret group known as the Voyagers, who are tasked with making sure that history doesn’t change. The feel-good cult classic only lasted for one season, but all 20 episodes are simply delightful and worth the watch.

  • Who’s in it: Rosa Salazar, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie

This animated drama revolves around a young woman named Alma (Rosa Salazar), who, per the official logline , explores "the elastic nature of reality" after surviving a dangerous car accident. She then uses her newfound ability to investigate her father's death. (Psst, look out for the second season, which premieres on April 29 on Amazon Prime.)

The 15 Best Action Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

nakeisha campbell bio

Associate Editor, News and Entertainment

More stories you'll love.

Screen Rant

The best time travel movies & tv shows of 2022 (so far).

2022 is seemingly the year of time travel when it comes to movies and TV shows, but which has been the best so far?

Stories that surround time travel and time loops are a popular convention in media, and seemingly even more so in 2022, as seen with the just-released Paper Girls on Amazon Prime and also The Adam Project on Netflix .

Unlike the (un)lucky protagonists of these stories, viewers have only so many available hours in the day, and it can feel like a waste of time to sit through a story that doesn't work towards something interesting. Whether it analyses the angles in time travel mechanics or uses it as a moment for existential ideas, 2022 contains a lot of great movies and TV shows that deserve to be watched, so those looking for something specific can jump straight into what they are looking for.

Paper Girls (2022 - )

Paper Girls Mac, KJ, Tiffany, and Erin

Paper Girls is Stand By Me on a time travel road trip and with the tiniest dose of Pacific Rim . Directed by Stephany Folsom and based on the comic book by Brian K. Vaughan, the Amazon Prime series follows four young girls — Erin Tieng (Riley Lai Nelet), Tiffany Quilkin (Camryn Jones), Mac Coyle (Sofia Rosinsky), and KJ Brandman (Fina Strazza) — delivering newspapers in 1988 before they are suddenly involved in a time-traveling conflict in 2019.

Related: The Best Ali Wong Movies & TV Shows According To IMDb

Time is a method in which the characters face existentialism in the meaning of their future, and rectify the damage held by past selves. In one of the best subplots early in the series, Mac meets the older version of her brother and slowly comes to terms with not only her future but the fact that she hasn't matured enough to realize the abuse she's going through. The time-twisting adventure is a vehicle for action to occur too of course, but it's those elements of Stand By Me — the relationship between four growing girls sharing their conflicts together — that are the true core of the show.

The Adam Project (2022)

Ryan Reynolds and Walker Scobell in The Adam Project

Directed by Shawn Levy, it follows an Adam from 2050 (Ryan Reynolds) with his younger self (Walker Scobell) on an adventure to save the future from the disaster it already is.

The Adam Project is to time-traveling sci-fi what Real Steel is for boxing movies  -- it has some fun ideas, a decent execution, a wise-cracking child and doesn't try to wow with anything new. It's a fun action flick pretending to be sci-fi, with Reynolds doing his Deadpool act without the fourth-wall humor. There's sincerity to the bond between the two Adams and their father (Mark Ruffalo), with whom they haven't had enough time to bond, but little else. It has no concerns with doing anything more than having fun and will please anyone trying to fill 90 minutes.

Karmalink (2021)

Leng Heng Prak in Karmalink

Karmalink is a uniquely Buddhist take on the metaphysical concepts surrounding time for a spiritual spectacle directed by Jake Watchel and co-written with Christopher Larsen. The directorial debut gained its limited theatre release this year after being loved at 2021 film festivals and focuses on a 13-year-old orphan from a near-futuristic version of Phom Penh, Cambodia, searching for a golden Buddha statue.

It shows the beautiful lives of its poor citizens, as well as the divide between it and the rich population, exploring gentrification, technological alienation, neo-colonialism, and its terrible effects on a warm little community. Its story is grounded, with a touch of The Goonies , and surrounded by colorful cinematography that compliments Cambodian culture and beauty. It greatly deals with typically associated sci-fi themes, but it's the celebration of its environment and the seemingly uncontrollable forces changing it that truly makes it a great addition to its genre.

Undone: Season 2 (2019 - )

Jacob wears glasses in Undone

Made by the minds of BoJack Horseman, the Amazon Prime series continues its psychedelic time trip from the first season with Alma (Rosa Salazar), Becca (Angelique Cabral), and Jacob (Bob Odenkirk).

Related: The Main Characters Of Amazon's Undone Ranked By Likeability

Fan theories speculate on the legitimacy of its time travel, but regardless, the method is used to examine the damage dealt by war, racism, mental health, and inherited pain after trauma. Season two goes further than season one in examining the histories of Alma's parents and grandparents, and what eventually leads to the negative characteristics of the protagonists. It's less so a time travel mystery, as much as it is using it as a method to brilliantly dissect the problems that can occur while immigrating and the ripple effects it causes.

The Lazarus Project (2022 - )

Two characters looking confused in The Lazarus Project.

The Sky-exclusive British action drama was directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Laura Scrivano, and Akaash Meeda, and stars Paapa Essiedu as George, who's awakened his ability to see time loops and is invited into an organization formed to use the loops to prevent world-ending disasters. It's nowhere close to the comedy of Groundhog Day or Palm Springs , instead looking closer into the damage it inflicts more than those films do.

It explores the ethics and emotional damage within its specific systems and grounds them in the stories of each of its cast members, posing scenarios that prompt audiences to consider which is the more moral choice. Watching characters deal with the erasing existence of a child, the stress and pain of reliving childbirth over and over and over again, or watching characters make sacrifices for the most saved lives possible — it's a level of empathy felt from the other side of the screen. It's an underrated little gem that demands the attention of any sci-fi fan.

Archive 81 (2022)

Melody holding her video camera and looking scared in Archive 81

Based on a podcast by Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger, the found-footage horror show switches perspectives between film archivist Dan Turner (Momoudou Athie) and documentarian Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) as they both discover the bizarre cult within the Visser building in Lower Manhattan.

Related: The Archive 81 Main Characters Ranked By Likability

Creator Rebecca Sonnenshine weaves a uniquely unsettling version of time travel. The perspectives between Dan and Melody initially seem separate from each other, but the mystery of its time travel through found footage latches onto the viewer as its steadily revealed. It's a slow binge that's more 'creepy' than outright shocking, but it's a great watch for anyone interested in a series happy to pace itself, and separates itself from other found-footage horrors by the time-distorting connection between Melody and Dan.

The Umbrella Academy: Season 3 (2019 - )

The Hargreeves together looking in the same direction in The Umbrella Academy

The superhero show, created by Steve Blackman and based on the comic book by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, gained some good faith for its great LGBTQ+ arc with Viktor Hargreeves (Elliot Page) and continues the story from its well-received second season of a dysfunctional family trying to get their lives back.

This season hardly delves into time travel compared to its previous seasons, but still uses it in a way to delve into the reparation and breaking of familial connections. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) has been great at every step of the series but is particularly strong here for using this alternate timeline as a second chance to grow closer with their father Reginald (Colm Feore). It's a story as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, setting up for another season of reality-bending adventures to come.

Russian Doll: Season 2 (2019 - )

Natasha Lyonne as Nadya, peering out of the doors on a subway train in Russian Doll.

The humorous original season didn't seem like it was prime material for a second series, but regardless it abandons its time-looping narrative in favor of changing family history in the past. It stars the Orange Is The New Black favorite Natasha Lyonne, who co-created the show along with Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler of Parks And Recreation fame.

Just as with the first season, Lyonne can carry the entire show by herself through her great acting and character work, but it follows a great story as she dives into her family history. But unlike Undone , Lyonne's character of Nadia lives directly in the shoes of her Jewish Hungarian ancestors and faces the reality of the impossibility to change time and how she needs to live with it. It's a story of acceptance, but with the same humor, it carried its first season. And even if it won't be as charming a surprise as the original, it's still worth a watch.

NEXT: 1 0 Best Movies Of 2022 (So Far) According To Letterboxd

  • Sign Up / Log In

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!

Here's Everything to Know About the New Quantum Leap

Time travel, romance, an iconic original series? Buckle up, it's going to be a wild ride!

time travel series latest

A new Quantum Leap is coming to NBC! The original version of the time-travel adventure series aired in the '90s, and almost 30 years later, fans are gearing up for an exciting new iteration. Here's everything you need to know about the new Quantum Leap before you tune in . 

How to Watch

Watch Quantum Leap  on NBC and  Peacock . 

Watch Episode 1 of Quantum Leap

The setting

The new Quantum Leap is set in the present day, about 30 years after the main character from the '90s, Dr. Sam Beckett, vanished into the Quantum Leap accelerator. Our new leading man, Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) , is now the one who time travels across various moments in history and "leaps" into someone else's body but retains his own consciousness. According to executive producer Martin Gero , although the new show is inspired by the original, it does not serve as a reboot or sequel. 

“We want to deliver a show that feels like it has a reverence for the O.G. Leap ,” said Gero. “But we also want the feel to be modern and something new fans will love.”

Quantum Leap's Stars Explain the Key Differences Between the New Series and the Original

The new characters.

Beckett has passed the torch to Ben, who loses all memory of his past after his first time leap. Caitlin Bassett plays Ben's right hand, Addison Augustine . Addison appears as a hologram to Ben whenever he leaps into someone else, acting as his guide. But a complicating factor is she's also his fiancée—who he doesn't remember. We'll also meet Herbert "Magic" Williams (Ernie Hudson) , Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park) , and Jen Chou (Nanrisa Lee) . And let's not forget the lovable AI Ziggy, who will be returning to the new series. Here is a complete breakdown of the cast. 

The technology is more advanced 

According to Bassett, audiences can also expect more advanced tech both in the show production and within the world of the series. 

"The technology has moved forward a bit, which is really exciting, and it’s opened up some new things for us," Bassett told NBC.

The new series follows a similar premise to the original 

As it relates to the plot, the new Quantum Leap explicitly acknowledges the original program and the three decades that have passed since Dr. Beckett's disappearance. However, Dr. Song serves as our new protagonist who is experimenting with time leaps within a similar episode structure as the original. 

Quantum Leap's Original Series Cliffhanger Finale Explained

Dr. sam beckett is still missing.

In the new time-travel show, the original Dr. Beckett is still missing somewhere in time. Although Episode 1 does tease Dr. Beckett’s existence, it’s too early to know for certain how much of the  original plot  will intertwine with the new show. 

There’s new accelerator coding, the exact effects of which aren’t known.  Before Ben disappeared into the accelerator and lost his memory, he rewrote several aspects of the program’s coding, and the team at headquarters is still trying to figure out why. And Ben seems to be working with a secret liaison. 

It’s implied that Ben is in communication and possibly working with someone outside the official Quantum Leap team at headquarters. Shortly before he enters the accelerator, he receives a suspicious text that plays to a future plot point. 

The episode count

There will be 19 episodes total of Season 1. 

Watch Quantum Leap on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and next day on Peacock .  

Quantum Leap

Quantum Leap Season 2 on NBC

Recommended for You

Reba McEntire on The Voice Episode 2418

Reba McEntire Wishes Mini-Me Son Shelby Happy 34th B-Day

Howie Mandel poses on the red carpet of America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League

Howie Mandel's Wife Cuddles Their New Granddaughter

Sainted on stage during AGT Fantasy League Episode 104

Sainted Receives the Golden Buzzer for their Prince Cover

Quantum Leap: Exclusive Trailer Debut for NBC's Time-Travel Sequel Series

The new show takes place roughly three decades after the scott bakula original..

Jim Vejvoda Avatar

IGN can exclusively reveal the first full trailer for the upcoming sequel series to the classic time-travel program Quantum Leap, which premieres on September 19th at 10 pm on NBC and Peacock. It will also stream on Peacock. You can watch the trailer via the player above or the embed below.

Set roughly thirty years after the events of the original series , the sequel follows physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee) whose team is out to restart the Quantum Leap project and gain an understanding of both the machine and its creator, the long-lost Dr. Sam Beckett (played on the original series by Scott Bakula).

“Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it,” according to the series’ official synopsis. “At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Caitlin Bassett), who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear. She’s a decorated Army veteran who brings level-headed precision to her job.”

Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson plays Herbert “Magic” Williams, described as the “no-nonsense career military man” in charge of this secret operation. The headquarters team includes “Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park), who runs the Artificial Intelligence unit ‘Ziggy,’ and Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee), who heads up digital security for the project.”

Each episode of Quantum Leap sees Ben leap from life to life, righting wrongs along the way, while the home team strives to solve the mystery behind Ben’s leap and bring him home – or lose him forever.

Best Reviewed TV Shows of 2022

time travel series latest

Quantum Leap’s behind-the-scenes talent includes writers-executive producers Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt. Executive producers include Don Bellisario, Deborah Pratt, Ryan Lindenberg, Robert Hull, and Martin Gero. Universal Television produces in association with I Have an Idea! Entertainment, Belisarius Productions, and Quinn’s House Productions.

In This Article

Quantum Leap

IGN Recommends

Sydney Sweeney Tells SNL Audience They 'Definitely Did Not' See Her in Madame Web

The 32 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

time travel TV shows

Time traveling is a popular topic when it comes to all types of entertainment from books to films. But in recent years time travel has also become a popular theme in TV.

So let’s take a look at this list of the best time traveling TV shows and find out how each of them handles time travel and all the history that comes with it.

Doctor Who, BBC One (1963 – 1989, 2005 – present)

BBC One Doctor Who

When it comes to time traveling and TV, probably the most notable name in this niche is Doctor Who  because this time travel series has been around for 39 seasons and is still going strong.

Hailing from British television channel BBC One, Doctor Who tells the tale of the Time Lord aka The Doctor, and his companions as they travel to different times and try to prevent evil forces from changing history and hurting innocent lives.

Once the Time Lord gets hurt beyond healing, he can transform into a new body and continue saving the world. Hence why at this point 13 (soon to be 14) different actors have played The Doctor.

Doctor Who is not only a huge part of the fabric of British popular culture but by now this time travel show has found its way into the hearts of many people all over the world.

It has inspired many spin-offs in the form of TV shows, comic books, movies, novels, you name it. But more than that, by now it has become an industry standard both when it comes to science-fiction television series and shows about time travel.

No wonder that Doctor Who continues to be successful after countless actor changes and plot twists.

Where to watch Doctor Who:

Timeless, nbc (2016 – 2018).

NBC Timeless

Another time travel TV series that has already become a cult classic and is adored by fans all over the world is NBC’s Timeless . And despite the turmoil that this show has gone through, it still is time traveling at its best.

Starring Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter, and Abigail Spencer as Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy, Timeless  details the trio traveling to different times in an effort to stop their adversaries from rewriting history.

But as it later turns out, the conspiracy goes deeper than them just changing history. Since the people who our trio is chasing are traveling through time to take down a dangerous and all-powerful organization. The same one that helped build the time machine that Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy are using.

And although Timeless went on for just two seasons (and a two-hour wrap-up movie), you should still check out the show because it’s not only entertaining but will make you think and want to know more about the events that each episode is exploring.

Where to watch Timeless:

Dc’s legends of tomorrow, the cw (2016 – present).

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

If you are a fan of superhero TV shows, then you will probably have heard about DC’s Legends of Tomorrow . It is a show that is a huge part of The CW’s Arrowverse. And has crossed over with shows like Arrow , The Flash , and Supergirl multiple times now.

And even if you don’t like the rest of the superhero series but do enjoy a good old time travel TV show, then I suggest you still give Legends of Tomorrow a watch.

The plot of this show is based around a team of superheroes that are traveling through time in their time machine christened the Waverider to prevent different catastrophes from happening. Both ones made by others and those created by the team’s previous adventures.

At the forefront, there are well-known DC heroes like Rip Hunter, Firestorm, The Atom, Kid Flash, Steel, and Vixen. Joined by some original characters like Caity Lotz’s White Canary among others.

One of the defining characteristics of Legends of Tomorrow is how fun it is. Because adjectives like unapologetic, witty, and entertaining are frequently used to describe this time travel series.

However, more than that, it adds an interesting layer to the whole Arrowverse universe. And above all, it is just a hoot to watch.

Where to watch Legends of Tomorrow:

12 monkeys, syfy (2015 – 2018).

SyFy 12 Monkeys

Then there also is SyFy’s 12 Monkeys , which is a little darker take on time traveling. One that comes with mystery, drama, and apocalyptic stakes. But that doesn’t lessen how good this time travel TV series is.

Split between two timelines, 12 Monkeys centers on Aaron Stanford’s James Cole, who is tasked to travel back in time and stop the distribution of a virus that has the ability to end the human race as we know it.

In Cole’s real timeline, the year is 2043 and people are struggling to survive because of the terrible mutations caused by the virus. So Cole travels back to 2015 to find virologist Cassie Railly, played by Amanda Schull, that can help him stop the release of the virus and the organization that is behind it called The Army of the 12 Monkeys.

If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic setting and time travel really do go hand in hand. Because if you can go back in time to stop history from being changed, why not go back to change it if it prevents something terrible from happening?

And that is what this show explores. Beautifully combining elements of mystery, drama, and science fiction, to form a great TV show.

Where to watch 12 Monkeys:

Outlander, starz (2014 – present).

time travel series latest

Want another show that mixes time travel with historical events and does it flawlessly? Then you should put Outlander on your must-watch TV show list!

The show starts in the 1940s when a combat nurse Claire Randall visits Inverness, Scotland as part of her second honeymoon with her husband Frank. Claire accidentally happens upon the standing stones at Craigh na Dun which transport her back in time to 1743.

To return to her own time she first has to survive 18th-century Scotland. And she does so by joining a group of rebel Highlanders from Clan MacKenzie and marrying one of the Highlanders, Jamie Fraser. But eventually, she falls in love with her new husband and aids the clan in evading British redcoats that are pursuing them.

Over the five seasons of Outlander that are currently out (with the sixth coming soon), we see Claire jump back and forth between the 20th and 18th centuries and her two families as she faces two pregnancies, wars, and much more. But eventually, Claire finds her way back to Jamie.

Where to watch Outlander:

Travelers, showcase (2016 – 2018).

Netflix Travelers

Then we have Travelers , a joint venture between Netflix and Canada’s Showcase that will tick all of your time travel TV show boxes.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world , this show depicts the adventures of travelers – operatives who go back in time to prevent the collapse of society.

These travelers are transferred into the bodies of our current-day humans, who otherwise would die, to blend in with twenty-first-century people. And with the help of their artificial intelligence boss from the future, travelers carry out missions in order to stop many catastrophic events from happening.

Travelers is a great mix of sci-fi and drama, featuring a great cast and spine-tingling storylines. So if you love all that and love a good time-travel series, then look no further than Travelers .

Where to watch Travelers:

Dark, netflix (2017 – 2020).

time travel series latest

Netflix’s first German original series was the science fiction series Dark , which mixes in some mystery drama with sci-fi: time travel, the apocalypse, wormholes, and parallel worlds.

Dark takes place in Winden, a fictional German town, and begins in 2019 after children begin to disappear from the town. As the show progresses, however, timelines jump drastically between as early as 1921 to as late as 2053.

As four families in Winden investigate the disappearances to reunite with their lost loved ones, they discover a wormhole beneath the local powerplant that allows them to travel between timelines, thus uncovering a generations-long conspiracy involving the town and their families.

Where to watch Dark:

The umbrella academy, netflix (2019 – present).

time travel series latest

Netflix brings another to the list with The Umbrella Academy .

On October 1, 1989, 43 infants were suddenly born from unsuspecting women despite them not even being pregnant the day before.

7 of them were raised together as the Hargreeve siblings and trained in their respective abilities until their relationship became strained as teenagers and they drifted apart.

Now, as adults, they’re brought back together by the death of their adoptive father – and the threat of the end of the world, of course.

They’re forced to travel back in time but end up in different times and places, and must find each other again to stop the nuclear apocalypse.

Where to watch The Umbrella Academy:

Seven days, upn (1998 – 2001).

time travel series latest

We know that the National Security Agency has its share of secrets, but what if one of those secrets was a time-traveling machine?

In UPN’s Seven Days , the plot centers on one such device made from alien technology found at Roswell.

