Today we’re continuing our annual year-end round-up with the Best TV of 2025. If you missed it, check out our list of the best Kick-Ass Heroines of 2025 here. Here are the ground rules: We preview and review hundreds of series, but outside big franchise content you want to know about, we try to only review what we like, what we actually recommend–the best genre content we’re watching. The theory? If we like it, we think you may like it. No other annual awards focus on all the best genres like borg. The best shows have a compelling story, great characters, tremendous action, a sharp use of humor, and all kinds of well-executed genre elements that satisfy and leave viewers feeling inspired. It’s even better if we see richly detailed sets and costumes. Somehow the very best series get canceled at the end of their first season because network execs will never figure out what we genre fans love. We watched thousands of hours of TV this year, and no other series matched the compelling writing, performances–and fun–of the series that follow.
On the small screen 2025 saw all-new stories, adaptations from novels, more seasons of ongoing shows, and a few good reboots and re-imaginings. Just look at the variety of genre programs we had to choose from: Alien: Earth, Duster, The Lowdown, Dept Q, Paradise, Mid-Century Modern, Bet Your Life, Death Valley, The Åre Murders, Task, Ballard, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Protection, The Sticky, Crutch, MobLand, Daredevil: Born Again, Protection, Toxic Town, Deli Boys, Secret Level, No Good Deed, The Bondsman, Towards Zero, Sherlock & Daughter, Revival, I, Jack Wright, Irish Blood, The One That Got Away, Mystery Road: Origin, Black Snow, and Code of Silence—for starters.
Many series returned, like Resident Alien, Stranger Things, Wednesday, Ghosts, All Creatures Great and Small, Night Court, Bosch: Legacy, FUBAR, The Night Agent, Doctor Who, Tulsa King, SurrealEstate, Star Wars: Andor, Alice in Borderland, and Dark Winds.
What you may have noticed in the 2020s are all the movie stars preferring the short filming schedules of TV, moving away from the longer commitment movies require. Only Murders in the Building has Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd, and streaming series featured once mega-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. The MCU’s Mark Ruffalo starred in Task this year. This season Catherine Zeta-Jones took on a bigger role on Wednesday, joined by Steve Buscemi. MobLand starred Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Tom Hardy. Linda Hamilton played a recurring character on Resident Alien and Stranger Things. Harry Potter movie veterans David Thewlis and Timothy Spall helmed new mystery series. And Ethan Hawke starred with Keith David in The Lowdown, with David also co-starring in Duster. But how much stunt casting was actually good?
Without further ado, here’s the Best TV of 2025:
Best Sci-Fi Series, Best Suspense/Thriller Series, Best Horror Series, Best Borg Series, Best Production Design/Art Direction, Best Musical Score (Jeff Russo), Best Costumes (Suttirat Anne Larlarb), Best TV Visual Effects, Runner-Up for Best TV Series and Runner-Up for Best Writing – Alien: Earth (Hulu). Alien: Earth is a sequel that rivals its source material, even the original Ridley Scott movie. It’s that good, that cinematic, with a thrilling story, settings, costumes, cinematography, music, writing, acting, casting, action, suspense, all the sci-fi with 1970s retro future influences, and even more suspenseful aliens than we’ve seen before in the franchise. Never before has a writer gotten into the head of an alien like showrunner Noah Hawley. Runner-up for Best Sci-Fi Series – Resident Alien (Peacock). Honorable Mention for Best Sci-Fi TV Series – Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney+).
Best Series, Best New TV Series, Best TV Retro Fix, Best Action Series, Runner-Up for Best Musical Score (Laura Karpman), Best Opening Credits – Duster (HBO Max). The most fun of all the new series introduced this year. This action-packed crime drama captured the vibe of 1970s era television shows with a rollercoaster of weekly antics and mayhem. Every episode incorporated crime TV tropes, 1970s politics, and car chases. But most importantly the leads made it all fresh and exciting, and introduced a unique new badass heroine. Runner-up for Best TV Retro Fix – Dark Winds (AMC+).
