Throughout 2020, we didn’t need to take a trip to the cinema or fire up Netflix to experience a dystopian, sci-fi nightmare – it was all around us. We can only hope some of the political turmoil, grief, questionable tech ethics and pandemic-induced chaos of the past year will fuel new science-fiction stories in years to come.

But for now, let’s remember that science-fiction is always at its best when it inspires our future, shows us what it means to be human in worlds filled with machines, robots or aliens and gives us hope for what’s coming next. With that in mind, here’s our pick of the science-fiction we’re most looking forward to that’s beaming down in 2021.

We’ve included the biggest blockbusters we’re all on the edges of our seats waiting for (we’re looking at you Villeneuve), fun animation about super robots, just-announced TV shows that we couldn’t find many details about but can’t wait for all the same and a selection of books that cover all kinds of sci-fi goodness, including the death of all men, brain implants, android clones and everything in between.