The Chronosphere, as it’s called, can only be used in times when national security is at risk – the limited capacity of the device allows for just one human to go back in time by seven days in order to avert disasters.

Thus, when the White House is attacked, the NSA employs former Navy SEAL and CIA operative Frank Parker to go back and prevent it from happening.

Where to watch Seven Days:

Loki, disney+ (2021 – present).

time travel series latest

Yes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the greatest gifts to the cinema of our time. Now, the MCU has expanded even further into the television medium and we’ve got a few series to accompany it!

One of those is Loki , which of course, centers on the God of Thunder’s mischievous adopted brother.

After the events in Avengers: Endgame , particularly his stealing of the Tesseract, Loki inadvertently creates another timeline that began in 2012, making him a “time variant” version of himself.

When confronted by the authorities, Loki is given two choices: face punishment and cease to exist, or travel through time to fix his own mess and the threat that has emerged.

Where to watch Loki:

Making history, fox (2017).

time travel series latest

The thing about traveling back in time is, you have to be very careful that your actions in the past won’t affect the future (which is essentially your actual present).

Most of the time, that’s something you wouldn’t know until you go back to your time. In Making History , however, Dan Chambers travels back in time to right before the American Revolution and sets off a series of events that seriously mess up the future.

Being able to constantly travel between time periods, Dan recruits the help of history professor Chis Parrish to travel with him and ensure that the American Revolution still takes place.

Where to watch Making History:

Quantum leap, nbc (1989 – 1993).

time travel series latest

The title of NBC’s sci-fi comedy-drama Quantum Leap is also the name of the time travel machine that accidentally sends its creator, physicist Dr. Sam Beckett, back into the past.

Now, he’s stuck – and not as himself, either!

Sam discovers that he jumped into the body of a stranger and because he’s still himself, doesn’t know all the details of his current identity.

With the help of his friend Al, who appears as a hologram only he can see, he must fix something that went wrong so he can jump in time again and eventually get back to his own body.

Where to watch Quantum Leap:

Quantum leap, nbc (2022 – present).

time travel series latest

Speaking of Quantum Leap , in 2022 NBC revived the 1989 series into a more modern take on the cult classic.

In this new Quantum Leap , thirty years have passed since Dr. Sam Beckett vanished into the Quantum Leap accelerator, and the Quantum Leap project was put to rest.

Now the project is restarted with a new team, who tries to puzzle together the mysteries behind Beckett and his time-traveling machine.

So, we follow Ben Song, the lead physicist of the Quantum Leap time travel project, who gets lost in the past after leaping back in time.

As he tries to return to the present he is helped by his fiancée Addison Augustine, who appears to him as a hologram during each leap, and the team back in the present time.

Where to watch Quantum Leap reboot:

The way home, hallmark channel (2023 – present).

time travel series latest

Among the newest time travel shows on this list is Hallmark’s The Way Home which has already been renewed for a second season.

The Way Home follows three generations of Landry women who learn that they can time travel after discovering a magic pond on their family’s farm in Port Haven.

When Kat and her daughter Alice return to Port Haven and are forced to move in with Alice’s estranged mother Del, the three women use time travel to uncover their family history, including what really happened to Kat’s little brother Jacob and whether they can prevent his disappearance.

Where to watch The Way Home:

Russian doll, netflix (2019 – 2022).

time travel series latest

Netflix’s Russian Doll deviates from the traditional time travel theme of a willing traveler in one specific timeline because Russian Doll’s protagonist Nadia Vulvokov not only has absolutely no choice or control over her so-called time traveling, but hers is also a time loop.

She wakes up every day having to relive the day of her 36th birthday party in New York City; every time, she dies and comes back to the exact same moment.

Every time, Nadia scrambles to figure out what happens to her and tries to prevent her death, leading her to find Alan, a man who is experiencing the same time loop.

Where to watch Russian Doll:

Undone, prime video (2019 – present).

time travel series latest

Undone may be an animated series, but it certainly isn’t geared toward younger audiences; though there is a touch of comedy, the series leans more towards the psychological drama genre and “explores the elastic nature of reality”.

The series follows Alma Winograd-Diaz right after she gets into a near-fatal car accident.

Right before the crash, she has a strange vision of her dead father, and right after it, she finds that she now has the ability to manipulate and move through time.

Using this newfound power, she travels between time periods to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her father’s death.

Where to watch Undone:

Voyagers, nbc (1982 – 1983).

time travel series latest

Premiering back in the early 1980s, NBC’s Voyagers! Is set in a world where time travel already exists.

In fact, there’s already a secret society in place that trains its members, called Voyagers, to go back in time and make sure that historical events happen exactly the way they’re supposed to – otherwise it could affect the present in unexpected ways.

One such Voyager is Phineas Bogg, although he isn’t exactly the best at the job.

During an accidental trip to 1982, he meets the young Jeffrey Jones and ends up bringing him along on one of his missions.

Having lost his Guidebook, Phineas now needs to rely on the extremely smart Jeffrey to get history right.

Where to watch Voyagers!:

Fringe, fox (2008 – 2013).

time travel series latest

Fox’s Fringe is a series that was well into the science fiction genre, with parallel universes, supernatural abilities, biotechnology, doomsday predictions, and of course, time travel.

The title is taken from fringe science, which is a branch that deals with scientific theories riddled with skepticism or even having been disproven already.

In Fringe , Special Agent Olivia Dunham is assigned to oversee the FBI ’s Fringe Division, which is run by Peter Bishop and his father Walter.

Together, the team uses both fringe science and Olivia’s knowledge in investigative techniques to explore the unexplained.

In the process, they discover a larger mystery involving parallel universes and alternate timelines .

Where to watch Fringe:

Time after time, abc (2017).

time travel series latest

ABC’s Time After Time is based on the novel of the same name written by Kevin Williamson in 1979.

In addition to that, each episode takes its title from a line in Cyndi Lauper’s song, which was inspired by the film (and subsequently, the same book!).

In Time After Time , we are taken to H.G. Wells’ home in 1893.

During a dinner party, he reveals his time machine – right before his guest John Stevenson is arrested for actually being Jack the Ripper .

John escapes through the time machine and Wells follows him straight into the present: 2017. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game as John attempts to gain control of the machine.

Where to watch Time After Time:

11.22.63, hulu (2016).

time travel series latest

When you have anything with Stephen King involved, you know it’s going to be great.

Hulu’s eight-episode miniseries 11.22.63 is based on King’s novel 11/22/63 and is a science fiction thriller like no other.

Starring James Franco in the lead role, 11.22.63 follows Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine .

His best friend Al reveals a time travel machine and asks him to take over the mission he’s been working on: to travel to the 60s and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Will Jake be successful in changing a past that simply refuses to be changed?

Where to watch 11.22.63:

The 4400, usa network/sky one (2004 – 2007).

time travel series latest

The 4400 is yet another slightly different take on the idea of time travel, in that there has been just one (fairly significant) shift forward in time, to the present.

Beginning in 1946, individuals who were easily overlooked or marginalized by society slowly began disappearing through beams of green light.

Now, all 4400 of them (hence the title) have been returned to the present day – without having aged a day and in some cases, even manifesting supernatural abilities like telekinesis, healing, and telepathy.

Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris are assigned to investigate the phenomenon and find out why the 4400 have returned.

NOTE: For a fresher take on the show, you can also check out the reboot of the original series which is currently airing on The CW.

Where to watch The 4400:

Somewhere between, abc (2017).

time travel series latest

When tragedy strikes our lives, we always wish there was something we could’ve done to prevent it.

In ABC’s Somewhere Between we meet Laura Price, a successful news producer with a great career, a loving husband who’s a district attorney, and a beautiful daughter named Serena.

However, her life changes when the serial killer she is helping the cops to catch kills Serena.

Distraught with grief , Laura attempts to complete suicide but is unsuccessful, instead waking up having time-traveled to a week before Serena’s death.

She teams up with Nico, a former SFPD detective who experienced the same reset and wants to find the real killer to change his brother’s fate as well.

Where to watch Somewhere Between:

Terra nova, fox (2011).

time travel series latest

Terra Nova takes its viewers to both extremes of the time-traveling timeline.

The present-day is 2149, where overpopulation has threatened to deplete the Earth’s resources.

In an attempt to save Earth and mankind, scientists have found a way to travel back in time, sending groups of humans back to the Cretaceous Period to set up colonies.

Terra Nova focuses primarily on Elisabeth and Jim Shannon, and their three children, who have joined the 10th pilgrimage to Terra Nova.

They offer their expertise as a trauma surgeon and former narcotics detective and help those in charge with stopping those whose intentions go against the greater good.

Where to watch Terra Nova:

Frequency, the cw (2016 – 2017).

time travel series latest

One concept in time travel is known as “the butterfly effect”, wherein one small change in time may have great effects elsewhere.

Frequency demonstrates this concept perfectly.

Raimy Sullivan is an NYPD detective who, after a strange weather phenomenon, discovers that she can communicate with her dead father through his old ham radio.

Believing he was a corrupt cop, she learns the truth and warns him of his murder, thus saving his life.

However, this has profound effects on the future – Raimy’s present.

Now, they must work together across time to save her father and preserve the present.

Where to watch Frequency:

Life on mars, bbc one (2006).

time travel series latest

In many of the shows on the list so far, the protagonists experience a time loop that’s triggered at the point of their death.

It’s no different for Sam Tyler, the main character in the British series Life on Mars .

Sam is a Detective Chief Inspector with the Greater Manchester Police, but one day he accidentally gets hit by a car.

When he awakens, he’s in 1973 and working at one rank lower than he was: Detective Inspector.

The selling point of Life on Mars , however, is that we’re left unsure if Sam’s predicament is due to his actual death, a comatose, or time travel.

Where to watch Life on Mars:

Always a witch, netflix (2019 – 2020).

time travel series latest

Always A Witch (or Siempre Bruja in its original Spanish title) is a Colombian series that is set in both present-day Colombia and the 17th century .

The series follows Carmen Eguiliuz, a young 19-year-old witch who, after committing the crime of falling in love with a white man in 1646 colonial Colombia, is scheduled to be burned at the stake.

She gets a chance to escape to a new life when the mysterious wizard Aldemar makes a deal with her: he will save the man she loves if she travels into the future to find the woman who can break his curse.

Where to watch Always a Witch:

Beforeigners, hbo (2019 – present).

time travel series latest

HBO’s Beforeigners is a Norwegian sci-fi crime drama series and the first Norwegian original from HBO Europe.

The title is a clever play on words centered on the general plot: a group of “foreigners” has suddenly shown up at a neighborhood in Oslo, and they are all from “before” times, or several different time periods in history.

Whether from the Viking period , the Stone Age, or the more recent 19th century , each of these ‘Beforeigners’ tries to integrate in modern-day Norwegian society.

One of them even partners with a detective to investigate first a murdered Stone Age woman, then a series of murderers tied to Jack the Ripper.

Where to watch Beforeigners:

Alice, sbs tv (2020).

time travel series latest

Alice was a South Korean sci-fi series that aired in late 2020.

In the lead-up to the main plot, the show’s background is explained to its viewers.

Set in 2050, time travel is monitored by an agency called Alice, which sends its clients to the past to help find closure with deceased loved ones.

Alice one day sends two agents to 1992 in order to find the Book of Prophecy, but one of them disappears with the book and her unborn child.

In 2020, the child becomes a detective and in his investigation into his mother’s death in 2010, discovers the existence of Alice and time travel.

Where to watch Alice:

Live up to your name, tvn (2017).

time travel series latest

Yet another South Korean time travel series , Live Up to Your Name initially takes its viewers some 400 years into the past, right in the middle of the Joseon dynasty.

There we meet Heo Im, a doctor of traditional Korean medicine who also specializes in acupuncture.

On one of his treatments of the king’s migraines, he made a mistake and was charged with treason.

Chased by the king’s soldiers, he’s shot with an arrow and presumed dead when he falls into the river – except he ends up waking up in present-day Seoul instead, where he meets cardiothoracic surgeon Choi Yeon-kyung.

Where to watch Live Up to Your Name:

My only love song, netflix (2017).

time travel series latest

Our third South Korean series is Netflix’s My Only Love Song , which aired in 2017.

We start off in modern-day Korea where we meet Soo-jung, a talented and top-level actress.

However, it seems that the fame may have gotten to her head as she’s arrogant, and believes fame and money make the world go round.

When things don’t go her way on her new show, she winds up in a time-traveling van that takes her to the 6th century.

There, she meets a man much like herself in terms of arrogance, but his hidden soft spot and generosity towards the poor changes her perspective on her own life and self.

Where to watch My Only Love Song:

Signal, tvn (2016).

time travel series latest

Signal is based on the 2000 American film Frequency , but another thing that sets this South Korean series apart from others is that the cases investigated in the series are also based on real-life crimes in the country.

Signal follows a cold case profiler from 2015 and a detective from 1989 simultaneously; they discover they’re able to communicate with each other through an old walkie-talkie.

Using this unique ability to provide much-needed foresight in investigations, they team up to both solve and in some cases, even prevent these horrific crimes.

Where to watch Signal:

Rooftop prince, sbs (2012).

time travel series latest

Last but not least, South Korea brings its last time-traveling series to the table with Rooftop Prince , a comedy-drama filled with intrigue, mixed identities, and possible reincarnations.

Crown Prince Lee Gak from the Joseon dynasty accidentally time travels to 2012 with three others from his entourage, and their lives are thrown into a whirlwind.

He crosses paths with Se-na, who looks exactly like his recently deceased wife.

In the hopes of getting answers about his wife’s mysterious drowning, he assumes the identity of another man who he also looks exactly like and attempts to marry Se-na in this timeline as well.

Where to watch Rooftop Prince:

11 comments.

Tomorrow people cw

You forgot The Time Tunnel, an Irwin Allen sci-fi show (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space, Land of The Giants), all classic 60s sci-fi

Journeyman should also be on this list. It was only half a season on NBC but it wraps up to a satisfying conclusion.

Fantastic acting and interesting characters.

Glad someone else watched Journeyman. I thought I’d was a great spiritual successor to Quantum Leap.

Journeyman is one of the good shows u can watch but qunatum leap i watched and didnt like

Where is The Time Tunnel?????

Another show for your list is “Being Erica” (CBC, 2009-2011). Excellent writing, and very unique.

i was looking for this comment. such an underrated show

I concur. This was definitely a great one. It certainly provides a lot of food for thought.

Some of the information in the Doctor Who one is wrong. It started in 1963, it was only revived in 2005 (you put 2006), and it’s been going for 39 seasons, as of June 2022

Thanks for letting me know! I updated the article accordingly.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Den of Geek

Travelers: why you should watch Netflix’s new time travel show

Canadian sci-fi series Travelers presents a genuinely fresh and fascinating vision of time travel, and boasts a strong cast...

time travel series latest

  • Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on email (opens in a new tab)

Warning: contains some episode one plot details.

Television’s love affair with time travel goes back a long way. Naturally, Doctor Who was one of the early proponents of the genre and since then there have been many successful (and many less so) series bringing time travel to the small screen. Quantum Leap mixed science with humour, drama and humanity, Continuum brought some genuinely intelligent ideas and Legends Of Tomorrow has thrown a whole lot of heroes into a mainstream tale of time travel and derring-do.  

Over the past twelve months, time travel has been something of a go-to for TV schedules with Timeless, Frequency and mini-series 11.22.63 all coming up with something fresh to say. One show that seems to have slipped under the radar, however, is Travelers , a twelve-part Canadian series that first premiered in October 2016 before Netflix picked it up at the end of the year. Headed up by Will & Grace ’s Eric McCormack, Travelers might not have anything particularly ground-breaking to add to the genre, but it’s a fun, absorbing series while it lasts. Presuming it is handed a second series – and there are enough loose ends to tie up come the series finale to suggest that there most likely will be – Travelers deserves a place on your Netflix to-watch list.

McCormack plays FBI agent Grant MacClaren – only, not really. MacClaren’s body is actually playing host to the consciousness of Traveler 3468, a ‘traveler’ from the future sent back to the twenty-first century in order to carry out missions by order of the mysterious ‘Director’. He’s not alone. In the opening episode we also get to meet Travelers 3569, 3465, 3326 and 0115, all with their own specific skillset. One’s a medic, one’s an engineer, another is a tactician and the final chap is the team’s historian, armed with all knowledge of events that occur in that particular timeline. Again, each of these travelers’ consciousness is actually hosted in the body of another human being and they ultimately have to assume their identity (just a small note here, I appreciate I’m also adopting the US/Canadian spelling of travelers but let’s just go with that for ease).

Ad – content continues below

Fortunately, these host bodies were specifically chosen as they were going to die anyway so no grievous murders to worry about for the travelers. This central premise, of people inhabiting other people’s bodies whose time was already up, is hammered home in the first episode when we are shown in graphic detail how each of the host bodies dies. Accompanied by a graphical device first counting down the time of death and then counting forward the time from when the host body is taken over, the actual mind-swap process is particularly well-executed. It’s replicated again and again throughout the series as other travelers appear and it never fails to have the desired impact, whether it’s a farmer in a sticky situation with a hole digger or, in a particularly standout scene, a group of elderly men and women on the brink of a mass suicide. With a nod to Cronenberg’s Scanners , the transformation from host to traveler is certainly memorable and it accounts for a good chunk of the series opener to bed you in.

Another point worth noting about the host bodies is that they are researched beforehand by the higher powers-that-be that are driving our travelers on, using social media and technology of the twenty-first century to ascertain as much knowledge about them as possible so that the traveler can carry on their life without raising suspicion. Making a point about our digital footprint is hardly cutting-edge stuff but this device does also allow the show to reveal the full scope of its ambition. Like Quantum Leap , it’s fair to say that while Travelers is clearly a science fiction show, it’s just as much a drama about the characters and how they assimilate to their new lives. Once the missions are over, what happens then?

MacClaren struggles to keep his home life together with his wife, Kat. Traveler 3465, Carly, is suddenly a mother to a young baby with an abusive husband in tow, who also happens to be a cop. Travelers 3326 and 0115, Philip and Trevor, struggle with the lives of younger men, Philip in particular saddled with the added trouble of being in the body of a heroin addict. And then there’s Marcy, traveler 3569. Clearly earmarked as the heartbeat of the show, Marcy is the character you’re most inclined to root for and it’s her who we’re first introduced to when she is brutally beaten by a group of louts outside a library. It turns out that the Director got this host wrong, with knowledge gathered on her proving wildly incorrect as it was garnered from a fake social media profile set up on her behalf as part of an experiment. In fact, Marcy’s host has learning disabilities so when she suddenly shows no signs of her former self to those close to her, her behaviour proves far harder to explain away.

And so you have the makings of a series that’s part science fiction, part human drama, part Outer Limits . When it chooses to go there, Travelers is very good at delivering on the darker side of fiction. In particular, Room 101  proves a standout episode, placing MacClaren’s team in grave, Saw -like peril while the mysteries keep piling up. Why should the team trust the faceless ‘Director’? Can they even trust each other? While the actual gore is kept to a minimum, the sense of threat is palpable. It’s little surprise to learn that creator Brad Wright worked on and wrote for The Outer Limits as well as his higher-profile fame for Stargate. The episode is also a real high-point for Jared Abrahamson’s Trevor who takes the spotlight in a pressure-cooker storyline that drips with foreboding and tension. His old-man-in-a-young-man’s-body routine doesn’t always hold together throughout the series but it’s well-served here.

Having the whole series to binge-watch serves the show well as while individual episodes do explore different, self-contained stories, the series as a whole additionally benefits from an approach to story-telling that isn’t afraid to let an over-arching narrative be told over its twelve-episode run. Recurring themes like Philip’s heroin addiction and Marcy’s relationship with her care worker, David – a lighter, comedic role handled excellently by Patrick Gilmore, also from the Stargate Universe – are allowed to breathe and develop naturally without any need to force the issue.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

The series isn’t without some misfires. Nesta Cooper’s Carly is under-written with her new-found mothering skills and testing relationship with the father never really explored as fully as it could have been and despite heading the team (and the billing), MacClaren’s own personal life problems are far less interesting than those of his team. The series finale is something of a letdown too, with so many of the mysteries that have been brewing either unanswered, expanded on or added to that you’re left slightly befuddled as to what exactly is happening. There are also a few other plot points seemingly left hanging in the air – for example, Trevor’s troubled school and home life is never truly expanded upon or resolved – and minor recurring characters seem to drop out of the show without notice.

