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With Timeless at 10, Here Are 10 More TV Series About Messing With Time

Digilifetrends Updated 2026-10-03 3 min read

Ten years ago, Timeless tapped into one of television’s most enduring ideas: using time travel to repair the past, protect the present, or alter what comes next.

Aaron Stanford as James Cole in ‘12 Monkeys,’ Rachel Nichols as Keira Cameron in ‘Continuum,’ Nesta Cooper as Carly Shannon in ‘Travelers,’ Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston and Sakina Jaffrey as Denise Christopher in ‘Timeless’

Created by Eric Kripke (Supernatural) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield), the NBC series followed a history professor, an Army veteran, a programmer, and their “Lifeboat” time machine as they tried to give recorded history a fighting chance.

ABC introduced Timeless in 2016, and the show ended less than two years later, though the network did offer fans a two-part finale special. If you still miss it, the time-bending series below may be worth a look.

Rachel Nichols as Keira Cameron in ‘Continuum’
Continuum: In Continuum, time travel isn’t the work of just one villain but an entire group of radicals. Law enforcement agent Keira Cameron (Rachel Nichols) travels with them — following the timeline of duty, if you will — while wondering what she’ll find if she ever makes it back to her own era. Currently streaming on The CW, Fandango, Howdy, Pluto, Plex, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, and Tubi.
Aaron Stanford as James Cole in ‘12 Monkeys’
12 Monkeys: If you know the 1995 film of the same name, you already know the broad outline of this later sci-fi drama: a team spanning different eras works to stop a global virus outbreak. You may even spot a familiar face from the movie. Currently streaming on Prime Video.
Scott Bakula of ‘Quantum Leap’
Quantum Leap: Even with its widely disliked finale and a short-lived revival, the original Quantum Leap remains a cult favorite. Scott Bakula stars as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who jumps through time and into other people’s bodies in an effort to set things right while trying to get home. Currently streaming on Fandango.
Nesta Cooper as Carly Shannon in ‘Travelers’
Travelers: In Travelers, an entire team makes those quantum leaps into other people’s bodies, but only when those people are already close to death. The mission is stark: prevent society’s collapse. Currently streaming on Netflix.
Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham in ‘Fringe’
Fringe: J.J. Abrams, along with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, took an X-Files-style premise and layered in timeline jumps and alternate universes, creating a series that grew more serialized, more fantastical, and more rewarding as it went on. Currently streaming on Hulu.
Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves in ‘The Umbrella Academy’
The Umbrella Academy: Based on the comic book series, this superhero comedy-drama follows a family of powered siblings trying to stop the global apocalypse that one of them has seen in the future. Its cast includes Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, and David Castañeda. Currently streaming on Netflix.
Kyle Chandler of ‘The Umbrella Academy’
Early Edition: If it bleeds, it leads — and for Gary Hobson, it also becomes a to-do list. Played by a young Kyle Chandler, Gary is an ordinary man with an extraordinary problem: he receives each day’s newspaper a day early, giving him a chance to change what happens next. Currently available on DVD.
Nick Searcy, Justina Vail, Jonathan LaPaglia, Don Franklin, and Alan Scarfe of ‘Seven Days’
Seven Days: In this sci-fi series, Jonathan LaPaglia plays a “chrononaut” who uses Roswell-based technology to travel back in time and avert disasters. It even includes a time machine that resembles Timeless’ spherical Lifeboat: a dodecahedron-shaped vehicle called the Chronosphere. Currently available on DVD.
Silhouetted characters in ‘El Ministerio del Tiempo’
El Ministerio del Tiempo: According to this Spanish series, the history Spain knows exists thanks to a 16th-century soldier, a 19th-century student, and a 21st-century medic working for a secret agency that opens doors into the past to keep history on track. Currently streaming on ViX Premium.
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance and Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie in ‘DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: Take Timeless and give it a comic-book edge, and you get Legends of Tomorrow. Heroes, and sometimes villains, travel across centuries aboard the time ship Waverider to confront threats to the timeline. Currently streaming on Netflix.

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