Best Comedy Series, Best TV Writing, Best TV Ensemble Cast – Ghosts (CBS). The writing of biting humor and dialogue among such a unique ensemble cast set the bar for TV writing and comedy that has yet to be surpassed. Five seasons in and the best wit in dialogue rests with the writers room for Ghosts. And the incredible slate of actors will hopefully be around for years to come. Runner-Up for Best Comedy Series – Good Cop/Bad Cop (HBO Max), Resident Alien (Peacock), Mid-Century Modern (Hulu), Bet Your Life (Turkey/Netflix), Crutch (Paramount+).
Best TV Drama, Best TV Crime, Runner-Up for Best TV Series – The Lowdown (Hulu). A hard-hitting tale of an investigative journalist out to uncover the reality of corrupt politicians sucking money away from the rest of us. When the bodies begin to drop, you just know you’re in the realm of good pulp noir, a crime tale Tarantino or Rodriguez would have been lucky to get their hands on. Runner-Up for Best TV Crime – MobLand (Paramount+), Black Snow (AMC+). Honorable Mention for Best TV Drama – Ballard (Prime Video).
Best Fantasy Series, Best Romance Series – Bet Your Life (Netflix). The real deal in every way–a series that is part mystery and part supernatural, with plenty of humor and a dazzling international setting. A superb genre-bender that ticks all the boxes–great actors, light-hearted action complete with sleuthing and drama delivered in a satisfying way.
Best Supernatural Series, Best Coming-of-Age Series – Wednesday (Netflix). The writing was smart and fun, while also darker than the previous season, revisiting more of what made fans of the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies memorable and quote-worthy. The series rose this season to become the TV equivalent of the Harry Potter franchise, filled with fresh fantasy concepts, great costumes and sets, and a supernatural realm we all want more of.
Best British Series – Dept Q (Netflix). The series had all the framework of the X-Files–an oddball detective relegated to the dark corner of the building with minimal duties, maximum cold cases, and a few people to help. But it was Matthew Goode’s eccentric cop that really sold this show and had us coming back for more, and wanting more next season. It was the fun that bumped Black Snow’s second season aside. Runners-Up – Black Snow (AMC+), Death Valley (BritBox). Honorable Mention – I, Jack Wright (BritBox).
Best Mystery Series – Black Snow (AMC+). After two seasons the series remains one of TV’s most compelling and believable looks at police work, even if this season isn’t as strong as the first. Fortunately the writing is the best in the mystery genre by far this year, keeping viewers hanging on until the very end. Runners-Up for Best Mystery Series – Death Valley (BritBox), Mystery Road: Origin (AMC+), The Åre Murders (Netflix), Paradise (Hulu).
Best Spy-Fi Series – The IPCRESS File (Acorn). We’re sneaking this 2022 series onto the list because of its lack of availability in the U.S. and because there was no great spy-fi this year. It catapulted to our borg Top 10 British Series list, and in 2022 it would have been a challenger for Best Limited Series, Best British Series, Best Retro Fix, Best Musical Score (Tom Hodge), and Best Costumes (Keith Madden), with a Best Actress nod to Lucy Boynton and Best Actor nod to Tom Hollander. Kudos also go to director James Watkins, writer John Hodge, and cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones for delivering what we probably won’t see from James Bond for a long time.
Best TV Borg – Kumi Morrow (Alien: Earth). Babou Ceesay’s cyborg was such an understated character, it came as a surprise when his non-human elements surfaced, and he rose to become a main player in the plot. Such an expertly written character who showed viewers the darkest sides and personal loss of incorporating tech into your very being. Runner-Up – Kirsh (Alien: Earth). Timothy Olyphant’s borg was more of the expected brand of cyborg from the franchise and sci-fi in general, but his twist on the character’s allegiances came as a nice surprise.
Best TV Actress – Tuuli Narkle (Mystery Road: Origin). Narkle was stunning as a nurse who seemed to hold herself responsible for everyone around her. Narkle let her character’s strength come through as she found her way to fall for the new cop in town, care for her ailing mother and her troubled brother’s kid, and survive a small town everyday life. Runner-Up: Rachel Hilson (Duster). Honorable mention: Gwyneth Keyworth (Death Valley), Jessica Matten (Dark Winds), Carla Sehn (The Åre Murders), Rebecca Wisocky (Ghosts), Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth), Jenna Ortega (Wednesday).