On the whole, though, Wright should be applauded for presenting a genuinely fresh and interesting vision. The acting is excellent across the board, with particular nods to Abrahamson and Reilly Dolman (Philip) and while Travelers always has something interesting to say, it never takes itself too seriously. There is plenty of lightness among the darker undertones and by the series-end I found myself hoping that series two isn’t too far away.

Mark Oakley

Mark Oakley

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

From 'Timeless' to 'Quantum Leap': 9 adventurous time travel TV shows worth going back to watch

The time periods might get old, but these shows never do.

Timeless Quantum Leap And Doctor Who

Get ready to travel back to 10,000 B.C., because the second half of  La Brea 's sophomore season is here. The first half of Season 2 ended with most of the main cast deciding to return to perhistoric times rather than stick around in the '80s, in the hopes that they might one day be able to return to their correct time period. And, we learned that the cause of all this time travel madness might lie in the future, in the year 2076.

The midseason premiere , which runs a full two hours and airs tonight, Jan. 31, on NBC at 9 p.m. Eastern, will only take place in the year 10,000 B.C., though, as will the rest of the season, according showrunner David Appelbaum . Even if this next string of episodes won't involve any actual time traveling, the occasion of the midseason premiere has us thinking about some of the best time travel TV shows around.

We aimed at time-travel shows that skew more toward letting us explore the past and (recent) present in new ways. So, not a lot of apocalypse action to be had here (though we definitely recommend you binge more apocalyptic/future-y fare like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 12 Monkeys , and Continuum , too!). Instead, we’re looking at shows with more of a time-travel adventure bent focused on the far-flung or recent past.

From the biggies to deep cuts, these are some great time machines to jump into and distract yourself from reality.

01 . Timeless

If you’re looking for a wild, fun time-travel adventure, look no further than the short-lived Timeless . The series was a modest hit on NBC, inspiring a fervent fanbase, but the love wasn’t enough to extend its run past two seasons (plus an extended special to wrap up the show’s dangling storylines).

The series followed a rag-tag team of heroes as they zipped through time to different periods, trying to avert changes to the timeline and stop a mysterious cabal out to twist time to its own ends. It visited some great periods, from the Alamo to the heart of the space race in the late 1960s. It was smart, fun, and had a ton of heart.

Plus, even though the run was cut short, it actually has a true ending — so no pesky cancellation cliffhangers here.

How to watch: Hulu

02 . Legends of Tomorrow

The CW’s weirdest and wildest superhero show is also one of the most ambitiously goofy time travel exploits ever attempted. The series follows a team of D-list heroes thrown together on a space ship as they fly through time to try and stop "anomalies" in the timeline (they also tackle monsters and evil escapees from Hell along the way, to boot).

The show is just silly enough to work, but features enough seriousness to really make those time travel stories resonate along the way. Even more fun, all that time travel is also infused with tons of nods to decades of DC Comics lore, so there’s something for everybody.

Meet young Obama one episode, then head back to the Wild West (with Jonah Hex!) the next.

How to watch: Netflix, The CW app

03 . Outlander

This is a time travel story that starts in the past then goes way further back, but it’s one heck of a lovely and compelling tale.

The show follows a young woman who is swept from the 1940s all the way back to the 1700s, where romance, intrigue, and fantasy all come into play. It’s a love story at its heart, while also a fascinating exploration of the differences in a life lived across the eras.

How to watch: Netflix, Starz

04 . Quantum Leap

The OG, baby. This beloved late-1980s, early-1990s sci-fi series follows a man out of time, bouncing from body to body as he tries to right wrongs across the time stream.

Starring Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, the show was smart, funny, and ahead of its time in a lot of ways. It also explored a ton of great periods in history, telling small-scale and world-shaking tales from the 1950s to the 1980s. With plenty of buzz about the reboot , it’s the perfect time to go back and enjoy those early adventures.

How to watch: Fridays on SYFY as part of SYFY Rewind.

05 . Making History

There’s a decent chance you missed this one the first go ‘round, and it’d be hard to blame you. The short-lived Fox comedy was burned off with little fanfare, having its initial 13-episode order chopped down to just nine before it was canceled.

But oh, what a fun nine episodes they were.

The show followed a slacker who figures out how to travel through time and does just that with his two pals. Think Doctor Who meets Bill & Ted , kinda? It also had a surprisingly rich pedigree, produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and starring Adam Pally, Leighton Meester, and Yassir Lester.

It was clever, hilarious, and really dug into the question of what you might really do with a time machine.

Watch it on : Amazon Prime (For Purchase)

06 . Doctor Who

The Doctor has been zipping around through history for longer than a lot of us have been alive and knows a thing or two about mucking around in the time stream.

Though the show often veers off into full-on sci-fi and fantasy, the time travel episodes are the meat and potatoes that make up the DNA of Doctor Who . The rotating regenerations of the Doctor have bounced everywhere from Pompeii to a trip back to hang out with Vincent van Gogh. Not to mention the fact that, if you’re looking for a very long binge, there are decades of Doctor Who going back to the early days, plus 12 seasons of the more modern run to keep you plenty busy.

Watch it on:  HBO Max

07 . Life On Mars (U.S.)

This one is based on a British series, but for our purposes, we’ll keep the focus on the U.S. version. The show starred Jason O’Mara as a present-day detective who wakes up in 1973 New York.

It’s a trippy, well-constructed cop and sci-fi series at its core, but more than that, it’s a compelling look at New York City in that much wilder era of the early 1970s. The vibe, the feel, the smell, even — it’s all there.

If you’re looking to disappear to the grittier, bell-bottomed world of NYC’s past, this should do the trick.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime (For Purchase)

08 . 11.22.63

This Stephen King-based miniseries was one of Hulu’s buzzy originals when it was still getting deeper into the original programming arena back around 2016. It follows a man, played by James Franco, who discovers the ability to travel back to the 1960s. So he takes on a mission to try and stop the assassination of JFK, forging a new life for himself in the 1960s in the hopes his efforts will make the world a better place. It also makes for an easy, concise binge, clocking in at eight episodes.

Watch it on: Hulu

09 . Journeyman

This short-lived 2007 series had all the makings of a sci-fi hit, except for the ratings. But despite its short run, the show was a smart, modern-day twist on the Quantum Leap formula.

It followed a newspaper reporter who suddenly starts jumping back in time, where he realizes he needs to help tweak the lives of those he meets for the better (sound familiar). But more than that, we get to see the impact these jumps make on his own life, as he reconnects with people from his past with the perspective and knowledge of his “future” life.

Sadly, it’s a bit hard to find on streaming, but well worth it if you can track it down.

Watch it on: Full series is available on DVD.

Watch SurrealEstate

  • DC's Legends Of Tomorrow
  • Quantum Leap
  • Science Fiction
  • Time Travel

Related Stories

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

The Tiny Tweak to Back to the Future's Ending That Made the Film's Final Twist Work Perfectly

NOPE (2022) VFX

Nope VFX Supervisor Dishes on Film's Creature Design

Resident Alien Season 2 Episode 13

How Resident Alien Made That George Takei Cameo Happen

Dr Ben Song and Magic on Quantum Leap Episode 205

Understanding Leap Years: Why February Sometimes Gets an Extra Day

time travel series latest

Nathan Fillion's Resident Alien Cameo Explained

(from left) Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina in Renfield (2023)

Nicholas Hoult's Best Sci-Fi and Horror Boyfriend Roles

Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) wears a suit and tie in The Purge: Election Year (2016).

Everything We Know About The Purge 6

Actor Will Smith

I, Robot Screenwriters Reveal Unmade Sequel Ideas

Deja Vu & Tenet header GETTY & WB YT

Denzel Washington Basically Made Tenet Before His Own Son Did

Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (2004)

Before the Dark Universe, Van Helsing Was a Wild Remix of Universal's Monsters

Quantum Leap's Al Calavicci

Quantum Leap Season 2 Finale Makes Huge Callback to Original Series

Magic on Quantum Leap Episode 213

Quantum Leap Season 2 Finale Explained

Recommended for you.

Cillian Murphy looks to the sky in Oppenheimer (2023).

Why Oppenheimer Doesn't Include the Deadly "Demon Core" Accidents

Resident Alien

A Guide to Resident Alien Shooting Locations

Adaline (Blake Lively) stands near a cinema projector in The Age of Adaline (2024).

Highlander, Age of Adaline, Ray Bradbury and Immortality

Best new Time Travel movies in 2024 & 2023 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu & Cinema List)

time travel series latest

New time travel movies in 2024 in Cinema & on VOD

time travel series latest

Alienoid: The Return to the Future

time travel series latest

Best time travel movies on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+ or DVD in 2024

Kung fury: the movie.

time travel series latest

The Tomorrow Job

time travel series latest

The Adam Project

time travel series latest

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stream on Amazon Video

Needle in a Timestack

time travel series latest

See You Yesterday

Stream on Netflix

Lazarro Felice

time travel series latest

The Tomorrow War

time travel series latest

Terminator: Dark Fate

time travel series latest

Edge Of Tomorrow

time travel series latest

Kickoff with convenience with the allure of live streaming

time travel series latest

15 Movies Coming in 2022 We’re Really Excited About

time travel series latest

15 Hotly Anticipated 2022 TV Shows We Can’t Wait to See

time travel series latest

15 Great New TV Shows That Started in 2021

time travel series latest

The 15 Best Movies of 2021 According to Our Staff

time travel series latest

The 15 Most Promising New TV Shows in 2021

Here's When New Episodes of Shōgun Drop

The epic period drama premieres today.

preview for Shogun - Official Trailer (Disney+)

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

The new adaptation of James Clavell's bestselling novel Shōgun is here, and it's a wondrous feat of storytelling. The novel, which was first adapted for television in 1980, is based on the real history of the Sengouku period (the show takes place in 1600). The latest iteration, co-created by husband and wife duo Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, and Cosmo Jarvis.

Shōgun, Part One (The Asian Saga)

Shōgun, Part One (The Asian Saga)

Shōgun "was a big chance to introduce our culture to the world and we try to make [it] authentic as much as possible," Hiroyuki Sanada, the show's star and producer, tells T&C . "That's a very important thing for us. Luckily, we could hire a Japanese crew who has the experience to make a historical drama, all experts on set for each department: wig, costume, props, everything."

Watching the show, Sanada adds, "I hope people can feel our teamwork—East meets West collaboration." He adds, "It's a hard time in the world now, but it's a good model case: different culture, different language, religious, working together, sharing everything, learning each other, respect each other and then working to the same goal, right? I hope people feel those kind of things, especially for now."

Co-creator Rachel Kondo says, "I really hope viewers will, at the very least, sense the care and the consideration and the effort that went into this production. We worked incredibly hard to try to communicate a deep, deep respect for: 'What is the authentic choice and how do we get there?' We're asking a lot of viewers, and so I hope that they will bring a degree of openness to it, and interest in it."

Kondo should not be worried: The series is a thrilling, engaging, and epic period drama that brings Clavell's novel alive. Here's a guide to when new episodes of Shōgun are released (FX originals streaming on Hulu typically arrive on the streaming platform by 12:01 eastern):

  • Episode 1, "Anjin": February 27, 2024
  • Episode 2, "Servants of Two Masters": February 27, 2024
  • Episode 3, "Tomorrow is Tomorrow": March 5, 2024
  • Episode 4, "The Eightfold Fence": March 12, 2024
  • Episode 5, "Broken to the Fist": March 19, 2024
  • Episode 6, "Ladies of the Willow World": March 26, 2024
  • Episode 7, "A Stick of Time": April 2, 2024
  • Episode 8, "The Abyss of Life": April 8, 2024
  • Episode 9, "Crimson Sky": April 16, 2024
  • Episode 10 (finale), "A Dream of a Dream": April 23, 2024

Headshot of Emily Burack

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-transform:scale(-1, 1);-moz-transform:scale(-1, 1);-ms-transform:scale(-1, 1);transform:scale(-1, 1);background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1jdielu:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}} Television @media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-128xfoy:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}}

kate winslet the regime

How 'Feud' Created Its Iconic Interiors

a woman smiling in front of a red wall

Who Is Kate, Capote's Protege in 'Feud'?

pictured l r hiroyuki sanada as yoshii toranaga, yuki kura as yoshii nagakado cr katie yufx

How 'Shōgun' Adapted James Clavell's Novel

president james a garfield

New Show Focuses on Garfield's Assassination

a person holding a guitar

Everything We Know About The White Lotus Season 3

jean smart and hannah eindbinder start in ‘hacks’ season 2 for hbo max  photos by karen ballard

Hacks to Return for Season 3

sonny liston v muhammad ali boxing match, miami beach, usa 25 feb 1964

Why Two of Capote's Swans Aren't in 'Feud'

meryl streep only murders in the building

Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Details

hiroyuki sanada as yoshii toranaga

Why Shōgun Had to Be Told in Japanese

bridgerton season 3

Everything We Know About Bridgerton's Third Season

sam heughan outlander finale

The Outlander Prequel Has Begun Production

TV Shows Ace

Hallmark Announces Time Travel Drama ‘The Way Home‘

time travel series latest

Hallmark has just announced a brand new primetime series called The Way Home . This is a series that looks enchanting and fun. Moreover, there is a time-travel twist!

Here are all the details.

Hallmark Announces New Dramatic Series The Way Home

On Thursday, Deadline announced that Hallmark has greenlit a brand new primetime dramatic series called The Way Home .

Lisa Hamilton Daly, the Executive VP of Programming at Crown Media Family Networks is thrilled about her first series since taking this position last October.

One of my passions is developing series and it’s beyond thrilling to spearhead the development of The Way Home and others for Crown Media.

The talented mother-daughter team of Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, who are behind Heartland will be executive producing this series, as well as several others.

Laurie Ferneau, senior VP of development at Crown Media Family Networks also shared her enthusiasm.

I can’t wait to share the emotional story of the Landry women so beautifully and creatively imagined by Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke and that is sure to become appointment TV for our viewers.

Here is what the story is about.

Credit: Copyright 2021 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Astorga

What is Hallmark’s Time-Traveling Series  The Way Home About?

First, Hannah Pillemer, exec VP of creative affairs for MarVista shared a brief synopsis about this upcoming series.

We were all drawn to this extraordinary, unique story of three generations of women, haunted by tragedy and past secrets, who discover an ability to travel through time and potentially change their future.

However, there is a more detailed synopsis shared in the exclusive coverage.

Kat Landry, her 15-year-old daughter Alice and Kat’s estranged mother Del are all strong, willful, and independent. More than 20 years prior, life-changing events created a chasm in their family that time has yet to repair. Kat and Del still aren’t on speaking terms. Alice has never met her grandmother and is unaware of the reasons for their fractured family. When the three generations come together under one roof for the first time in more than two decades, a surprising discovery unexpectedly sets the trio on a path toward healing and helps them find their way back to each other

This is a story that combines drama with magical realism. Obviously, the prime directive that shows like Star Trek abide by is not happening here. Instead of doing nothing to affect time, this series purposely travels in time to change circumstances.

Moreover, this new drama should interest both those who liked Good Witch and Chesapeake Shores . Hallmark canceled the former last year, and the latter will air the final season sometime in the late summer.

Who Is Starring In The Way Home ?

Currently, Hallmark has not cast The Way Home . That information will likely be revealed in the upcoming weeks.

MarVista is excited to bring new drama series 'The Way Home' to Hallmark in 2023! Preview this unique story about three generations of women struggling with secrets as they discover an ability to travel through time and potentially change their future. https://t.co/Nl9s3H51hK — MarVista Ent. (@MarVistaEnt) May 12, 2022

When Should Hallmark’s The Way Home Premiere?

Will Hallmark’s The Way Home series be out sometime in 2022? According to the production company, MarVista Entertainment, it will be in 2023. They shared this information in a  tweet .

MarVista is excited to bring new drama series ‘The Way Home’ to Hallmark in 2023! Preview this unique story about three generations of women struggling with secrets as they discover an ability to travel through time and potentially change their future.

Hallmark fans, what do you think of this time-traveling drama? Does this look like fun to you?

  • Recent Posts

Georgia Makitalo

  • When Is Ryan Paevey Making Another Hallmark Movie? - March 4, 2024
  • ‘Gold Rush’ Season 14: What Were The Final Gold Totals? - March 4, 2024
  • UPtv Announces Bring The Spring Programming: All The Details - March 3, 2024

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

20 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

Timeless

If you could travel back and forth through time, where would you go? What would you do? Who would you talk to? Even better, if you were writing a book, making a movie, or working on a television show about time travel, what would you include? The best TV shows about time travel all feature characters who travel through time for various compelling (or even life-threatening) reasons. Maybe it's to prevent a coming apocalypse, maybe it's just to save one person's life. But if there's one thing they all have in common, it's that when traveling through time, small changes can have big effects. We all know the theory of the Butterfly Effect, right? How a butterfly can flap its wings at one point in time can cause a tornado days, weeks, or years later. As many of these characters learn, their time traveling changes the world. In fact, sometimes that's the point. 

Now, there are some time travel and time travel-adjacent shows that didn't make this list. A fun romp like "Early Edition," for example, while utilizing a time-traveling newspaper and potentially a time-traveling cat, doesn't in and of itself feature a lot of time travel. Nevertheless, it's still a fun time travel show. Something like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is rooted in a time travel premise, but stays mostly in one time. With all that being said, in no particular order, here's a look at our picks for the best time travel shows on TV.

Quantum Leap

"Quantum Leap" stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who invents a way to travel through time. When the corporation funding his project threatens to shut it down, Sam uses himself as a guinea pig to test out the method. He finds himself thrown back in time, but in another person's body. The only other person aware of his 'leap" is a hologram of his colleague and best friend, Admiral Al Calavicci, played by Dean Stockwell. Al tells Sam that he must correct things that went wrong in the past before being allowed to leap back to his own time and own body and can only use the resources of the project's supercomputer, Ziggy.

With Sam leaping back and forth into different bodies at different times, the show was allowed to adopt a kind of procedural set up. New characters could guest star and Sam could save the day, have a fling, and learn something new each episode. The series ran on NBC from 1989-1993, so the most attention "Quantum Leap" has received in recent years is thanks to a mention in "Avengers: Endgame."  Despite being over 20 years old, it's still a cool time travel series worth checking out.

Speaking of series that are old, this one goes all the way back to the 1960s. "Doctor Who"  premiered on the BBC in 1963. The series follows the adventures of a Time Lord named "the Doctor," an alien being from the planet Gallifrey who travels through space and time through a craft called the Tardis, which is disguised as an old-fashioned British police call box.

The original series ran from '63 through 1989 and recast the Doctor every few years or so , using the premise that the character has multiple lives and can reincarnate himself into a number of physical bodies. The modern series was revived in 2005 and has starred Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, with Jodie Whitaker taking over in 2017 as the series' first female Doctor. Every Doctor has their own version of a companion, or companions , humans who follow the Doctor throughout space and time, solving problems, battling aliens, robots, or other science fiction, timey-wimey stuff . Now that the Doctor has regained another set of lives, who knows how long the series will go on. But fans see no problems with a never-ending stream of "Doctor Who."

If ever there was a time travel show that was canceled too soon, it's "Timeless." The sci-fi series stars Abigail Spencer as Lucy, a historian, Matt Lanter as Wyatt, a soldier, and Malcolm Barrett as Rufus, a scientist who make up a team trying to prevent a mysterious organization from altering the courses of history through time travel. The "Mothership," a time travel machine invented by Connor Mason, is stolen by Garcia Flynn, who then travels throughout history changing major events. But the team soon realizes that the villain they thought they were fighting is actually much larger and infiltrates the historical timeline in ways they never imagined. The best part about the show was that, instead of focusing on the usual historical subjects, it highlighted often forgotten people of color, women, and lesser-known historical figures, giving them their due and celebrating their contributions to society.

