Television series

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Other titles called The Man Who Fell to Earth: the 1976 film.

A stranded alien masquerades as a tech entrepreneur while grappling with humanity's environmental collapse and his own fractured identity. Meditative, visually sumptuous, and deeply concerned with grief—both personal and planetary. For viewers who want science fiction that whispers rather than shouts.

TVMaze rating3.7

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Slow Horses2022

Gary Oldman leads a spy thriller that prizes dialogue and character development over plot mechanics. Like *The Man Who Fell to Earth*, it trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity and moral complexity.

But If you need plot momentum and clear resolution, this will frustrate you. It moves at a deliberate pace that demands patience.

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The OA2016

Mysterious, visually inventive, and unafraid of big metaphysical ideas. Both shows share a willingness to leave viewers unsettled and to prioritize atmosphere over neat answers.

But It was cancelled on a cliffhanger. The story remains deliberately incomplete, which some find infuriating rather than intriguing.

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Severance2022

Ben Stiller's masterful exploration of identity and corporate control through science-fiction. Like *The Man Who Fell to Earth*, it uses genre as a frame for deeply human questions about memory and selfhood.

But The mystery unfolds glacially across episodes. If you want answers before the end of season one, you'll leave frustrated.

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Mr. Nobody2009

Both feature aliens or immortals attempting human connection across impossible gulfs of time and knowledge, using visual splendor to explore profound isolation.

Jared Leto as an immortal man navigating infinite timelines, regret, and lost love. Like Faraday, he's displaced from his own history and wrestling with memory as a form of torture. Visually baroque and emotionally raw in ways mainstream sci-fi rarely attempts.

But It's a 151-minute emotional avalanche that asks you to hold contradictory narratives simultaneously. The style often overwhelms plot, and there's no anchor to certainty.

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More like this (8)

Arrival2016

A quiet, intelligent alien-contact story that prioritizes communication and emotion over spectacle. Both examine what it means to witness and survive transformation.

But There are no action sequences. The entire film hinges on linguistic and philosophical ideas rather than conventional drama.

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The Peripheral2022

Chloë Grace Moretz and Gary Oldman navigate a fractured timeline. Like *The Man Who Fell to Earth*, it's visually gorgeous, thematically rich, and interested in technological alienation.

But The plot can feel secondary to atmosphere and world-building. Some viewers find the pacing uneven between episodes.

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Altered Carbon2018

A cyberpunk noir about consciousness, identity, and what we'll sacrifice for survival. Both shows use science-fiction frameworks to explore what makes us human.

But It's more violent and sexually explicit than *The Man Who Fell to Earth*. The first season is sprawling; focus wavers.

Altered Carbon poster

The Night Circus

Visually sumptuous and dreamlike, with characters navigating impossible circumstances. Both prioritize mood and visual storytelling over plot clarity.

But It's a slow-burn period fantasy. Nothing happens quickly, and the climax is deliberately muted rather than triumphant.

Maniac2018

An experimental limited series about two strangers navigating reality, delusion, and connection. Like *The Man Who Fell to Earth*, it refuses easy answers about what's real or sane.

But It's fractured and sometimes opaque. Some episodes prioritize style so much that narrative clarity suffers.

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Dark City1998

A noir tinged with cosmic horror about identity and control. Both feature protagonists struggling to remember who they are in worlds fundamentally transformed by invisible forces.

But It's a 90s genre film with dated effects and a somewhat convoluted narrative. If you need clarity, this won't provide it.

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Gattaca1997

Both explore what it means to wear a false identity as survival strategy, and both argue that empathy matters more than biology or authenticity.

Andrew Niccol's quietly devastating film about DNA, ambition, and passing for something you're not. Ethan Hawke's character lives a lie to survive—like Faraday pretending to be human. It's patient, mournful, visually precise.

But Nothing explodes. No twists. The film's power comes from resignation rather than catharsis, which leaves some viewers cold.

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Under the Skin2014

Both feature aliens observing humanity with a mixture of hunger and incomprehension, using visual language instead of exposition to convey alienation and transformation.

Jonathan Glazel's hypnotic meditation on consumption, exploitation, and otherness. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien predator in Scotland, but the film's real interest is what it means to be utterly outside human experience. Experimental, haunting, formally demanding.

But Plotless and dialogue-sparse. It's an experience rather than a narrative. If you need story clarity or conventional drama, this will bore you.

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Recommended by

Hawking, Chasing Einstein, The X-Files