We're still waiting to hear if there will be a season three [1] of The Umbrella Academy [2], but while you wait, there are plenty of other quirky sci-fi shows to keep you busy! All the things you love about the show — a ragtag groups of misfits, superpowers that aren't totally controlled [3], time travel, and other strange things [4] — can be found in other stories, ranging from oddball comedies to dark dramas and everything in between. No matter which streaming platform you prefer, there's definitely something available for you to start watching tonight! Keep reading for our picks of the best shows you can watch to fill the days until The Umbrella Academy [5] returns.
The Boys
The Umbrella Academy [6] isn't quite your typical "superhero" show, as it's packed with characters who are deeply messed up and have unconventional methods and coping mechanisms. For an even grittier, more grown-up take, look no further than The Boys, which pits a group of PR-polished superheroes with a dark agenda against rough-and-tumble vigilantes.
Watch The Boys on Amazon Prime [7].
Cloak & Dagger
Although they're not raised as siblings like The Umbrella Academy [8]'s Hargreeves family, the title heroes of Cloak & Dagger quickly realise that they're much stronger together. As a team, they try to save the world (or at least their little corner of it) while also trying to unravel the mysterious origins of their powers and why they're so closely linked.
Watch Cloak & Dagger on Hulu [9].
Legends of Tomorrow
If you think the Hargreeves family on The Umbrella Academy [10] is a bunch of misfits, you definitely need to meet the Legends. The premise is delightfully tongue in cheek: a revolving cast of second-tier superheroes travel through time to pursue baddies and fix anomalies, often making more messes than they clean up while solving mysteries of their own powers and pasts.
Watch Legends of Tomorrow on Netflix [11].
The Magicians
Just like The Umbrella Academy [12], The Magicians focuses on a group of supernaturally gifted young adults — some with the potential for deadly misuse of their powers — who really don't get along at first, but have to team up against a much bigger evil. Think of it as a darkly humourous wizarding grad school plus the dark side of Narnia, and you've got a good picture.
Watch The Magicians on Netflix [13].
Orphan Black
The "siblings" on The Umbrella Academy [14] spend a lot of time trying to figure out how and why they're linked, and that's the central premise of Orphan Black, too. A group of very different women realise that they're all clones of each other, and they slowly band together to find more clones and to unravel the conspiracy that affects them all.
Watch Orphan Black on Amazon Prime [15].
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
If you're craving more sci-fi drama about a group of superheroes, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. might be just the right show for you. Don't be fooled by its Marvel branding — fans of The Umbrella Academy [16] will find all the quirky twists on genre tropes and superpowered angst, especially after the Inhumans arc really gets going!
Watch Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Netflix [17].
Marvel's Runaways
A group of teenagers with complicated feelings about their parental figures team up to prevent the worst from happening. Unlike on The Umbrella Academy [18], they weren't raised together; instead, this Marvel spin-off tackles the "found family" trope as these superheroes in the making figure out their powers and deal with complicated parental relationships and resentment.
Watch Marvel's Runaways on Hulu [19].
Sense8
The heroes of The Umbrella Academy [22] are bonded through a strange supernatural occurrence, all being born on the same day to mothers who weren't even pregnant before. Sense8 takes that concept and runs with it, following a group of strangers who discover that they are psychically and emotionally linked, aka "sensates."
Watch Sense8 on Netflix [23].
Shadowhunters
Like The Umbrella Academy [24], Shadowhunters follows a group of people with supernatural abilities who are fighting against an impending apocalypse. Shadowhunters, however, takes things to a biblical level (literally): the Shadowhunters get their powers from angels, and the apocalypse they're fighting is literally from hell itself.
Watch Shadowhunters on Hulu [25].
Stranger Things
A family-tight group of young people rallies together to fight a mysterious evil, with one unusual girl standing out from all the rest. It's the premise of The Umbrella Academy [26], but it's also Stranger Things [27], Neflix's retro sci-fi/horror hit that follows a superpowered tweenage girl and her band of friends as they battle a horror invading from a dark dimension.
Watch Stranger Things on Netflix [28].
Timeless
While no actual superpowers are in play in this time-travel drama, its basic premise actually shares some major things with The Umbrella Academy [29]. Just as Number Five's time-travel pursuits and evasion of futuristic agents sets the plot in motion for the Hargreeves siblings, Timeless centres on a modern team of experts hopping through time in hopes of stopping a morally ambiguous "terrorist," as well as a downright terrifying organisation trying to rewrite history.
Watch Timeless on Hulu [30].
Wynonna Earp
The Umbrella Academy [31], like Wynonna Earp, is based on a comic book series that's not quite your usual superheroes/supervillains style. Instead, the show follows a woman who returns to her hometown to track down supernatural "revenants" and literal demons, with the help of her most trusted friends.
Watch Wynonna Earp on Netflix [32].