After one season on NBC, "Timeless" was canceled. But the intense fans, who call themselves "Clockblockers," caused such an uproar that NBC renewed the show for a second season only three days after initially canceling. At the end of season 2, NBC pulled the plug once again, and the Clockblockers cried foul. In a kind of compromise, NBC scheduled a two-hour Christmas series finale movie that tied up loose ends and gave much-needed closure to the story.

Based on the series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, Starz's "Outlander"  follows the story of a World War II nurse named Claire (Caitriona Balfe) who finds herself thrown back in time after visiting a circle of mysterious Druid stones. She arrives in 18th Century Scotland and, after being taken in by a band of gruff Scots, she marries the dashing young Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) in order to avoid being taken prisoner by her real husband's evil ancestor, Black Jack Randall. Claire lives through a time of great upheaval in Scotland when tensions with the British control are rising and history-making battles loom in the near future. Despite being initially reluctant to stay, she and Jamie fall deeply in love, and their romance remains the backbone of the series.

Claire stays in the past for some time, but soon travels back to the future and is reunited with her first husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies) and gives birth to her and Jamie's daughter, Brianna, in the 1940s. But as Brianna grows, and learns the truth about her mother's past, her biological father's identity, and her own time travel abilities, Claire, Brianna, and Brianna's paramour Roger all soon travel back to the 18th century to reunite with Jamie. The Fraser family settles in North Carolina a few years before the breakout of the American Revolutionary War, and being that they know what's coming, they find themselves in a pickle.

When the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 crash land on a deserted island, wacky and scary things begin to happen. If you watched "Lost"  back when it aired, you know that the sci-fi drama dealt with flashbacks, flash-forwards, indigenous "others," a mysterious group called the Dharma Initiative, a black smoke monster, and an ancient battle between good and evil. Lost was one of those primetime giants that aired right before streaming services became big, so it was appointment television every week, with fans talking about it and theorizing about its mysteries the next day.

This ABC drama captivated viewers for six seasons, and though time travel was referenced throughout the entire series run, it was really season 4 where time travel played a big part. As the island itself jumps from place to place and from time to time, the main group of characters jumps with it, encountering previous versions of themselves, island events that occurred in the past, and suffering from the effects of temporal displacement. The most beloved episode dealing with time travel is no doubt "The Constant," the episode in which fan favorite Desmond Hume figured out a way to stop his consciousness from jumping through time by finding his constant, his love Penny.

Based on the novel "11/22/63" by Stephen King , this eight-episode series follows a man named Jake Epping (James Franco), a relatively normal guy who is given the chance to change history. As a recently divorced English teacher, Jake doesn't see much excitement, but when his friend Al (Chris Cooper) tells him he's found a way to travel back in time, his life is turned upside down. Al tells Jake that the portal he's discovered goes back to the year 1960 and that he's been working on a plan to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Al's age and advancing cancer diagnosis prevent him from following through on the plan, however, and he asks Jake to take over for him. Jake agrees, though his quest is met with pushback, but from who? As Al explains, the past doesn't want to be changed, and every step he takes toward preventing JFK's assassination leads to more cracks in the timeline.

Save the cheerleader, save the world. That's what future Hiro Nakamura told present-day Hiro Nakamura when he appeared to him from the future. This NBC series followed a group of regular old people who develop special powers, not unlike mutants in the "X-Men" series, after a mysterious worldwide eclipse. Each character gains their own individual abilities. Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) develops the ability to heal from any injury. Senator Nathan Petrelli gains the ability to fly, while his brother Peter (Mil Ventimiglia) can temporarily absorb others' powers.

Hiro's ability to bend space and time, travel into the past and the future, and teleport basically anywhere on the planet, becomes a serious asset throughout the run of the series. But it takes a while for Hiro to perfect his own abilities. The first few times he travels through time don't go as planned, and throughout the series, things can get in the way of him ending up where he wants to go or when he wants to be. Even so, Hiro's time traveling became one of the highlights of "Heroes,"  especially since Masi Oka was so darn charming as the character.

In the opening scenes of "The 4400," an enormous ball of light drops 4400 people at the foot of Mount Rainier in Washington. They soon realize that they were all taken from some other point in time, kidnapped from their own year, beginning in 1946, and deposited into 2004 unaged and without their memories of where they'd been. At first, the 4400 and the rest of the general population believe that they'd been abducted by aliens and all returned to a singular point in time. But the 4400 soon learn that it wasn't aliens who took them from their own times, it was humans from Earth's future who took them.

Soon after returning, the 4400 start developing powers, not unlike the heroes of "Heroes." Some have telekinesis, some have telepathy, some have super-strength. The humans from the future sent them back with these abilities to prevent catastrophic events that they want to avoid in their time. The government, however, views them differently and inhibits their powers with a neurological drug. As the 4400 dissipate, some form terrorist groups, some reject their powers, and some work toward the future humans' goals. "The 4400" ended abruptly after four seasons and left on a somewhat ambiguous note, but it's a fun show to revisit.

In Netflix's "Travelers," time-traveling operatives from a post-apocalyptic future are tasked with preventing certain events that lead to the downfall of society. The series stars Eric McCormack, Mackenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson, Nesta Cooper, Reilly Dolman, and Patrick Gilmore, though there are thousands of other Travelers in the show's current time of 2018. The travelers have their consciousness sent back in time and into the body of a person who was moments before their death. The operative then lives out the rest of that person's life though with a mission always in mind. The rules are as follows: 1. The mission comes first. 2. Leave the future in the past. 3.Don't take a life; don't save a life, unless otherwise directed. Do not interfere. 4. Do not reproduce. 5. In the absence of direction, maintain your host's life. 6. Do not communicate with other known travelers outside of your team unless sanctioned by the Director.

The Director is an unseen entity from the future who controls all missions and speaks to the Travelers through messengers in the form of children. Unlike adults, children can safely be taken over by the Director from the future for a few minutes without being harmed. But naturally, not all Travelers follow the rules, and while the crux of the series leans on a group of people trying to prevent disasters, many of them veer off course and make their own plans. 

"Continuum" is best explained by the main character Keira Cameron's voiceover narration, which says: "2077. My time, my city, my family. When terrorists killed thousands of innocents, they were condemned to die. They had other plans. A time travel device sent us all back 65 years. I want to get home, but I can't be sure what I will return to if history is changed. Their plan: To corrupt and control the present in order to win the future. What they didn't plan on was me."

When Keria, a City Protective Services (CPS) law enforcement officer for the corporatocratic, oligarchic dystopia of the North American Union and its Corporate Congress, discovers that self-described freedom fighters calling themselves Liber8 have escaped execution by traveling to the year 2012, she is inadvertently sucked back in time with them. Keira must capture the eight escapees before they alter the future permanently and prevent her from returning to her own time. 

This SyFy series was based on the 1995 film of the same name that starred Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, though the series itself changed quite a bit in order to stretch the plot into a four-season sci-fi drama. The series stars Aaron Sanford as James Cole, a scavenger who, in 2043, is tasked which traveling back to the year 2015 to stop the release of a biological weapon. So far that's pretty much the premise of the movie, but here's where the show differs. In the movie, James is helped by a psychologist named Kathryn Railly played by Madeleine Stowe, but in the series, James befriends a virologist named Dr. Cassandra "Cassie" Railly (Amanda Schull). Pitt's character, Jeffrey Goines, is also gender-swapped here, with Emily Hampshire playing Jennifer Goines.

Like the movie, the series deals with the Cassandra Complex, the idea that future events can already be known to us but that we have a hard time believing them. It also deals with circular time and the idea that past events can be affected by future events, as is seen in the backward phone messages that lead to James being sent back in time in the first place in the movie. If those aspects of the film really lifted your time travel antennae, the show, which spanned four seasons, dives even deeper.

"Fringe" isn't just about time travel, it's about a science-fiction conglomerate that incorporates inter-dimensional travel, wormholes, alternate realities, and Observers from the future. Anna Torv stars as FBI Agent Olivia Dunham who heads up the bureau's Fringe Division. With the help of "mad scientist" Dr. Walter Biship (John Noble), his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson), and their lab assistant Astrid Farnsworth (Jakisa Nicole), the team explores cases involving fringe science, be they about time travel, mind control, experiments gone wrong or any other strange and obscure criminal activity.

Like "Lost," time travel is kind of a looming presence early in "Fringe," particularly present in the character of "The Observer" (Michael Cerveris), a bald, pale genetically advanced human from the future. While seasons one and two deal with the battle between two dimensions and two realities, time travel really becomes an element in season 3. Seasons 4 and 5 then deal with alternate timelines and the Observers that infiltrate the world from the future, intent on wiping out humanity. The show is confusing as hell, but it sure is fun.

Russian Doll

"Russian Doll" could be pitched as "Natasha Lyonne's 'Groundhog Day,'" but that still wouldn't hint at half of the show's charm and emotion. This Netflix offering is a mind-bending time loop dramedy that's a stylish and surreal exploration of life, death, and all the trauma in between. The first season of "Russian Doll" features Nadia (Lyonne) stuck reliving her 36th birthday until she inevitably dies and resets back to her friend's bathroom. Later in the season, she discovers a fellow time traveler (Charlie Barnett). They quickly realize that the way out of their dead ends and into a new life is through helping each other.

The second season takes some departures from the recursive reality set up in the first season, bending the minds of viewers more thoroughly. "Russian Doll" goes deep, but keeps a sense of humor even as it twists the knife in its characters' hearts — and their timelines. The show keeps audiences just oriented enough by linking "deranged loops" to recognizable spaces and sound cues. You will never look at the subway the same way again, and you will probably never get Harry Nilsson's "Gotta Get Up" out of your head.

The Umbrella Academy

You have got to respect a show that is so high-concept that "time travel" doesn't even get top billing. "The Umbrella Academy" boasts a ghost, a ghost whisperer, super-strength, and robot moms, and that's just scratching the surface. Based on the comics created by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame, "The Umbrella Academy" is a superhero-ish saga that exploits both the butterfly effect and the grandfather paradox for emotional and comedic impact.

The "Umbrella" family is made up of a group of kids all born on the same day, adopted by the same eccentric billionaire. They are trained to protect the world with their various superpowers, but they aren't exactly great at it. This dysfunctional bunch start out fairly estranged, slowly bond to save humanity from an apocalyptic event, only to cause another possible apocalyptic event by sprinkling themselves across time.

In between the tears in the space-time continuum, "The Umbrella Academy" is ultimately an ensemble story about found (and re-found) family. Disconnected siblings learn how to understand each other so they can save the world from bad guys (and themselves) over and over again.

Paper Girls

"Paper Girls" is a brilliant time travel show canceled way ahead of its time. Based on the comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, this Amazon series tells the story of a group of '90s tween girls who get attacked by futuristic invaders. They manage to escape into the future, where one of the girls, Erin, meets her adult self, played by Ali Wong.

The show dispenses with grandfather paradox hand wringing and instead uses the concept of the girls confronting their past and future selves to brutally honest and hilarious effect. Young Erin is horrified to find out how much of herself she's abandoned by the time she turns into Old Erin, and she refuses to let life work out that way. It motivates Erin to want to return to her home time even more — this kid has a clock to beat.

Old Erin is also able to care for her young self in ways she never felt able to when she was Young Erin. It's a beautiful and potent visual metaphor that other characters also make good on. This show is a feast for the eyes as much as its ensemble is a feast for the soul. Plus, Jason Mantzoukas ("The League") playfully chewing scenery as the ominous Grand Father? This show could have lasted until the end of time — or at least until Season 2.

Timewasters

"Timewasters" is a time-travel comedy about a Black British jazz band that accidentally time-slips back to 1920s London, among other timelines. The quartet stumbles into the past via a disgusting elevator that doubles as a time machine. Once the crew shows up in the past, they're treated like freaks, but they gain some measure of success as musicians. While the crew eventually return to the present, they also have their "Back to the Future" moment when they seemingly get stuck in the 1950s.

"Timewasters" is full of funny jokes and great music, and it's a groundbreaking show in a number of ways. "People like us never get to time travel — it's what white people do, like skiing or brunch," creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor told the Royal Television Society . "For me, race is so important." Taylor stars in "Timewasters," which also features Kadiff Karwan ("Slow Horses"), Adelayo Adedayo ("Some Girls"), and Samson Kayo ("Our Flag Means Death"). The show even features cameos from a variety of British comedians, as well as Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson) from "Stranger Things."

The god of mischief meets his match when he comes up against the Time Variance Authority and multiversal versions of himself in Marvel's "Loki." While the branching timeline the TVA is so obsessed with scrubbing clean (and how it matches up with the mechanics of time travel in other Marvel tales) is a bit fuzzy, precision isn't the point here — it's the idea of playfulness versus control.

Nowadays, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is known for assisting his brother Thor at key moments and behaving slightly better than he did in the early days of the MCU. When Loki is taken to time jail after the TVA deems him a "variant," he is given an opportunity to face down the truth of his horrific past — and change his future. Loki's very human moment of self-reckoning is at the heart of a series that is deliciously stylish, silly, and sometimes scary.

Directed with a sense of humor and adventure by Kate Herron, "Loki" takes a cops-and-robbers crime caper into time-travel territory and manages to explore hefty themes with a light touch, including mindless compliance to self-serving overseers and criminalizing anyone deemed "variant." There's also lots of rat-a-tat banter between Loki and Owen Wilson's Mobius, a love affair with Lady Loki, and, of course, the best Loki of all, Alligator Loki.

Four families weave a tangled web of time travel in "Dark," a German-language psycho thriller about missing kids, a rotten town, and how almost all of our secrets come out in time. If you're looking for the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, feel-good side of time travel TV, you best look elsewhere.

"Dark" follows its many characters over the course of their lifetimes and has, at one point, three timelines going at once. Part of the intrigue and challenge of watching the show is trying to understand how (and when) each timeline threads into the other. If you decide to watch it, you best get your yarn boards ready to chart the relationships and betrayals taking place across time in the town of Winden.

While "Dark" is as much a show about human connection and how frayed it can become as it is about time travel, it wins MVP for using so many time travel paradoxes in its three-season run. "Dark" is also an innovator in the field of wormhole placement. Wormholes are already not to be trusted, but a wormhole underneath a nuclear power plant? No thank you.

Beforeigners

What happens when a bunch of Viking-era warriors, nineteenth-century figures, and Stone Age people pop up in modern-day Oslo? "Beforeigners" attempts to answer that question while navigating twisty murder mysteries — this Norwegian series may be best described as "crime travel." It focuses more on the present-day collaboration between the time refugees and their modern counterparts than on how or why they showed up in the first place.

"Beforeigners" centers around the odd-couple dynamic duo partnership between hardened police detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) and eager new Viking police recruit Alfhildr Enginsdottir (Krista Kosonen) as they investigate the murder of a Stone Age victim. They even look into crimes with possible ties to Jack the Ripper.

The metaphor of time migration is an apt one for immigration, and this sci-fi show explores tricky real-life issues with plenty of scope. Creators Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin got their start in comedy writing, and their humor and commitment to all bits is evident in the show, including the language used. The pair "constructed the language that Stone Age people spoke, and even with the language from the 19th century: We worked on it to make it sound right," Bjørnstad told Variety . "Why not invest in language, which is such a big part of a person's identity?"

"Sliders" is a '90s sci-fi adventure series that features Jerry O'Connell and friends getting lost across the multiverse. O'Connell ("Stand By Me") plays boy genius Quinn Mallory, inventor of "the timer" — a device that lets him and his friends "slide" through a wormhole vortex into different versions of Earth. The thing about wormhole vortexes, though, is that they like to misbehave, meaning Quinn and his buds never know where they're headed next on their adventures. This makes their quest to get back home to "Earth Prime" a tricky one.

While the show gets flak for falling apart in its final seasons, "Sliders" starts off fun and strong. It's at its best when having bonkers fun (like when Rembrandt discovers a world where he could have been Elvis-level famous) and when it's exploring real-world issues in a high-concept dimension (like when the crew visits an Earth that treats men worse than women). Even if you've seen it before, it's definitely worth a re-watch, because  "Sliders" is better than you remember.

Click here to subscribe

The Uncorked Librarian logo 2023 with gray cat, green suitcase, and pile of books with glass on wine on top and tv remote

40 Best Time Travel Books To Read Right Now (2024)

This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

Pinterest Hidden Image

Travel back in time with the best time travel books, including engrossing thrillers, romance, contemporary lit, and mind-bending sci-fi.

Best Time Travel Books featured image with clock like structure with blue and green electric lightning coming out of it

Table of Contents

Best Time Travel Books

Books about time travel promise to not only transport you across time periods and space – Doctor Who-style – but also tesser you into new dimensions and around the world. Most readers already know about classics like The Time Traveler’s Wife , A Christmas Carol , and The Time Machine .

For romance time travel, grab In A Holidaze or One Last Stop . For contemporary and new time travel books, Haig’s The Midnight Library and Serle’s In Five Years captivated our hearts and minds.

Recursion re-kindled our love for science fiction, and Ruby Red transported us to 18th-century London. Books like Displacement promise intuitive and raw commentary about generational trauma and racism in graphic novel form.

Below, find the best time travel novels across genres for adults and teens, including history, romance, classics, sci-fi, YA, and thrilling fiction. Get ready to travel in the blink of an eye, and be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments. Let’s get started!

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

If you enjoy contemporary and literary fiction filled with strong main characters, these are some of the best books in the time travel genre. Uncover new releases as well as books on the bestseller lists. Of course, we’ll share a few lesser-known gems too.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle book cover with sketched city of New York City

Would your life change if you had one seemingly real dream or premonition? What if some key facts were missing but you had no idea? Can we change the future?

One of the best books about time travel and friendship, don’t skip In Five Years . In fact, we read this New York City-based novel in half a day. Have the tissue box ready.

Dannie nails an important job interview and is hoping to get engaged. Of course, this is all a part of her perfect 5-year plan. Dannie has arranged every minute of her life ever since her brother died in a drunk driving accident.

On the night of Dannie’s “scheduled” engagement, she falls asleep only to have a vision of herself 5 years into the future in the arms of another man. Did she just time travel or could this be a dream? When Dannie arrives back in 2020, her life goes back to normal. …That is until she meets the man from her dream.

We were expecting In Five Years to be a time travel romance story; however, this is a different type of love and one of the best books about strong friendships .

Read In Five Years : Amazon | Goodreads

Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi book cover with two chairs, blue wallpaper, and cat on the ground

Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot | We just love Japanese literature . One of the most debated time travel books among our readers – you’ll either love it or hate it – Before the coffee gets cold takes place at a cafe in Tokyo, Japan.

Along with coffee, this 140-year-old, back-alley cafe lets visitors travel back in time. Four visitors at the cafe are hoping to time travel to see someone for the last (or first) time. The way each patron views the cafe says a lot about them. The details and repetition are everything.

True to the title, visits may only last as long as it takes for the coffee to grow cold. If they don’t finish their coffee in time, there are ghostly consequences.

Before the coffee gets cold asks, who would you want to see one last time, and what issues you would confront?

Along with the many rules of time travel, these visitors are warned that the present will not change. Would you still travel back knowing this? Can something, anything, still change – even within you?

The story has a drop of humor with a beautiful message. We shed a tear or two. Discover even more terrific and thought-provoking Japanese fantasy novels here .

Read Before the coffee gets cold : Amazon | Goodreads

If you are looking for the most inspiring take on time travel in books, Haig’s The Midnight Library is it. This is one of those profound stories that make you think more deeply . TWs for pet death (early on) and suicide ideation.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig deep blue book cover with large library structure

Imagine if you could see your other possible lives and fix your regrets. Would that path be better? Would these changes make you happier?

Set in Bedford, England, and at a library , Nora answers these questions as she intentionally overdoses on pills. Caught in the Midnight Library – a purgatory of sorts – Nora explores books filled with the ways her life could have turned out. She tries on these alternative lives, pursuing different dreams, marrying different people, and realizing that some parts of her root life were not as they seemed on the surface.

Find hope and simplicity in one of the most authentic and heaviest time travel novels on this list. Haig addresses mental health through a new lens that is both beautiful and moving.

With a team full of avid readers and librarians, discover our top selections featuring more books about books .

Read The Midnight Library : Amazon | Goodreads

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver book cover with silhouette of two people embraced and kissing next to bike with basket

Some of the best time travel books are those with alternate realities, including The Two Lives of Lydia Bird . There are content warnings for prescription pill addiction and more.

