By
Dhruv Sharma
Published Feb 14, 2026, 10:00 PM EST
Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
Before Screen Rant, he was a Senior Writer for The Cinemaholic, covering everything from anime to television, from reality TV to movies.
After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back.
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Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
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More often than not, sci-fi shows get canceled before they can fully realize their potential and end their runs with natural conclusions. Viewers who are starting to grow tired of this trend in the genre must watch a 5-part series that perfectly wraps its story.
In the streaming era, many great sci-fi shows have struggled to last beyond the two-season mark. Despite showing immense potential, some have even faced cancellations after their opening seasons. This growing trend is frustrating and makes one want to look for sci-fi shows that got to last for at least three seasons before reaching a well-rounded closing chapter.
Fortunately, viewers who are looking for such shows can now check out a brilliant 5-season sci-fi series that delivers a satisfying ending.
Orphan Black Is A Perfect Sci-Fi Show From Start To Finish
Tatiana Maslany in a scene from Orphan Black wearing a black leather jacket and looking serious
Orphan Black's biggest flex is Tatiana Maslany, who brilliantly plays a dozen different clones and manages to give each a distinct identity. She truly shines in the series when she plays one clone pretending to be another, where she intentionally puts "bad acting" on display to show how talented of an actress she is.
Even when it comes to scientific plausibility, Orphan Black grounds itself in real facts. The credit for that goes to Cosima Herter, a real developmental biologist, who was taken onboard to ensure the show's portrayal of synthetic biology and ethics felt authentic.
The sci-fi series also makes good use of its cloning plot to dabble with different genres instead of confining itself to one. Since each clone has a distinct life and identity, the series gets to be everything from a gripping noir to a suburban "soccer mom" comedy in different arcs. This allows it to appeal to a wider audience and keep things novel throughout its long runtime.
More than anything else, Orphan Black benefits from its statisfying ending, which elevates above many other shows of the genre.
Orphan Black Has A Satisfying Ending
Tatiana Maslany looking nervous around a corner with blonde hair in Orphan Black
Many sci-fi shows have strong hooks and do a brilliant job of reeling viewers in with one mystery after another. However, when it comes to eventually paying off these hooks and resolving these mysteries, most shows stumble. They spiral into nonsense towards the end because their ending was not pre-planned.
Several other shows get abrupt endings because their respective streaming services and networks suddenly cancel them before they can reach their natural conclusions.
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Dive into the world of movies and TV shows with Screen Rant, your source for news, reviews, and exclusive content. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.Fortunately, for Orphan Black, its creators developed its fifth installment knowing that it was the last season of the series. This allowed them to write it in a way that made it feel like a cohesive and emotionally satisfying conclusion. For obvious reasons, its ending after a solid five-season run left many viewers heartbroken. However, the show still managed to secure a lasting legacy, standing as a rare example of a sci-fi series that knew exactly when and how to end.
Orphan Black's 2024 Spinoff Wasn't So Lucky
Orphan Black's spin-off, titled Orphan Black: Echoes, premiered in 2024. Unfortunately, the new installment not only struggled to match its parent series' critical acclaim but also could not last beyond one season. It was canceled just three months after its premiere, and many viewers could not help but criticize how anti-climactic and uneven its ending felt.
A little over a year after its release, it is almost like the spin-off did not even exist because of how quickly it was forgotten. Orphan Black: Echoes season 2 will never happen, but the main series, in contrast, is still worth watching and easily deserves to be ranked among the most ambitious and compelling modern sci-fi shows.
Orphan Black
TV-MA
Drama
Science Fiction
Thriller
55
8.6/10
Release Date
2013 - 2017
Network
Space, BBC America
Cast
Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Hanchard, Kristian Bruun, Josh Vokey, Skyler Wexler, Ari Millen, Andrew Gillies, Andrew Moodie, Bobby Brown, Brendan Beiser, Brian Frank, Brittany Drisdelle, Anthony Christian Potenza, Cynthia Ashperger, Conrad Bergschneider, Courtenay Taylor, David Christo, David Fox, David Gingrich, Desmond Campbell, Diana Salvatore, Diane Fabian, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Domenico Fiore, Doug MacLeod, Dylan Trowbridge, Glen Grant, Géza Kovács, Ian Matthews, John Nelles, Joseph Pierre
Directors
Ken Girotti, T.J. Scott, David Wellington, Grant Harvey, Helen Shaver, Aaron Morton, Brett Sullivan, Chris Grismer, Peter Stebbings
Writers
Aubrey Nealon, Karen Walton, Tony Elliott, Peter Mohan, Sherry White, Jeremy Boxen, Kate Miles Melville, Greg Nelson, Jenn Engels, Nikolijne Troubetzkoy
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
Creator(s)
Graeme Manson, John Fawcett
Producers
Claire Welland, Tatiana Maslany
Seasons
5
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Orphan Black
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