Best TV Supporting Actress – Talijah Blackman-Corowa (Black Snow). Blackman-Corowa personified the ultimate young heroine–speaking out for her generation, speaking out for her people. Her performance was engaging and endearing, sincere and thought-provoking. Runners-Up: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Wednesday), Esra Bilgiç (Bet Your Life). Honorable mention: Ryan Kiera Armstrong (The Lowdown), Taylor Ortega (Ghosts), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts), Salme Geransar (Mystery Road: Origin).
Best TV Actor – Ethan Hawke (The Lowdown). The leading man turned character actor really conjured those gritty A-listers of days gone by this year–James Coburn, Lee Marvin, and James Brolin specifically–in what may be Hawke’s best performance so far. Runners-Up – Travis Fimmel (Black Snow), David Thewlis (Sherlock & Daughter), Josh Holloway (Duster), Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds), Ata Demirer (Bet Your Life). Honorable Mention – Babou Ceesay (Alien: Earth), Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin), Matthew Goode (Dept Q), Harry Lloyd (I, Jack Wright), Tracy Morgan (Crutch), Mark Ruffalo (Task).
Best TV Supporting Actor – Keith David (Duster and The Lowdown). David had a great year as the villain in one series and the mentor in another. He always brings gravitas to every production he’s in and this year here was the best surprise twice. Runners-Up: A Martinez (Dark Winds), Tim Blake Nelson (The Lowdown), Samuel Blenkin (Alien: Earth), Corbin Bernsen (Duster), Kyle MacLachlan (The Lowdown). Honorable mention: Paddy Considine (MobLand), Chris Diamantopoulos (The Sticky), Daniel Rigby (I, Jack Wright), John Simm (I, Jack Wright), Steve Buscemi (Wednesday), James Marsden (Paradise).
Best TV Episode – Alien: Earth episode 5, “In Space, No One…,” is a TV episode so good it we called it the best movie we watched all year. It is a master class in storytelling, delivering a flashback episode that deserves to be screened in a theater, a tightly written, craftily directed hour that revs up the action that was already propelling us forward like a freight train–or a ship careening toward a collison with Earth. Runners-Up: The Lowdown episode 1.5, “This Land?” a brilliant side episode putting together two unlikely but great characters with lots of chemistry; Duster episode 1.5, “Ravishing Light and Glory,” it’s great fun when Jim and Genesis crash a wedding filled with celebrities; Strange New Worlds episode 3.8, “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,” showing how great Ethan Peck’s Spock and Rebecca Romijn’s Una can be; Strange New Worlds episode 3.2, “Wedding Bell Blues,” a great return of a great rare fantasy character for the sci-fi franchise; Death by Lightning episode 4, “Destiny of the Republic,” for a series that should have been a movie, this final hour would have been a solid second half of the movie; Paradise episode 1.8, “The Man Who Kept the Secrets,” delivers all the satisfaction you’d hope for after surviving seven hours of a topsy turvy political thriller; Andor episode 2.10, “Make it Stop,” skip the rest, this is the only episode of the series you’ll want to see, following Kleya, the only great character of the series.
Best TV Villain – Budge Baca (Dark Winds). One of TV’s darkest and most loathsome of villains this year, Raoul Trujillo’s Budge was a match to Javier Bardem’s nasty villain in No Country for Old Men, only Budge buried his victims with a steam shovel.
Best Cameo – Peter Dinklage (The Lowdown). TV hasn’t shown two brothers in a series that had more chemistry than Dinklage and Ethan Hawke, including name calling, rough housing, and good ol’ hijinks.
Note: For the most part this year’s eligible series aired the final episode of the season by December 15. And no, we aren’t forgetting anything–if it’s not here we probably watched it (or the initial episodes) but didn’t think it worth a recommendation to you. We made exceptions this year for Mystery Road: Origins and The IPCRESS File–international series that hadn’t made it to the big streaming services in their first year of release.
Come back for more of borg´s Best of 2025 tomorrow as we reveal the Best Movies of 2025. If you missed our list of Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines of 2025, be sure to check it out here.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