Set in England, Lydia and Freddie are planning their marriage when the unthinkable happens. Freddie dies in a car accident on the way to Lydia’s birthday dinner. In a matter of seconds, Lydia’s world falls apart. She isn’t sure how she will survive. When Lydia starts taking magical pink sleeping pills, she enters an alternate universe where Freddie is alive and well.

Caught between her dream world and real life, Lydia must decide if she will give in to her addiction – living in a temporary fantasy world – or give it up completely.

While the repetitive and predictable plot drags a bit – slightly hurting the pacing – the overall story shows emotional growth and the nature of healing after loss. And, as Lydia soon learns via her dreams, no love is perfect. Maybe her future was destined to be different anyway, which is reminiscent of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library .

Read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird Jose Silver : Amazon | Goodreads

The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North book cover with young boy holding a series of rectangular mirrors that grow progressively smaller

If you are looking for more suspenseful books about time travel and like Groundhog Day , check out The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. However, this is not just one day on repeat; instead, this is a lifetime.

Harry August is repeatedly reborn into the same life, retaining his memories each time. No matter what Harry does or says, when he lands on his deathbed, he always returns back to his childhood, again and again. On the verge of his eleventh death, though, a girl changes the course of his life. He must use his accumulated wisdom to prevent catastrophe.

Read The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August : Amazon | Goodreads

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim book cover with blue cloudy like shy and dots in circular pattern

When it comes to time travel books, An Ocean of Minutes is one of the most original takes about time travel’s effects on alternate history.

Polly and Frank are deeply in love in 1981 when a pandemic devastates the planet. By the end of 1981, time travel (invented in this alternate reality in 1993) has been made available.

Because of this invention, individuals can sign on to work for the TimeRaiser corporation in order to escape or save their loved ones in the present. Due to a flaw in the technology, though, they can only transport people for 12 years. This prevents them from stopping the pandemic by just 6 months.

When Frank gets ill, Polly signs up, both agreeing they will meet back up in 1993. Now alone in the future, Polly has to learn to navigate a world she has less than zero preparation for. In this world, she is a time refugee, bonded to TimeRaiser without a physical cent to her name.

Lim uses the time travel mechanic to cleverly explore the subject of immigration, forcing the reader to follow Polly blindly into a world they should know, but don’t. This is what makes An Ocean of Minutes one of the most unique time travel novels on this reading list.

Read An Ocean of Minutes : Amazon | Goodreads

Time Travel In Science Fiction

For fantasy and sci-fi lovers, take a quantum leap into fictional worlds, quantum physics, possible futures, black holes, and endless possibilities. See if you can tell the difference between the real world and new dimensions.

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Recursion by Blake Crouch book cover with infinity symbol and yellow lettering for title on gray cover

Recursion is one of our all-time favorite time travel books to gift to dads who love sci-fi. Can you tell what we gave our dad for Christmas one year?

In Recursion, no one actually physically time travels – well, sort of. Instead, memories become the time-traveling reality.

Detective Barry Sutton is investigating False Memory Syndrome. Neuroscientist Helena Smith might have the answers he needs. The disease drives people crazy – and to their deaths – by causing them to remember entire lives that aren’t theirs. Or are they!?

All goes to heck when the government gets its hands on this mind-blowing technology. Can Barry and Helena stop this endless loop?

Recursion is also a (2019) Goodreads Best Book for Science Fiction.

Read Recursion : Amazon | Goodreads

This Is How You Lose The War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar 

Best Time Travel Books, This Is How You Lose The War Max Gladstone book cover with red cardinal and blue jay

A Goodreads runner-up for one of the best science fiction novels (of 2019) – and one of the shortest time travel novels on this list – This Is How You Lose The Time War follows two warring time-traveling agents falling in love through a letter exchange.

Red and Blue have nothing in common except that they travel across time and space and are alone. Their growing and forbidden love is punishable by death and their agencies might be onto them.

In a somewhat beautiful yet bizarre story, we watch as Red and Blue slowly fall for each other and confess their love. They engage in playful banter and nicknames. Every shade of red and blue reminds them of each other.

The first half of the novel is a bit abstract. You might wonder what the heck you’ve gotten yourself into. However, once you get your feet planted firmly on the ground of the plot, the story picks up and starts making more sense.

We can’t promise you’ll love or even understand This Is How You Lose The Time War – we aren’t sure we do. However, this is truly one of the most unique sci-fi and LGBTQ+ time travel romance books on this reading list – written by two authors. Also, maybe crack out the dictionary…

Explore even more of the best LGBTQ+ fantasy books to read next.

Read This Is How You Lose The War : Amazon | Goodreads

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai book cover with bright yellow title

A debut novel, All Our Wrong Todays is both a humorous and entertaining time travel book that speaks to how we become who we are.

In 2016, technology perfected the world for Tom Barren. However, we all know that perfection doesn’t equate to happiness. Barren has lost his girlfriend, and he just happens to own a time machine… Now, Barren has to decide if he wants to keep his new, manipulated future or if he just wants to go back home to his depressing but normal life.

Read All Our Wrong Todays : Amazon | Goodreads

Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen

Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen book cover with person in gold running on infinity ribbon with city

Imagine getting trapped in time and starting over. That’s exactly what happens to IT worker, Kin Stewart, in one of the bestselling science fiction time travel books, Here And Now And Then .

Stewart has two lives since he is a displaced time-traveling agent stuck in San Francisco in the 1990s. He has a family that knows nothing about his past; or, should we say future. When a rescue team arrives to take him back, Stewart has to decide what he is willing to risk for his new family.

Here And Now And Then is a time travel book filled with emotional depth surrounding themes of bonds, identity, and sacrifice. Find even more books set in San Francisco, California (and more!).

Read Here And Now And Then : Amazon | Goodreads

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu book cover with sketched people on red background with gray section with words

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is one of the most unusual books about time travel out there.

Our protagonist Charles Yu lives in a world where time travel exists and is readily available to the average person. And yes, he is named after the author, and yes, it is as meta as it sounds; and yes, this is just the beginning of this speculative fiction time travel book.

Charles Yu’s day job is spent repairing time machines for Time Warner Time. But in his free time, he tries to help the people who use time travel to do so safely and to counsel them if things have gone wrong.

It’s no surprise that Charles’ entire life revolves around time travel since his father invented the technology many years ago. And then he disappeared. In fact, Charles is also trying to find out just what happened to his dad, and where – or when – he’s gone.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe won’t be for everyone, but it’s one of the best time travel books if you want delightfully meta, fantastically non-linear, and very very weird.

Read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe : Amazon | Goodreads

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez book cover with purple, yellow, and red circular swirls

For beautiful, lyrical time travel novels about found family and love, The Vanished Birds is a must-read.

Nia Imani exists outside of time and space. She travels in and out of the world through a pocket of time with her space crew. They emerge to trade or sell goods every eight months. But eight months for them is 15 years for everyone else.

She has lived this way for hundreds of years. Though she has her crew, and there are people she shares connections with sporadically throughout their lives, she is lonely. And although she barely ages, she watches friends and lovers grow old and die.

One such person is Kaeda, who meets Nia for the first time when he is 7. The next time he sees her, he has aged 15 years, while she is only months older. She continues to come every 15 years of his life, always looking the same.

Then one day a mysterious, mute boy falls from the sky into Nia’s life. His name is Ahro, and there’s something extra special about him. Something that could revolutionize space travel forever. And now there might be people after Ahro who won’t love him the way Nia does.

If you love a character-driven book with exquisite prose – and a few time warps – this is one of the best time travel books for you.

Read The Vanished Birds : Amazon | Goodreads

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett book cover with illustrated people in purple walking down street with green and yellow hued houses

Night Watch is one of the most fun and thrilling books about time travel. It’s also a bit ridiculous and very very British.

Why can’t policing just be simple? All Sam Vimes wanted to do was capture and arrest a dangerous murderer. But thanks to those damned wizards and their experiments, he and the killer have both been accidentally thrown back in time thirty years.

And to top it off, the man who would have become a mentor to young Sam Vimes in the past has been killed in the process! How’s Vimes going to get this all sorted out?

The City Watch he’s spent years improving is just a bunch of semi-competent volunteers at this point. He’s got no money, no clothes, and no friends. But at least he’s making enemies fast. Can he catch the killer, stop history from not repeating itself, and get home to his family? Oh, and the city’s about to dissolve into civil war. Typical.

Night Watch is perfect if you prefer your time travel books to be fantasy-based.

P.S. There may be mild spoilers for previous books in the Discworld series, but this can be read as a standalone. And if you only ever read one Discworld novel, this is one of the best there is – and so far the only one of the Discworld books with time travel!

Read Night Watch : Amazon | Goodreads

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz book cover with purple, gray, and green lettering for title

The Future of Another Timeline is one of the few time travel books to explore history through a feminist lens.

In 1992, Beth – a high school senior – and her friends Heather, Lizzy, and Soojin attend a riot grrl concert with Heather’s boyfriend Scott. But afterward, one of Scott’s not-so-funny sexist jokes gets out of hand and Lizzy accidentally kills him. Now they’re on the run, and the bodies just keep piling up.

Meanwhile, in 2022, Tess is part of a group of women and non-binary people working together to change history. They have the use of five time devices which only allow them to travel backward and back to the present day – but never forwards.

Beth and Tess come from two wildly different times (1992, and 2022, respectively). But, while Beth is busy making history, Tess is quite literally trying to change it. However, both of them want the same thing: a better world. When their worlds collide, will they be able to save each other – and the world?

The Future of Another Timeline is a time travel fiction celebration of feminism and queerness with lots of sci-fi and punk rock thrown in. This is one of the best time travel novels for those who enjoy stellar women making history .

Read The Future of Another Timeline : Amazon | Goodreads

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley book cover with ladder like spiral swirl

The Kingdoms is wildly imaginative and sure to enchant fans of time travel books, alternative history stories, and tales about parallel universes.

In 1898 Joe Tournier steps off a train and suddenly can’t remember anything that comes before that moment. The world he now finds himself in is as foreign to him as it is to us: an alternate history/reality where the UK lost the Battle of Trafalgar and is now a French colony.

In this world, the British are kept as slaves. Napoleon is a popular name for pets, and tartan is outlawed. Since Joe arrives on a train from Glasgow speaking English and wearing tartan, there is some speculation he might be from The Saints, a terrorist group based in Edinburgh fighting for freedom.

But all Joe remembers is the fading image of a woman and the name Madeline. Although he is identified by his owner and brought “home,” Joe is determined to find this Madeline. And his resolve is only strengthened when he receives a postcard signed ‘– M’ and dated 90 years in the past.

Discover even more books about Scottish culture, history, and everyday life.

Read The Kingdoms : Amazon | Goodreads

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley book cover with human like person in gear and lit hole with blue radiating from it

The Light Brigade is one of the best time travel stories for anyone who loves character-driven tales or books about war and conflict.

As war wages on Mars, the military has devised the perfect soldier to fight on the frontlines: being made of light. The Light Brigade, as they’re called back home, is made up of soldiers who have undergone a procedure that breaks them down into atoms capable of traveling at the speed of light. They are the perfect soldiers, but broken people.

The book follows one such soldier, Dietz, an eager new recruit who is experiencing battle out of sync with everyone else. Because of this, she – and we – see a different reality of the war than the one presented by the Corporate Corps. As Dietz becomes more and more unstuck in time, she becomes more and more unsure of her own sanity and the role she is playing in this war.

Read The Light Brigade : Amazon | Goodreads

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way

The Umbrella Academy Vol. 1 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba book cover with illustrated image of person's body meshed with a guitar

You Look Like Death Volume 1 | Now a popular (and excellent) Netflix TV show, The Umbrella Academy is one of the best time travel books of all time.

One day, forty-seven children are suddenly and inexplicably born to women who were not previously pregnant. Eccentric millionaire Reginald Hargreeves goes around the world buying as many of the surviving children as he possibly can. He is able to get seven.

These children, it turns out, all have superpowers (except, it seems, for the unremarkable Number Seven aka Vanya). They become the crime-fighting group: The Umbrella Academy.

Fast forward several years, and Number Five, whose special power is that he can travel in time a few seconds or minutes per go, has mysteriously appeared after Hargreeves dies. And now he brings warning of an apocalypse – one which he insists none of his siblings will survive.

The Umbrella Academy series currently has three volumes, all packed with tales of time travel, parallel worlds, family drama, and lots of epic battles. We’ve absolutely loved this time travel book series so far; we can’t wait to see what Gerard Way does with future installments.

Discover even more great books with music, musicians, and bands.

Read The Umbrella Academy : Amazon | Goodreads

Historical Fiction

Travel back in time to witness wars and history. See what happens if you try to rewrite the future. Many of these historical fiction books with time travel promise to teach you more.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton book cover with black background and gold writing

We have a plethora of Agatha Christie fans amongst our Uncorked Readers , and Turton’s The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evenlyn Hardcastle is inspired by Christie.

Similar to Levithan’s Every Day , each day, Aiden wakes up in a different body from the guests of the Blackheath Manor. Trapped in a time loop, Aiden must solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder to escape. In the process, he navigates the tangled web of secrets, lies, and interconnected lives of the guests. Can he identify the killer and break the cycle?

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an award-winning historical thriller and one of the best time travel novels if you enjoy Downton Abbey and Groundhog’s Day . Discover even more great books set at hotels, mansions, and more.

Read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle : Amazon | Goodreads

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander Series Diane Gabaldon book cover with old building on blue background

Travel back in time to Scotland in one of the most well-known time travel book series (and now TV series) of all time. Outlander is a part of pop culture. A New York Times bestseller and one of the top 10 most loved books according to The Great America Read, get ready to enter Scotland in 1743.

Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, walks through an ancient circle of stones and is transported into a world of love, death, and war. This is a place of political intrigue, clan conflicts, and romantic entanglements. Claire must navigate the unfamiliar landscape while grappling with her feelings for the dashing Jamie Fraser.

Encounter even more cult-classic books from the ’90s like A Game Of Thrones , which is perfect for fantasy map lovers .

Read Outlander : Amazon | Goodreads

11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King

Best Time Travel Books 11/22/63: A Novel book cover with newspaper clipping of JFK being slain in Dallas

Written by bestselling author, Stephen King, 11/22/63 is one of the best award-winning time travel books for historical fiction lovers. Set in 1963 when President Kennedy is shot, 11/22/63 begs the question: what if you could go back in time and change history?

Enter Jake Epping in Lisbon Falls, Maine.  Epping asks his students to write about a time that altered the course of their lives. Inspired by one of those haunting essays, Epping enlists to prevent Kennedy’s assassination.  How is this time travel possible? With the discovery of a time portal in a local diner’s storeroom…

11/22/63 is one of the most thrilling and realistic books about time travel, according to both critics and readers.

Read 11/22/63 : Amazon | Goodreads

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred by Octavia E Butler book cover with young black woman's face and wooden houses that she is looking down upon

If you are looking for historical fiction novels about time travel that address slavery and racism, be sure to check out Butler’s Kindred. This is also one of the best books published in the 1970s .

One minute Dana is celebrating her birthday in modern-day California. The next, she finds herself in the Antebellum South on a Pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. Dana is expected to save the plantation owner’s son from drowning. Each time Dana finds herself back in this time period as well as the slave quarters, her stays grow longer and longer as well as more dangerous.

Examine the haunting legacy and trauma of slavery across time. For younger readers, there is also a graphic novel adaptation . Discover more books that will transport you to the South .

Read Kindred : Amazon | Goodreads

What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Best Historical Fiction Time Travel Books What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon book cover with white woman's face with reddish brown hair and waves

A bestseller and Goodreads top choice book, if you devour historical Irish fiction, What The Wind Knows will transport you to Ireland in the 1920s.

Anne Gallagher heads to Ireland to spread her grandfather’s ashes. Devastated, her grief pulls her into another time. Ireland is on the verge of entering a war, and Anne embraces a case of mistaken identity. She finds herself pulled into Ireland’s fight for Independence at the risk of losing her future life. She also falls for another main character and doctor, Thomas Smith.

What The Wind Knows is one of the best time travel novels that both romance and fantasy readers can appreciate. Witness connections that transcend time.

Read What The Wind Knows : Amazon | Goodreads

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes book cover with person in skirt and stripped leggings glowing gold

Known for being one of the best time travel books for thriller lovers, The Shining Girls also has the reputation as the spookiest novel on this reading list.

Kirby Mazrachi is the last shining girl – a girl with a future and so much potential. Harper Curtis is a murderer from the past meant to kill Mazrachi. However, Kirby is not about to easily go out without a fight, leading her on one violent quantum leap through multiple decades.

As Kirby races against time to track down a serial killer and unravel the mysteries of the House, encounter themes of resilience, fate, and the shining spirit that can transcend even the darkest forces.

Read The Shining Girls : Amazon | Goodreads

Time Travel Romance Books

We love a good time-travel romance novel, but we also understand how hard it can be to hold onto love when time is so unstable. From queer love stories set on trains to holiday celebrations, fall in love across time with these books.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston book cover with one woman on a pink train and another walking by

From bestselling author, Casey McQuiston of Red, White, & Royal Blue – one of our favorite LGBTQ+ books for new adults – don’t miss the most-talked-about book (from 2021), One Last Stop.

Twenty-three-year-old August is quite the cynic and living in New York City. Up until now, August has jumped schools and towns as often as you change a pair of socks. August has also never been in a serious relationship and wants to find “her person.” August’s life suddenly changes, though, when she meets a beautiful and mysterious woman on the train.

Jane looks a little…out of date… and for good reason; she’s from the 1970s and trapped in the train’s energy. August wants nothing more than to help Jane leave the train, but does that mean leaving her too?

A feel-good, older coming-of-age story, laugh out loud and be utterly dazzled as you follow love across time and space. You’ll cozy (and drink) up in the parties and community surrounding August. One Last Stop is one of the all-time best LGBTQ+ time travel books – and perfect if you enjoy books that take place on trains .

Read One Last Stop : Amazon | Goodreads

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Best Time Travel Books Fiction The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger book cover with young girl's legs with long white socks and black shoes next to men's pair of brown shoes

The Time Traveler’s Wife is one the top time travel romance novels – and not just because the story features a librarian . We are so biased.

Henry and Clare have loved each other pretty much forever. Unfortunately, Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, sporadically misplacing him in time. Of course, this time-traveling dilemma makes Clare’s and Henry’s marriage and future together pretty darn interesting.

Grab some Kleenex as they attempt to live normal lives and survive impending devastation. The Time Traveler’s Wife has also been made into a romantic movie classic . Watch even more fantasy movies with romance .

Read The Time Traveler’s Wife : Amazon | Goodreads

In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren

In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren green book cover with holiday lights

If you are looking for a sweet and sexy holiday rom-com set in Utah, grab In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren.

Mae leaves her family and friend’s Christmas vacation home after drunkenly making out with an old childhood friend. Blame the spiked eggnog. Unfortunately, Mae’s secretly in love with her best friend’s brother, Andrew. On the ride to the airport, Mae wishes for happiness just as a truck hits her parent’s car. 

Mae lands in a time-travel loop where her dreams start coming true.  Is it too good to last?   What happens when she isn’t happy once again? Is she trapped?

For holiday books about time travel, this one is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit if you enjoy movies like Holidates  or  Groundhog’s Day . It’s light with a happy ending – typical of this author duo. We also recommend In A Holidaze if you are looking for Christmas family gathering books – a big request we see here at TUL.

P.S. Did you know that Christina Lauren is a pen name for a writing duo, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings? Christina Lauren also wrote The Unhoneymooners , which was also hilariously enjoyable and set on an island .

Read In A Holidaze : Amazon | Goodreads

A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

Time Travel Romance A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux book cover with pretty beige stucco house with yard and flowering bushes

For cozy time travel romance books and a feminist tale set abroad, try A Knight In Shining Armor .

Dougless Montgomery is weeping on top of a tombstone when Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, appears. Although this armor-clad hunk allegedly died in 1564, he stands before her about to embark on a journey to clear his name. Convicted of treason, Montgomery vows to help her soon-to-be lover find his accuser and set the record straight.

Read A Knight In Shining Armor : Amazon | Goodreads

The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz

The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz book cover with lighthouse

Set in South Carolina, if you love lighthouses and beach vibes, you’ll find something enjoyable in the time travel romance, The Night Mark .

After Faye’s husband dies, she cannot move on and recover. Accepting a photographer job in SC, Faye becomes obsessed with the local lighthouse’s myth, The Lady of the Light.

Back in 1921, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter mysteriously drowned. Faye is drawn into a love story that isn’t hers and becomes entangled in a passionate and forbidden love affair.

Read The Night Mark : Amazon | Goodreads

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston book cover with two people standing around title on yellow background

Anyone who likes their time travel books to have a magical love story should pick up The Seven Year Slip for their next read. It’s one of our favorite magical realism novels .

When Clementine’s aunt dies, she inherits her fancy New York apartment on the Upper East Side. Although Clementine would really rather have her aunt back and can’t imagine living in her home, she eventually forces herself to move in and inhabit her aunt’s space.

And not long after, she wakes up to discover a strange man in her living room… except it’s not her living room, it’s her aunt’s… from seven years ago. Clementine’s aunt always said her apartment held a touch of magic; sometimes it created time slips that brought two people together when they were at a crossroads.

But what happens when you start to fall for someone stuck seven years in the past? Clementine knows there’s no future together, but she also can’t let go of this link to her aunt.

Like her previous speculative fiction romance, The Dead Romantics , Ashely Poston’s unique time travel tale is full of heartache and grief. However, it will also make you swoon. Basically, this one is a must if you are a fan of time travel romance books.

Read The Seven Year Slip : Amazon | Goodreads

Classic Books

No time travel reading list would be complete without the classics. Below, uncover just a few great time travel novels that started it all.

The End of Eternity by Issac Asimov

The End of Eternity by Issac Asimov book cover with turquoise strip

The End of Eternity is said to be one of Asimov’s science fiction masterpieces. This is also one of the most spellbinding books about time travel – although some criticize the story for its loopholes.

Harlan is a member of the elite future known as an Eternal. He lives and works in Eternity, which like any good time travel novel, is located separately from time and space.

Harlan makes small changes in the timeline in order to better history. Of course, altering the course of the world is dangerous and comes with repercussions, especially when Harlan falls in love.

Read The End of Eternity : Amazon | Goodreads

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Classic Time Travel books, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with man carrying a young boy with cane on his back

It goes without saying that Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the most famous and best time travel books for classic lovers – and a literary canon-worthy Christmas novel.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a greedy, lonely, and cruel man who truly has no Christmas spirit. Haunted by the ghosts of the past, present, and future, Scrooge must find the ultimate redemption before it’s too late. Does he have a heart?

Find even more classic and contemporary ghost books , including a few unique takes on ghosts.

Read A Christmas Carol : Amazon | Goodreads

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut book cover with yellow skull on red background

Slaughterhouse-Five is a somewhat bizarre time travel book about finding meaning in our sometimes fractured and broken lives. It’s also one of the most popular books published in the ’60s .

Similar to The Time Traveler’s Wife, Billy Pilgrim is “unstuck” in time in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Drafted into World War II, Pilgrim serves as a Chaplain’s assistant until he is captured by the Germans. He survives the bombing at Dresden and ultimately becomes a married optometrist. Things get a little wild…

Suffering from PTSD, Billy claims that he is kidnapped by aliens in a different dimension. Like most time travel novels, the story is out of order and Billy travels to different parts of his life.

Aliens come in all shapes and sizes; have more alien encounters with this reading list .

Read Slaughterhouse-Five : Amazon | Goodreads

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain book cover with young man in suit looking at knights on horses

First published in 1889, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is one of the most popular classic and satirical time travel novels that’s set close to our childhood home. Having grown up in CT close to the old Colt factory, this story makes us smile.

Hank Morgan supervises the gun factory and is knocked unconscious. Upon waking, he finds himself in Britain about to be executed by the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table in Camelot.

Morgan uses his future knowledge to his advantage, making him a powerful and revered wizard, which unfortunately doesn’t quite save him as he hopes. Not to mention that Morgan tries to introduce modern-day conveniences and luxuries to a time period that isn’t quite ready for them.

Read A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court : Amazon | Goodreads

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Classic Time Travel novels The Time Machine by H.G. Wells book cover with shapes

The Time Machine is one of the best frontrunner time travel books of all time. Published in 1895, the Time Traveler recalls his exhausting time travel adventures to incredulous believers. He even disappears in front of them.

Blended with fantasy and science fiction over the course of 800,000 years, the Time Traveler battles “bad guys.” He also loses his time machine, debatably falls in love, and meets the underground dwelling Morlocks.

Read The Time Machine : Amazon | Goodreads

Young Adults Books

For young adults and teens – plus adults who appreciate YA – read the best middle-grade and high school time travel books. We’ve included more time travel graphic novels and manga here too.

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Displacement by Kiku Hughes book cover with illustrated two people walking away from each other but both looking back and fire tower along fence in the background

For historical YA graphic novels , Displacement is one of the must-read books about time travel that will teach young readers about generational trauma, racism, politics, and war.

Follow Kiku, who is displaced in time, back to the period of U.S. Japanese incarceration [internment] camps – essentially glorified prisons – during WW2. Kiku begins learning more about her deceased grandmother’s history, which mirrors the horrid actions under former President Donald Trump. How can Kiku help stop the past from repeating itself, and more so, how can we?

In a simplistic but powerful style of storytelling, Hughes’s emotional YA WW2 book is accessible to young readers. Displacement is also one of the shorter and quicker books with time travel on this list. Find even more LGBT+ graphic novels to read – one of our favorite genres.

Read Displacement : Amazon | Goodreads

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

YA Time Travel Books The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig with red sailed shop on water and woman looking through a crack

Changing the past can be pretty tempting. We’ve even seen that The Flash cannot resist. However, altering the course of history can be dangerous…

The first of two YA time travel books, Nix is the daughter of a time traveler. Her dad can sail anywhere on his ship, The Temptation. Her dad has his own temptation, though: to travel back to Honolulu in 1868, the year before her mom dies in childbirth. Nix’s father threatens to possibly erase her life and destroy a relationship with her only friend.

Discover even more great books about maps. Or, travel via armchair with these ship books.

Read The Girl From Everywhere : Amazon | Goodreads

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

YA Time Travel Books Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier book cover with jewels and portrait of a woman from the 18 century England on red background

Translated by Anthea Bell | If you are looking for time travel in books and enjoy YA historical fiction, try Ruby Red , which is the first in the Ruby Red Trilogy.

Gwyneth Shepherd quickly learns that she can easily time travel, unlike her cousin who has been preparing her entire life for the feat. Gwyneth wants to know why such a secret was kept from her. There are so many lies. Gwyneth time travels with the handsome Gideon back and forth between modern-day and 18th-century London to uncover secrets from the past.

Back in our MLIS and library days, Ruby Red was one of our favorite YA time travel books to recommend since so few knew about the series. Just a small warning that this enemies-to-lovers trope is a tad sexist, though. Find books like Ruby Red on our books with red (and more colors) in the title reading list .

Read Ruby Red : Amazon | Goodreads

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs book cover with levitating young girl on black and white cover

A little creepier for young adult time travel novels, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is all about time loops. We’ve only read the first in this eerie series that mixes manipulated vintage photography with a suspenseful and chilling story.

Jacob discovers a decaying orphanage on a mysterious island off the coast of Wales. Known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the building isn’t exactly abandoned… Jacob runs into peculiar children who might be more than just ghosts.

If you are looking for Kurt Vonnegut-esque time travel books for teenagers, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is for you. Find even more great adult and YA haunted house books to add to your reading list .

Read Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children : Amazon | Goodreads

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle book cover with space

One of the most well-known books about time travel for families – made even more popular by Oprah and Mindy Kaling, A Wrinkle In Time , is the first book in The Time Quintet .

Although a time travel book series for elementary and middle-grade students – and also a 1963 Newbery Medal winner – adults will love the lessons and whimsical sci-fi quality of A Wrinkle In Time.

Meg Murray and her brother, Charles Wallace, go on an adventure in time to find and rescue their father. Their dad disappeared while working for the government on a mysterious tesseract project.

Watch this thrilling time travel adventure mixed with a coming-of-age story and a little girl power, too.

Read A Wrinkle in Time : Amazon | Goodreads

Orange by Ichigo Takano

Orange by Ichigo Takano book cover with illustrated three people wearing brown slacks and green blazers with trees behind them

Translated by Lasse Christian Christiansen and Amber Tamosaitis | This YA sci-fi romance manga is one of the most endearing time travel books you’ll ever read.

On the first day of 11th grade, Naho oversleeps for the first time ever. She also receives a letter that claims to be sent from herself 10 years in the future. The letter tells her both of the two big things that will happen to her that day as proof of sender: she will be late, and there will be a new kid in class named Naruse Kakeru from Tokyo who will sit next to her.

Naho is unsure if she trusts the letter, or whether or not she should heed its warnings – especially since it talks about past regrets and trying to undo them.

Orange is an adorable, but heartbreaking time travel manga that teaches us the meaning of friendship, love, regret, and so much more. If you’re looking for the best books about time travel for teens, Orange is the perfect option (and adults will love it too).

Read Orange : Amazon | Goodreads

If you devour the time travel genre, don’t miss these great movies…

If you enjoy books that take you back in time, you might also appreciate these top movies with time loops . Would you be able to fix past mistakes, fall in love, and you know, maybe not die this time? Find out if these protagonists succeed.

Travel Back In Time With These Reading Lists:

  • Best ’90s Books
  • Iconic ’80s Books
  • Best WWII Historical Fiction

Christine Owner The Uncorked Librarian LLC with white brunette female in pink dress sitting in chair with glass of white wine and open book

Christine Frascarelli

Writer Dagney McKinney white female with light brown hair wearing a purple shirt and smiling

Dagney McKinney

45 Comments

Hi, nice list but just FYI you have one of the novels named incorrectly: it should be All Our Wrong Todays, not All Our Wrongs Today.

Thanks for letting us know! Every year, this list grows, and sometimes we miss a few mistakes.

The Things Are Bad Series by Paul L Giles is the funniest, most insightful time travel books I’ve ever read. It has everything!

Thanks so much for the review and rec!

Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain is an engrossing time travel book that I enjoyed immensely.

Our readers and contributors are big Diane Chamberlain fans. Thanks!

A huge time travel fan. A great list. Another time travel book recommendation: Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montemore. Wonderful story.

Thank you so much for the kind words and recommendation! We’ll have to check it out.

Great list, thanks. I also love seeing all the recommendations in the comments. I would add the Chronos Files series to your list. And, of course, the film ABOUT TIME, which is fantastic!

Thanks so much for the recommendations. We appreciate it!

You missed Jack FINNEY’s book, Time and Again. Best time travel book ever!

Thanks for sharing your favorite time travel book. We appreciate it.

Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer The Big Time by Fritz Leiber The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert Timeline by Michael Crichton

Thank you for the great time travel book suggestions!

The Other Me, by Sarah Zachrich Jeng. I didn’t know this was going to be a time travel book when I started, as it was listed in an intriguing review of “Thrillers about Women Breaking Free, Losing Control, and Taking Charge”. Very imaginative and well done story about a woman who walks into a bathroom at an art opening in Chicago and suddenly finds herself at a birthday party in an Italian restaurant in central Michigan.

This sounds like an awesome time travel book — it wasn’t on our radar. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

On my time travel TBR is a middle grade called Saving Lucas Biggs, a YA called Time Travel for Love and Profit, and either time Travelers wife or here and now and then.

Time Travel For Love and Profit sounds really sweet. If I have extra time this month, I want to read it! Thanks so much for the recommendation.

One of my biggest recs for time travel is Beyond the Moon by Catherine Taylor – I read it as an arc a few years ago and absolutely adored it. It’s one of those really underrated books that I love to recommend!

I haven’t read that one yet — and you know how much I love time travel stories! I’ll have to check it out; thanks so much for the rec!

I loved “A Wrinkle in Time” when I was a kid. Now as an old kid, I love “the Invisible Library” series by Genevieve Cogman. : -)

Me too — and I enjoyed the movie! I’ll have to check out The Invisible Library series. Thanks so much for the recommendation.

Not sure how you missed Jack Finney’s “Time and again”, my absolute favorite time travel book of all time. Finney has written others, but don’t miss this one! Simply, non-mechanical “travel” with photos of New York City as the protagonist sees it. Simply magical.

Thanks so much for sharing your favorite time travel novel! We appreciate it.

@M.A., YES! This was the best time travel novel I ever read! It has been one of my favourite genres ever since.

Great list! I love The Time Traveler’s Wife. A terrific book is A Scientific Romance by Canadian author Ronald Wright. We assume that the future will be more advanced but this book turns that notion on its head. It plays off an H. G. Wells mystery and environmental disaster. I love libraries so much. My childhood vacations involved a huge box of library books and a tent.

Thanks so much for the book recommendation. A Scientific Romance sounds really good. I definitely love and appreciate the library, too. A tent with books sounds fabulous. I think we might need this in adulthood still.

I know Crystal has told you…but *OUTLANDER.* Not sure what else to add, aside from that I have put these books on my list…and you really must read Outlander…it takes a bit to sink into…but it’s worth it. I started the show before I read the book, in fact when my husband was at a bachelor party. Next thing you know, we’re visiting the Outlander tourist spots in Scotland! xx

Yes, hahaha. Whenever I do a contributor guest post, everyone puts Outlander on it too. I haven’t seen the show yet–that or GOTs , ekkkk!!! That’s hilarious that you started Outlander while your husband was at a bachelor party. Scotland is on my to-see list! So what do you fangirl more? HP or Outlander ?

Thank you so much for this wonderful list, Christine! Time travel is a subgenre that I absolutely adore. So many of my favorite movies and novels stream from this concept and I always have such fun reading about them! I’ll definitely have to add a few of these to my to-be-read list. What the Wind Knows sounds especially intriguing! <3

Me too–I just love time travel books. While I love love love The Time Traveler’s Wife , I think Recursion might be one of my new favorites. All of the YA ones are also really good. I hope you find a few new time travel reads and enjoy them. Please let me know what you end up reading.

@Christine, I have Time traveller’s wife and Recursion on the TBR shelf. I will move them both to my bedside table.

I hope you enjoy Recursion — I know you enjoy sci-fi, and that one fits the genre a bit more than many of the other time travel books on this list.

So many things to read!!! I love time travel books and fantasy. Outlander, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and even Vonnegut (haven’t read him for a long time — he’s a must-reread!). But so many I haven’t read. I think I’ll put Kindred next on my to-do time travel list. But I wonder if I’d actually time travel myself if I had the chance 🙂

Time travel books are one of my favorite genres because they not only allow readers to travel across time but also internationally–which is totally my jam. Vonnegut is an author that I read way more of in HS and college. Kindred is a great time travel book that addresses so many pertinent issues, even today. I hope you like it!

I love time travel stories! I think Back to the Future probably got me into it. I wish we could time travel! Time Traveler’s Wife is one of my favorite books ever. I wish I could read it for the first time again. It was epic! I got hooked on watching Outlander too. Going to watch the new season on Netflix soon! Your list is awesome. I have so many new books I need to read now. I will definitely be referring back. I’ve also read a cheesy, good romantic time traveler story called A Murder in Time. I read the 2nd book too and just now realized that the 3rd one is available!

Awesome list!

HAHA, I grew up with Back To The Future. I feel that! Complete 80s time travel classic.

Ohhhh, thanks for the new book suggestion! You are definitely my go-to for romance. I loved loved loved The Time Traveler’s Wife , and I so very much wanted a different outcome for the ending.

A Christmas Carol is such a classic!! I actually intended to reread it this year during the festive season, but I never got around to it. A Time Traveler’s Wife & A Wrinkle in Time are books I’ve been intending to read for agessss, this was a great reminder 🙂

I hope you get to read A Time Traveler’s Wife and A Wrinkle In Time . Both are great books! A Christmas Carol is definitely perfect around the holidays.

Oh, this is such a fun topic. I love your list. Another great one to try is Timeline by Michael Crichton.

I love talking about time travel books. Yessss!!! That’s a great recommendation; I’d been eyeing Timeline. Thanks!

Outlander, so good! I haven’t read a Wrinkle in Time but I watched the movie with Oprah and my queen Mindy Kaling but I hated it! I assume the book is a million times better though! Kindred sounds up my alley – I think I will check it out next. I absolutely love time travel stories! I wish it was a real thing because I would love to travel back in time!

I read a Wrinkle in Time as a kid first and then again as an adult. The author is a Smithie so I am also a little biased. Mindy Kaling is amazing, and I love Oprah so much . I had read somewhere that the book was actually denied something like 86 times (don’t quote me on that number but it was *very* high) before being published years and years later. I guess others hated it too.

I read Kindred back in college or one HS summer–it’s definitely a unique and important time travel book.

Thank you! I’d love to be Dr. Who–a girl can dream, right?!

I’m a sucker for time travel books! Especially if they involve romance. Time Traveler’s Wife and Outlander are two of my favorites. I also loved the movie and TV series. I did watch the TV show 1963 and now I’m pleasantly surprised to find it’s a book – I need to read!

Seriously though, I had no idea Outlander was a book series until I watched the show. Then I started to look into it and was shocked that the first book was published (I think) the year I was born. I started reading and was hooked the moment she goes back into time. I fell in love with the characters. If anything, I’ll read the new books just to see where the author has taken them. The first few books were my favorite.

I feel like I’ve read other time travel books but I can’t remember the titles right now.

Love this list. It will be a popular one.

Right?! I feel like we all have this guilty, amazing pleasure for time travel romance.

I really need to *try* to get more into these historical series: Outlander, Game of Thrones, or even Downton Abbey. For some reason, I am more of a comic girl, lol. Maybe Marvel or DC need to run them…

I’m sure I’ll have 100 more time travel fiction books to add to this list all year. I couldn’t think of them all either. There are SO MANY! I really need to add some indie time travel books, too.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Copy from this list
  • Report this list

42 Best Time Travel & Quantum Theory TV Series

The best TV series with a major time travel premise. Shows that were reviewed, but didn't make the cut: Legends of Tomorrow The Flash Time Tunnel Terra Nova Primeval Time Traveling Bong The Girl from Tomorrow Goodnight Sweetheart Lost in Austen 7 Days Journeyman Tru Calling 5ive Days to Midnight The Fantastic Journey Time Trax Mirror, Mirror Dr. Jin Somewhere Between Captain Z-ro Ashes to Ashes The Librarians Rick and Morty Star Trek Discovery

  • Movies or TV
  • IMDb Rating
  • In Theaters
  • Release Year

1. Doctor Who (2005–2022)

TV-PG | 45 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor and his companions from planet Earth.

Stars: Jodie Whittaker , Peter Capaldi , Pearl Mackie , Matt Smith

Votes: 245,028

2. Dark (2017–2020)

TV-MA | 1,455 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.

Stars: Louis Hofmann , Karoline Eichhorn , Lisa Vicari , Maja Schöne

Votes: 438,071

3. Loki (2021–2023)

TV-14 | 586 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

The mercurial villain Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”

Stars: Tom Hiddleston , Owen Wilson , Sophia Di Martino , Wunmi Mosaku

Votes: 407,080

4. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016–2017)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Holistic detective Dirk Gently investigates cases involving the supernatural.

Stars: Samuel Barnett , Elijah Wood , Hannah Marks , Jade Eshete

Votes: 56,890

5. Devs (2020)

TV-MA | 409 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A computer engineer investigates the secretive development division in her company, which she believes is behind the disappearance of her boyfriend.

Stars: Sonoya Mizuno , Nick Offerman , Jin Ha , Cailee Spaeny

Votes: 46,751

6. Doctor Who (1963–1989)

TV-PG | 25 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

The adventures in time and space of the Doctor, a Time Lord who changes appearance and personality by regenerating when near death, and is joined by companions in battles against aliens and other megalomaniacs.

Stars: William Hartnell , Patrick Troughton , Jon Pertwee , Tom Baker

Votes: 39,327

7. Russian Doll (2019–2022)

TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery

A cynical young woman in New York City keeps dying and returning to the party that's being thrown in her honor on that same evening. She tries to find a way out of this strange time loop.

Stars: Natasha Lyonne , Charlie Barnett , Greta Lee , Elizabeth Ashley

Votes: 106,195

8. Erased (2017)

TV-14 | 30 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

After finding his mom killed, Satoru's time-traveling ability takes him back 18 years for a chance to prevent her death and those of three classmates.

Stars: Yûki Furukawa , Tomoka Kurotani , Reo Uchikawa , Brenda Joan Wong

Votes: 4,341

9. The OA (2016–2019)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Having gone missing seven years ago, the previously blind Prairie returns home, now in her twenties with her sight restored. While many believe she is a miracle, others worry that she could be dangerous.

Stars: Brit Marling , Jason Isaacs , Scott Wilson , Alice Krige

Votes: 114,916

10. Lost (2004–2010)

TV-14 | 5,445 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.

Stars: Jorge Garcia , Josh Holloway , Yunjin Kim , Evangeline Lilly

Votes: 590,613

11. The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024)

A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.

Stars: Aidan Gallagher , Elliot Page , Tom Hopper , David Castañeda

Votes: 272,635

12. The Peripheral (2022)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Set in the future when technology has subtly altered society, a woman discovers a secret connection to an alternate reality as well as a dark future of her own.

Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz , Gary Carr , Jack Reynor , JJ Feild

Votes: 78,926

13. Life on Mars (2006–2007)

TV-14 | 959 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

After a near-fatal car accident, smart, savvy, sharp-suited detective Sam is mysteriously transported back to 1973. Confused by his new surroundings, Sam tries to return to the present, but the police force of long ago needs his help.

Stars: John Simm , Philip Glenister , Liz White , Dean Andrews

Votes: 32,186

14. Quantum Leap (1989–1993)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During an experiment into time travel, a scientist finds himself trapped in the past, "leaping" into the lives of different people, sorting out their problems and changing history in hopes of getting back to his own life in the present.

Stars: Scott Bakula , Dean Stockwell , Deborah Pratt , Dennis Wolfberg

Votes: 36,166

15. Dark Shadows (1991)

TV-PG | 45 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Victoria Winters comes to Collinwood, an isolated mansion in Maine, to work as a governess, but soon finds herself drawn into a strange world of vampires, ghosts and curses.

Stars: Ben Cross , Barbara Blackburn , Jim Fyfe , Joanna Going

Votes: 2,125

16. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy

Set after the events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Sarah Connor and her son, John, try to stay under-the-radar from the government, as they plot to destroy the computer network, Skynet, in hopes of preventing Armageddon.

Stars: Lena Headey , Thomas Dekker , Summer Glau , Richard T. Jones

Votes: 62,604

1 season - 21 episodes

17. Timeless (2016–2018)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

An unlikely trio travels through time to battle unknown criminals and protect history as we know it.

Stars: Abigail Spencer , Matt Lanter , Malcolm Barrett , Paterson Joseph

Votes: 46,788

18. Making History (2017)

21 min | Adventure, Comedy, History

Making History follows three friends from two different centuries as they try to balance the thrill of time travel with the mundane concerns of their present-day lives.

Stars: Adam Pally , Leighton Meester , Yassir Lester , John Gemberling

Votes: 2,608

19. Frequency (2016–2017)

TV-MA | 42 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

A police detective in 2016 discovers that she is able to communicate with her father via a ham radio, despite the fact that he died in 1996.

Stars: Peyton List , Riley Smith , Devin Kelley , Mekhi Phifer

Votes: 14,330

1 season - 10 episodes

20. 12 Monkeys (2015–2018)

TV-14 | 42 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

Follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will nearly destroy the human race.

Stars: Aaron Stanford , Amanda Schull , Noah Bean , Barbara Sukowa

Votes: 48,373

4 seasons - 42 episodes

21. 11.22.63 (2016)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

Jake Epping, a teacher, gets a chance to travel back in time to avert the death of John F. Kennedy. However, history's aversion to alteration and his love for the era and a woman endanger him.

Stars: James Franco , Sarah Gadon , George MacKay , Chris Cooper

Votes: 98,096

22. Being Erica (2009–2011)

TV-14 | 45 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

"Therapist" Dr. Tom - who is constantly spouting famous and not so famous historical quotes - is Erica Strange's savior and worst enemy.

Stars: Erin Karpluk , Reagan Pasternak , Michael Riley , Kathleen Laskey

Votes: 10,155

4 seasons - 46 episodes

23. Timeslip (1970–1971)

30 min | Family, Sci-Fi

Simon and Liz were teenage friends who fell into a time hole and found themselves trapped in various periods of the 20th century, where they encounter all sorts of adventures. Many of them ... See full summary  »

Stars: Cheryl Burfield , Spencer Banks , Denis Quilley , Iris Russell

24. The Ministry of Time (2015–2020)

TV-MA | 3,155 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

A warrior from the 16th Century, the first female university student from the 19th Century, and a paramedic from the 21st Century join a secret agency to prevent people from changing Spanish history using time-traveling doors.

Stars: Cayetana Guillén Cuervo , Juan Gea , Francesca Piñón , Jaime Blanch

Votes: 5,517

2 seasons - 26 episodes

25. Steins;Gate (2011–2015)

TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama

After discovering time travel, a university student and his colleagues must use their knowledge of it to stop an evil organization and their diabolical plans.

Stars: Mamoru Miyano , Asami Imai , Kana Hanazawa , Ashly Burch

Votes: 72,376

26. Sleepy Hollow (2013–2017)

TV-14 | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.

Stars: Tom Mison , Lyndie Greenwood , Nicole Beharie , Orlando Jones

Votes: 63,943

4 seasons - 58 episodes

27. Travelers (2016–2018)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Hundreds of years from now, surviving humans discover how to send consciousness back through time, into people of the 21st century, while attempting to change the path of humanity.

Stars: Eric McCormack , MacKenzie Porter , Nesta Cooper , Jared Abrahamson

Votes: 63,610

2 seasons - 21 episodes

28. Torchwood (2006–2011)

TV-MA | 50 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

The members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.

Stars: John Barrowman , Eve Myles , Kai Owen , Gareth David-Lloyd

Votes: 43,309

29. Tales from the Loop (2020)

TV-MA | 50 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

The townspeople who live above "The Loop," a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe, experience things previously consigned to the realm of science fiction.

Stars: Daniel Zolghadri , Paul Schneider , Rebecca Hall , Robert Nahum

Votes: 22,491

30. Undone (2019–2022)

TV-MA | 377 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy

After she very narrowly survives a serious car accident, a woman discovers that she has a new relationship with time.

Stars: Rosa Salazar , Angelique Cabral , Constance Marie , Bob Odenkirk

Votes: 23,255

31. Odyssey 5 (2002–2004)

After witnessing the sudden implosion of Earth from orbit, a group of five Odyssey astronauts is sent five years back in time by an alien force to find the cause and prevent the disaster. A vast conspiracy stands in their way.

Stars: Peter Weller , Sebastian Roché , Christopher Gorham , Leslie Silva

Votes: 3,146

1 season - 13 episodes

32. Fringe (2008–2013)

TV-14 | 46 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

An F.B.I. agent is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist and his son in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

Stars: Anna Torv , Joshua Jackson , John Noble , Jasika Nicole

Votes: 256,306

33. Alcatraz (2012)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama

In 1963, all the prisoners and guards mysteriously disappear from Alcatraz. In the present day, they resurface and a secret agency are tasked with re-capturing them.

Stars: Sarah Jones , Jorge Garcia , Jonny Coyne , Parminder Nagra

Votes: 40,229

34. Counterpart (2017–2019)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A hapless UN employee discovers that the agency he works for is hiding a gateway to a parallel dimension that's in a cold war with our own, and where his other self is a top spy. The war slowly heats up thanks to spies from both sides.

Stars: J.K. Simmons , Olivia Williams , Harry Lloyd , Nazanin Boniadi

Votes: 30,649

35. The Time Traveler's Wife (2022)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

Tells the intricate love story of Clare and Henry, and a marriage with a problem... time travel.

Stars: Rose Leslie , Theo James , Everleigh McDonell , Gui Agustini

Votes: 17,300

36. Nine: Nine Time Travels (2013)

52 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

A TV anchorman discovers that a mysterious bundle of incense has the power to send him back in time, where he has the opportunity to alter the past.

Stars: Lee Jin-wook , Jo Yun-hie , Jeon No-min , Hie-ryeong Kim

1 season - 16 episodes

37. Voyagers! (1982–1983)

TV-G | 60 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

A member of a league of time travelers and a boy travel through time repairing errors in world history.

Stars: Jon-Erik Hexum , Meeno Peluce , David Cadiente , Stephen Liska

Votes: 1,739

1 season - 17 episodes

38. The Crossing (2018)

TV-PG | 42 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Refugees from a war-torn country 180 years in the future start showing up in the present to seek asylum in an American town.

Stars: Steve Zahn , Natalie Martinez , Tommy Bastow , Rob Campbell

Votes: 10,145

39. Flashforward (2009–2010)

TV-14 | 42 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A special task force in the FBI investigates after every person on Earth simultaneously blacks out and awakens with a short vision of their future.

Stars: Courtney B. Vance , Joseph Fiennes , Jack Davenport , Zachary Knighton

Votes: 61,980

1 season - 19 episodes

40. Outlander (2014– )

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Claire Beauchamp Randall, a nurse in World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to Scotland in 1743. There, she meets a dashing Highland warrior and gets drawn into an epic rebellion.

Stars: Caitríona Balfe , Sam Heughan , Sophie Skelton , Richard Rankin

Votes: 177,756

41. The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)

In a dystopian America dominated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, a young woman discovers a mysterious film that may hold the key to toppling the totalitarian regimes.

Stars: Alexa Davalos , Luke Kleintank , Rufus Sewell , Rupert Evans

Votes: 110,040

42. The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007– )

TV-PG | 30 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, with the help of her adopted son, his friends, and an intelligent supercomputer, combats evil alien forces here on Earth.

Stars: Elisabeth Sladen , Daniel Anthony , Alexander Armstrong , Tommy Knight

Votes: 6,710

List Activity

Tell your friends, other lists by margaret_nieter.

list image

Recently Viewed

'The Adam Project' & 9 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix

For more mind-bending time travel adventures.

Read update

No matter the time period, time travel movies have always been popular. Whether it is the latest Ryan Reynolds and Netflix collaboration The Adam Project or the sci-fi action masterpiece The Terminator , time travel fans are spoiled for choice. Netflix in particular has plenty of great movies in the genre worth visiting, and some of the best time travel movies on Netflix will have you watching them over and over again.

In Netflix time travel movie The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays a fighter pilot from the future, who crash lands in the present and meets his 12-year-old self. Together they must save the world in a journey that harkens back to Amblin classics from the 1980s while featuring some great needle drops.

Time travel stories have always been a popular narrative choice, with the highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame , fitting in the genre. Videogames such as Mortal Kombat 11 also use time travel to great effect. But with The Adam Project being a Netflix original, there are more time travel movies on Netflix to watch after seeing Reynolds quip his way through another memorable performance.

Updated on May 28, 2023, by Ty Weinert:

10 'naked' (2017).

Marlon Wayans being thrown out of his wedding by Dennis Haysbert in Naked

Rob ( Marlon Wayans ) is about to marry the girl of his dreams, Megan ( Regina Hall ). But after a night out with his best friend results in Rob waking up naked in an elevator, he must race to the altar to make it in time. Failing that, Rob wakes up again in the elevator, realizing he is trapped in a time loop and must relive the hour over and over again.

Working like a mix of The Hangover and Groundhog Day , Naked will appeal to anyone who enjoyed those screwball comedies. While it is not one of the best time loop movies , it still offers some laughs and is a good enough way to kill an afternoon on the couch.

Watch on Netflix

9 'Captain Nova' (2021)

Kika Van De Vijver and a drone in Captain Nova

Like The Adam Project , Captain Nova follows a fighter pilot who is sent back in time to stop a catastrophe. Nova ( Kika Van De Vijver ) finds herself transformed into her younger self due to her journey through time, however, making it hard for adults to take her seriously as she warns them of the dangers to come.

Hailing from the Netherlands, Captain Nova makes for a nice change from the American movies that dominate the time travel genre on Netflix. Due to its protagonist's youthful transformation, Captain Nova is a kid-friendly take on the formula and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

8 'See You Yesterday' (2019)

Eden Duncan-Smith and Danté Crichlow in See You Yesterday

Produced by legendary director Spike Lee , See You Yesterday follows two teenage scientists, who are attempting to create a time machine. After one of their older brothers is killed in a police shooting, the pair activate their machine to travel to the past and save him.

While still following the conventions of time travel movies, See You Yesterday stands out with a plot that focuses on relevant social issues. By bringing light to matters that are still plaguing society four years after release, the film is a unique choice within the time travel Netflix catalog.

7 'In the Shadow of the Moon' (2019)

Boyd Holbrook standing closely behind Michael C. Hall In the Shadow of the Moon

Beginning in 1988, In the Shadow of the Moon follows Thomas Lockhart ( Boyd Holbrook ), a police officer determined to become a detective. When his city is plagued by a serial killer, Lockhart begins investigating, eventually discovering the killer comes back every nine years. As the case deepens, time travel eventually becomes a factor.

In the Shadow of the Moon feels like a callback to the detective thrillers of the '90s, like Se7en . While it does tend to lose focus as more outrageous plot points are introduced, In the Shadow of the Moon remains a solid choice for anyone looking to discover their next crime obsession.

6 'Synchronic' (2019)

Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie in Synchronic

Another quality entry in acclaimed duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson 's trippy shared universe , Synchronic stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as paramedics and lifelong friends. After a new drug sweeps their city, resulting in the deaths of its users, the pair investigates after Dornan's daughter goes missing.

The film delves into time travel in ways that will not be spoiled here, but needless to say Synchronic is a trippy film with a central mystery that unravels over time. Both leads excel in their roles and share great chemistry, with Mackie, in particular, delivering a fantastic performance that shows what he can offer when given more meaty roles outside the MCU.

5 'ARQ' (2016)

Robbie Amell in ARQ

Waking up to intruders breaking into his home, an engineer ( Robbie Amell ) finds himself trapped within a time loop. With each death sending him back to the start of the invasion, he works to defeat his pursuers and escape with his lover ( Rachael Taylor ).

ARQ works as a sci-fi spin on films such as Happy Death Day , with the audience learning new information alongside the protagonist with each subsequent loop and eventual death. While not as charming as Happy Death Day , ARQ still offers an enjoyable take on the genre.

4 'When We First Met' (2018)

Adam DeVine in When We First Met

When We First Met follows Adam DeVine , of Workaholics fame, as he repeatedly goes back in time to try and win over the girl of his dreams ( Alexandra Daddario ). Being a romantic comedy, the film stands apart from other time travel movies that focus on more serious consequences.

While We First Met does not offer much new to the genre, though DeVine gives an admirable performance to help carry the film. Fans of his stand-up or the aforementioned Workaholics should have a good time watching his numerous attempts to escape the hellish nightmare called "the friend zone."

3 'Long Story Short' (2021)

Zahra Newman, Rafe Spall, and Ronny Chieng in Long Story Short

Waking up the morning after his wedding to discover that his life is jumping forward in time every few minutes, Teddy ( Rafe Spall ) is forced to use his dwindling time to stay with the woman he loves. With every jump causing them to drift further apart, time is running out for the bumbling lead.

Like When We First Met , Long Story Short uses time travel in a romantic comedy , albeit in a more urgent way. The Australian film was directed by Josh Lawson , known to audiences as Kano, the best part of the recent Mortal Kombat film.

2 'The Adam Project' (2022)

Ryan Reynolds and Zoe Saldana in The Adam Project

When fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) travels from 2050 to 2012, he is forced to work together with his 12-year-old self in order to get back home and save his deceased wife Laura ( Zoe Saldana ). The two Adams end up going on a journey full of heart and humor as they travel through time.

The latest in the long line of big-budget blockbusters on Netflix, The Adam Project is one of the best free movies you can access on the service. Reynolds is always a charming lead, and along with Saldana, they are supported by a winning cast that includes Mark Ruffalo , Jennifer Garner , and Catherine Keener .

1 'Mirage' (2018)

A poster for Mirage

When Vera ( Adriana Ugarte ) and her family move into a new home, they discover that a boy died there thirty years ago. Finding a way to communicate with the boy in the past, Vera warns him of his death and saves his life, only to change the flow of time in the process.

As the best time travel movie Netflix has to offer, Mirage is a compelling mystery thriller from Spain. As more circumstances of the boy's death emerge, greater narrative threads are pulled into this time-bending journey, with Ugarte delivering a great performance as the central character.

NEXT: The Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made, Ranked

Amazon’s Latest Time-Travel Show Is Also An Epic Revenge Saga

Hate your deadbeat husband? Just travel through time.

time travel series latest

Time travel is a classic plot device for a reason. Everyone wishes they could use hindsight to make smarter decisions, undo something they regret, or even take a second crack at their entire life. But we can’t do that, so we watch fictional characters use DeLoreans , phone booths , and hot tubs to explore the space-time continuum instead.

While time travel is used in all sorts of genres, its application in romance is unique. If you can go back and fix regrets, the one who got away (or the one you never should have been with at all) is sure to be on the top of the list. Those ideas are explored in a new time-travel series on Prime Video that combines sci-fi and K-drama in the best possible way.

Marry My Husband , based on the webtoon of the same name, is the story of Kang Ji-won (Park Min-young), a woman dying of cancer who comes home to discover her best friend and husband having an affair. She’s unintentionally murdered in the scuffle that follows, only to wake up in 2013 and discover she has a second shot at the last decade. Naturally, this means she can get revenge on her then-boyfriend and her best friend before they ever betray her.

But a time-travel story is only as good as the rules involved, and this series uses a conceit perfect for a K-drama plot. As Ji-won attempts to avoid little problems like a spilled cup of tea, she learns she can’t eliminate the bad things that happened to her in the past; she can only cause them to happen to someone else. That makes her mission clear: She needs to get her best friend to marry her future husband and deal with the deadbeat so she doesn’t have to.

What follows is a classic revenge plot full of schemes, secrets, and betrayal. Further complicating the drama is Ji-won’s boss, Yoo Ji-hyuk (Na In-woo). She knows he’ll go on to run the entire company, so when he shows a special interest in her work, she’s both intrigued by the possibilities of getting to know him and afraid of getting distracted from her plan. Little does she know that Ji-hyuk harbors his own secrets.

Even amid a complex time-travel plot, Marry My Husband makes time for swoon-worthy romance.

Even amid a complex time-travel plot, Marry My Husband makes time for swoon-worthy romance.

Marry My Husband offers clever time-travel plotting, as Ji-won uses knowledge of the future to make her past life better, but it also features all the hallmarks of a good K-drama: makeovers, flashbacks, and grand romantic gestures. While only six of the 16 episodes are out, the series is delivering on every level, and its two-episode-a-week release format means there’s never a long wait for more.

So whether you’re a Korean TV novice or an old pro, Marry My Husband earns its spot beside other great time-travel romances like About Time and The Time Traveler’s Wife. And who doesn’t love a little revenge with their romance?

Marry My Husband is streaming on Prime Video .

  • Science Fiction
  • Amazon Prime Video

time travel series latest

A collage of anime that have aired throughout the winter 2024 season

Filed under:

  • What to Watch

The best anime of 2024 so far

From dungeon-crawling cooks to braggadocious super robots

Share this story

  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Reddit
  • Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: The best anime of 2024 so far

2023 was an exceptional year for anime . And if the first weeks of 2024 are any indication, audiences can likely expect another great year of terrific shows.

From new seasons of returning favorites like My Hero Academia , Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba , Sound! Euphonium , and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation to exciting new premieres like Delicious in Dungeon , Kaiju No. 8 , Dragon Ball Daima , and Lazarus , anime fans have a lot to look forward to in 2024.

To help you keep up with everything that’s coming out this year, we’ve gathered a quorum of Polygon’s resident anime lovers to create a list of the year’s best in anime. For clarity and convenience, these shows are presented in reverse chronological order, so the newest releases will always show up first. We’ll be updating our list periodically, season by season, so check in regularly to see what new, what’s hot, and most importantly of all — what’s best. Enjoy!

Bucchigiri?!

A close-up shot of a black-haired anime boy blushing with pink-ribboned bells and baby chickens surrounding his expression.

Where to watch: Crunchyroll

Sk8 the Infinity director Hiroko Utsumi is back with yet another original anime series. This time it’s a fantasy comedy about Araji Tomobishi, a shy young student who transfers to a new school filled with roughnecks and gangsters. Worse yet, he gets possessed by a powerful genie whose power inadvertently pits him between two of the strongest gangs in his school. To top it off, the poor guy just wants to lose his virginity, and instead he just ends up accidentally punching people, getting himself into increasingly deadlier and more precarious situations.

If you’re looking for a nonsensical action comedy with over-the-top antics, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure -esque battles, and memorable character designs, Bucchigiri?! is an absolute delight. —Toussaint Egan

Brave Bang Bravern!

A blue horned robot staring at a red and white robot as it poses dramatically with an animated logo graphic holographically projected behind it.

Fans of last year’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury , rejoice: There’s another great giant robot anime to watch this year, and once more, it’s also easily one of the funniest anime comedies of 2024.

Directed by veteran mecha anime director Masami Ōbari, Brave Bang Bravern! follows the story of Isami Ao and Lewis Smith, two mech pilots who meet during a joint American-Japanese military exercise in Hawaii. When their military base is besieged by an extraterrestrial threat, all hope seems lost — until a gigantic humanoid robot named Bravern comes to save the day... but only if Isami agrees to pilot him.

Where exactly did Bravern come from, though, and how does he know who Isami is? The answer, for right now at least, is don’t worry about it — just vibe! A big-hearted parody of “super robot” anime with explosive action, fun characters, and intense homoerotic overtones, Brave Bang Bravern! is an early contender for one of my favorite anime of 2024. —TE

Metallic Rouge

A woman standing in a forest of glowing alien-like plants, surrounded by a halo of light as intricate circular symbols bath the upper half of her body in Metallic Rouge.

Bones, the critically acclaimed studio behind popular anime like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood , Eureka Seven , Mob Psycho 100 , and My Hero Academia , is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. What better way to celebrate the iconic production house than with an all-new original anime that combines tokusatsu-inspired action with a byzantine sci-fi conspiracy plot?

Set in a future where humanity has colonized the inner solar system and androids known as “Neans” serve their every beck and call, Metallic Rouge follows the story of Rouge Redstar — a Nean with the ability to disguise herself as a human who is dispatched to Mars on a top-secret mission. Along with her partner Naomi Orthmann, Rouge battles against a terrorist faction of androids bent on toppling society, all while transforming into a superpowered armored battle form known as “Metal Rouge.”

Co-written by Yutaka Izubuchi ( RahXephon ) and Toshizo Nemoto ( Log Horizon ), the series feels like a pitch-perfect throwback to the aesthetic and storytelling of early-aughts sci-fi anime, complete with wild left-field plot twists, dense world-building, and a New Jack Swing-inspired bop of a theme song . It’s certainly an entertaining watch, one which demands repeat viewings in order to pick up on every new detail and clue the series manages to throw at its audience. —TE

Solo Leveling

A black-haired anime boy in a blue hoodie with blood stains on his face holding a sword in a dark hallway.

Going into Solo Leveling , I didn’t know anything about it other than it was one of the most anticipated anime releases of the season; I didn’t even look up the premise before diving in. By the time the credits rolled on the third episode, I honestly still couldn’t have told you what precisely was happening in Solo Leveling , but I did know I was hooked.

Blending typical fantasy adventure beats with video game elements, Solo Leveling is a unique and thrilling take on the typical zero-to-hero narrative. Sung Jin-woo is not the most dynamic protagonist, I must admit, but the spectacular animation, impeccably choreographed action, and relentlessly paced storytelling always leaves me itching to smash play on the next episode. —Sadie Gennis

Delicious in Dungeon

A group of adventurers in various outfits and armor dissecting a mushroom monster to cook in Delicious in Dungeon.

Where to watch: Netflix

Delicious in Dungeon (also known as Dungeon Meshi ) is the anime this year, sporting a fun cast of characters and a delightful plot: As a crew of adventurers makes their way through a dungeon to save one of their fallen mates, they are trying to save money by eating the creatures they slay. It turns out that the critters down in this labyrinth are more edible than expected . Along the way, the gang learns a lot about the dungeon and the people inside of it through analyzing the creatures they slay and eat.

The author behind Delicious in Dungeon , Ryoko Kui, has a clear love for the fantasy genre, as you can really see her attention to detail when it comes to fantasy races, designs, and world-building that would rival even the best Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters. All of the characters are charming in their own ways, and each episode will leave you more excited for the next one. —Julia Lee

The best movies new to streaming this March

The 5 best korean dramas to stream on netflix this spring, the 25 best movies on netflix right now, loading comments....

GPB Originals

Browse by genre, featured programs, featured programs & series, more gpb news, for kids & teachers, ghsa sports, high school football, browse by type, browse by category, for parents & caregivers, support gpb, banner image.

Education Matters banner

Section Branding

Header content, tagged as: .

  • Education Matters
  • Wild Kratts
  • Daniel Tiger
  • Tiny Time Travel
  • Donkey Hodie

Spring Brings Fresh PBS KIDS Series And Seasons

February 29, 2024

  • Christina Rand

Share this page

Primary content.

Chris Kratt is in the ocean, surrounded by coral reef and sea creatures

On March 15th, a new series of funny and fast-paced live-action shorts called "Tiny Time Travel" begins! It follows 11-year-old inventor, Tyler, and his outgoing best friend, Tony, as they use their time machine to go back in time a tiny bit (sometimes just a few minutes or hours) to solve problems in their neighborhood, like stopping a friend from spoiling a movie, or giving a customer a re-do after an ordering mistake at a restaurant .  Even though Tony and Tyler can only time travel a tiny bit, they always manage to help their friends and neighbors just in time. "Tiny Time Travel" aims to help kids ages 5-8 learn social language skills, like understanding nonverbal communication, taking others’ perspectives into account, and resolving miscommunication. The series is created by Tim McKeon (ODD SQUAD, GRAVITY FALLS) and produced by Marobru Productions and Easy as Pie Productions LLC, and will consist of twelve 5–7-minute episodes. 

On March 25th, catch the Season 4 premiere of the award-winning animated series "Molly of Denali" . Produced by GBH Boston, "Molly of Denali" follows the adventures of 10-year-old Molly Mabray, an Alaska Native girl who lives in the fictional village of Qyah, Alaska. The new episodes follow Molly as she continues exploring with friends and family, from tracking down a fallen meteorite with her friend Tooey, to connecting with her heritage by building a kiidhah zhee (a traditional steam bath) to help cure her mom's cold, to helping a rival basketball team find an authentic mascot to represent their team. In addition to the series’ underlying Informational text curriculum, Season 4 also incorporates media literacy learning. One example is highlighted in a story where Molly posts online about a bat she found in her attic. She finds out just how fast information can spread on the internet, and how it may not always be accurate.   

In the movie, " Wild Kratts: Our Blue and Green World",  premiering April 1, the Kratt brothers disagree on what’s better: blue oceans or green forests. Aviva takes on the role of referee to demonstrate how oceans and forests work together to make our living planet, just like Martin and Chris need to keep working together. It’s up to the gang to get Martin and Chris back in sync in time to save planet Earth from Zach and Paisley Paver’s villainous plans. A new game, “World Rescue,” accompanies the movie special in April and will be available on the PBS KIDS Games app and pbskids.org, with new episodes of "Wild Kratts" premiering April 2.

In " Nature Cat’s Nature Movie Special Extraordinaire" ,  debuting April 22,  Nature Cat  and his friends are trying to figure out what their movie special is about when Sir Galahad, who’s now anointed himself King Galahad, begins taking things from nature to makes his castle look more beautiful. It’s up to the gang to show him a better way to appreciate the natural beauty of their world before he does more damage to their favorite place. The special features three original songs written by Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning Bill Sherman and performed by the cast: Taran Killam, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan, and Kate Micucci. 

The new short-form series, " Nature Chat with Nature Cat" , will debut digitally also on April 22. In the shorts, Nature Cat speaks directly to fans about how they can help make the world a better place. Harkening back to clips from across all five seasons of the series, with the help of his production assistant Gary the squirrel, Nature Cat explores ten different sustainability topics ranging from composting and water conservation to upcycling, avoiding food waste, and more. 

New episodes of " Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood "  premiere on May 6, exploring concepts like putting things away and finding surprises wherever we are.

This new series "Milo" follows an adventurous cat who loves to use role-play to explore the amazing world of jobs and vocations with his best friends, Lofty and Lark. Milo loves meeting all of the different people who come into his parents' dry cleaning shop to get their outfits cleaned. Milo is curious about what it would be like to be a fireman, or a detective, or an astronaut, and many other kinds of jobs when he grows up. So, off he goes with his friends on an exciting role-play adventure. "Milo" will premiere across PBS KIDS streaming platforms on May 13.

"Donkey Hodie Bedtime Stories", a   short-form series will premiere on May 27 across streaming platforms. These shorts from the popular puppet series " Donkey Hodie "  include eight, 5–6-minute videos designed to fit perfectly into kids’ bedtime routines. In each video, Donkey Hodie, Purple Panda, Duck Duck, or Bob Dog reads a bedtime story to the viewer and models their own strategy for calm-downing down before bed. 

Families can stream PBS KIDS for free anytime, anywhere or watch on GPB. Visit  pbs.org/parents  for activities and everyday fun, including resources for parents and caregivers to help extend learning beyond the classroom this spring.

Secondary Content

About the author.

Christina Rand headshot

Christina serves as GPB's Early Childhood Education Manager, coordinating partnerships statewide to engage families, institutions, and community organizations with GPB Education and PBS KIDS early education tools.

Bottom Content

GPB

Support Quality Journalism

GPB is committed to bringing you comprehensive news coverage from Georgia, across the country and around the world.  Your support makes this possible.  Please consider making a gift today to support this vital public service.

More from Education Matters

Atlanta Science Festival

Atlanta Science Festival Returns March 9-23

Atlanta Science Festival (ASF) , the city’s ultimate celebration of all things science and one of the largest of its kind in the country, returns March 9-23. All ages can experience more than 150 interactive and educational events. 

  • Mary Anne Lane

PBS KIDS CITY ISLAND characters are smiling

From Couch To Community: Inspiring Civic Engagement Through Media Programming

In 2024,  PBS KIDS  will roll out a full slate of civics-themed content. Watch for "City Island Sings" beginning May 29th .  "Together We Can"   will premiere the first ten episodes on July 3rd.

Stu and Lyla smile at one another

Meet Lyla And Stu, Stars Of The New PBS KIDS Show "Lyla In The Loop"!

"Lyla In the Loop" is a funny and engaging new animated series for kids ages 4-8 about Lyla Loops and her fantastical blue sidekick, Stu, who use creative and strategic problem-solving and critical thinking skills to help their family, friends, and community! From building homemade carnival games to creating a new sandwich for the family restaurant– Lyla, Stu, and the whole Loops crew tackle challenges with equal servings of humor and heart.

IMAGES

  1. Timeless: NBC Teases Kripke's Upcoming Time Travel Series

    time travel series latest

  2. 15 best time travel movies and TV shows you can find on Netflix

    time travel series latest

  3. 21 Time Travel TV Shows You Need to Binge-Watch

    time travel series latest

  4. Top 10 Time Travelling TV shows

    time travel series latest

  5. 10 Time Travel TV Shows : Past, Present And Future

    time travel series latest

  6. Tech-media-tainment: Time travel TV series: a complete list

    time travel series latest

VIDEO

  1. ‼️ TIME TRAVEL ⌚ SEASON 2| part

  2. When Time Travel Destroys Your Life (Part 1-4)

  3. Top 10 Time Travel Series

  4. Time Travel series final part

  5. BRAND NEW (2023)

  6. Time Travel Series P1 || Haikyuu Texts

COMMENTS

  1. Best new Time Travel TV Shows in 2024 & 2023 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu & TV

    List of the latest time travel TV series in 2024 on tv and the best time travel TV series of 2023 & the 2010's. Top time travel TV series to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime & other Streaming services, out on DVD/Blu-ray or on tv right now.

  2. Time-Travel TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

    2022's Quantum Leap, The Peripheral, and Paper Girls are the latest to join Doctor Who, Manifest, Star Trek, and beyond in our list of 41 TV and streaming time-travel shows. Time travel has been on television since the The Twilight Zone 's 1958 original pilot episode, "The Time Element," visited Pearl Harbor in 1941 (airing under ...

  3. The Best New Shows About Time Travel, Ranked By Fans

    Spanning over an incredible six decades, Doctor Who has solidified its legacy as one of the most influential television shows centering around time travel. With a seemingly endless roster of captivating characters, innovative storylines, and complex relationships that transcend time and space, this long-running British series pushes the bounds of conventional storytelling to dazzling new heights.

  4. The Best Time Travel Shows to Watch on Netflix, Hulu ...

    12 Monkeys. Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull, 12 Monkeys. Syfy, Dusan Martincek/Syfy. Based on the 1995 movie with the same name, 12 Monkeys follows a time traveler who travels from 2043 to 2015 ...

  5. Netflix Just Quietly Released The Best Time-Travel Show of 2023

    Detective Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) appears in the 2023 and 2053 eras. Netflix. Maybe this is why this series isn't getting the same acclaim as its spiritual successors: calling it a time ...

  6. 25 Time Travel TV Shows to Stream Right Now

    The 19 Best Cooling Comforters For Hot Sleepers, Vetted By PureWow Editors. The 10 Best Patio Umbrellas with Lights to Make Your Backyard Feel Magical. Go back to the future with these 25 must-watch time travel TV shows, from classics like 'Doctor Who' to Netflix's sci-fi thriller, 'Dark'.

  7. The Best Time Travel Movies & TV Shows Of 2022 (So Far)

    Paper Girls (2022 - ) Paper Girls is Stand By Me on a time travel road trip and with the tiniest dose of Pacific Rim. Directed by Stephany Folsom and based on the comic book by Brian K. Vaughan, the Amazon Prime series follows four young girls — Erin Tieng (Riley Lai Nelet), Tiffany Quilkin (Camryn Jones), Mac Coyle (Sofia Rosinsky), and KJ ...

  8. Best Time-Travel Shows to Binge-Watch

    Time travel is the gimmick that never gets old. Human beings love the idea of visiting the past, exploring the future, and discovering a new present. ... The new DoctorWho series, on the other ...

  9. What to Know About the New Quantum Leap On NBC

    A new Quantum Leap is coming to NBC! The original version of the time-travel adventure series aired in the '90s, and almost 30 years later, fans are gearing up for an exciting new iteration.

  10. Quantum Leap: Exclusive Trailer Debut for NBC's Time-Travel Sequel Series

    Watch the first full trailer for the upcoming sequel to the classic time-travel series Quantum Leap, which premieres September 19 on NBC and Peacock. Raymond Lee and Caitlin Bassett star.

  11. The 32 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

    Dark, Netflix (2017 - 2020) Netflix's first German original series was the science fiction series Dark, which mixes in some mystery drama with sci-fi: time travel, the apocalypse, wormholes, and parallel worlds.. Dark takes place in Winden, a fictional German town, and begins in 2019 after children begin to disappear from the town. As the show progresses, however, timelines jump ...

  12. Travelers: why you should watch Netflix's new time travel show

    Over the past twelve months, time travel has been something of a go-to for TV schedules with Timeless, Frequency and mini-series 11.22.63 all coming up with something fresh to say. One show that ...

  13. 9 adventurous time travel TV shows worth going back to watch

    From 'Timeless' to 'Quantum Leap': 9 adventurous time travel TV shows worth going back to watch. The time periods might get old, but these shows never do. Get ready to travel back to 10,000 B.C., because the second half of La Brea 's sophomore season is here. The first half of Season 2 ended with most of the main cast deciding to return to ...

  14. Best new Time Travel movies in 2024 & 2023 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu

    List of the latest time travel movies in 2024 and the best time travel movies of 2023 & the 2010's. Top time travel movies to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+ & other Streaming services, out on DVD/Blu-ray or in cinema's right now. ... reprising his role as the series' iconic T-800 Terminator. Read more Watch the trailer of ...

  15. Shōgun: When Do New Episodes Release on Hulu?

    Here's a guide to when new episodes of Shōgun are released (FX originals streaming on Hulu typically arrive on the streaming platform by 12:01 eastern): Episode 1, "Anjin": February 27, 2024

  16. 15 Best Time Travel Movies & Shows to Stream Now

    Whether you're into infinite time loops or races to prevent apocalyptic events, Hulu is the place to find some of the best time travel movies and shows. Time Travel Movies on Hulu Looper. In 2074, the mob has gotten… creative in how they handle hits. When they're ready to "get rid of" someone, they simply send them to the past where ...

  17. Hallmark Announces Time Travel Drama 'The Way Home'

    This is a series that looks enchanting and fun. Moreover, there is a time-travel twist! Here are all the details. Hallmark Announces New Dramatic Series The Way Home. On Thursday, Deadline announced that Hallmark has greenlit a brand new primetime dramatic series called The Way Home.

  18. 20 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

    Paper Girls. Amazon Prime Video. "Paper Girls" is a brilliant time travel show canceled way ahead of its time. Based on the comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, this Amazon series tells ...

  19. You Need to Watch the Most Intricate Time-Travel Show on ...

    Watching Jun-hee "stand up" for Min-ju, and work to prevent her murder, is one of the drama's defining highlights. Her budding rapport with Si-heon and In-gyu, under cherry blossom trees and ...

  20. You need to watch the most inventive time-travel thriller of the

    The duo behind the genre-bender, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, are releasing a mystery-at-sea dubbed 1899 on Nov. 17, so now's the perfect time to familiarize yourself with their work.

  21. 40 Best Time Travel Books To Read Right Now (2024)

    Travel back in time to Scotland in one of the most well-known time travel book series (and now TV series) of all time. Outlander is a part of pop culture. A New York Times bestseller and one of the top 10 most loved books according to The Great America Read, get ready to enter Scotland in 1743.

  22. 42 Best Time Travel & Quantum Theory TV Series

    TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance. 8.1. Rate. Jake Epping, a teacher, gets a chance to travel back in time to avert the death of John F. Kennedy. However, history's aversion to alteration and his love for the era and a woman endanger him. Stars: James Franco, Sarah Gadon, George MacKay, Chris Cooper.

  23. 9 Time-Travel Movies to Stream in Your Past, Present and Future

    See You Yesterday. Eden Duncan-Smith stars in See You Yesterday as C.J., a teenage science prodigy who works with her best friend, Sebastian (Danté Crichlow), to develop time travel. When C.J.'s brother is murdered by the police for carrying a cellphone — which the cops mistook for a weapon — C.J. decides to fix the past.

  24. 10 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix

    In Netflix time travel movie The Adam Project, Ryan Reynolds plays a fighter pilot from the future, who crash lands in the present and meets his 12-year-old self. Together they must save the world ...

  25. Amazon's Latest Time-Travel Show Is Also An Epic Revenge Saga

    Those ideas are explored in a new time-travel series on Prime Video that combines sci-fi and K-drama in the best possible way. Marry My Husband, based on the webtoon of the same name, is the story ...

  26. The best anime of 2024 so far

    Sk8 the Infinity director Hiroko Utsumi is back with yet another original anime series. This time it's a fantasy comedy about Araji Tomobishi, a shy young student who transfers to a new school ...

  27. Spring Brings Fresh PBS KIDS Series And Seasons

    Springtime is bursting with excitement for kids and families on PBS KIDS! Dive into the debut of "Tiny Time Travel", a thrilling series of live-action shorts. Join the adventure with new "Wild Kratts" and "Nature Cat" movies, alongside the premiere of "Molly of Denali" Season 4. Discover the enchanting world of new series "Milo" and the cozy charm of "Donkey Hodie Bedtime Stories".