Rockstar Games continues to reveal just how ambitious Grand Theft Auto VI has become, with new details suggesting the developer has taken a massive leap forward when it comes to bringing the citizens of Vice City and Leonida to life.

According to information shared by Rockstar, GTA 6 features well over 600,000 NPC animations. For comparison, Grand Theft Auto V featured roughly 55,000 animations, while Red Dead Redemption 2 reportedly contained around 300,000.

That means GTA 6 has more than ten times the number found in GTA 5 and roughly twice the amount created for Red Dead Redemption 2.

The huge increase isn’t simply about filling the screen with more pedestrians. Rockstar reportedly established an entire Los Angeles-based team of writers, directors and producers dedicated to making the game’s NPCs feel more believable.

GTA 6 [rockstar games]

Rather than relying primarily on procedurally generated characters, Rockstar has individually art-directed the people inhabiting GTA 6’s world. Different locations are designed to feature different types of people and behaviors, meaning crowds hanging around Vice City’s beaches shouldn’t simply behave like pedestrians walking through other areas of Leonida.

Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut explained just how far the studio has taken that attention to detail.

“Every room in the game, somebody thought about this,” Garbut said. “Who’s sitting where, what they’re drinking, the marks that are left on the table.”

That level of detail reportedly extends to photographs hanging inside buildings, tattoos belonging to characters and even the fictional families surrounding them.

“The whole thing has been made, built, and photographed, and placed in this random room in a random building in a huge city, in a world,” Garbut added.

NPC behavior has also reportedly been dramatically expanded.

Rockstar used a simple example from GTA 5, where an NPC could drop an object and essentially forget that it existed. In GTA 6, characters are designed to remember and react to events around them. NPC personalities can also influence their reactions to the player, including whether someone runs away, confronts the player or potentially pulls out a weapon of their own.

GTA 6 [rockstar games]

The technology has already caught the attention of other developers.

Berkay Dursun, an AI programmer at IO Interactive who worked on the crowd technology behind 007 First Light, recently commented on Rockstar’s approach after footage of GTA 6’s crowds began circulating.

Dursun explained that Rockstar appears to be individually simulating characters rather than using the less complex crowd systems commonly found in other games.

“Achieving simulations on this scale puts them at least 10 years ahead of the industry,” Dursun said.

It’s another indication that Rockstar isn’t simply trying to make GTA 6 bigger than its predecessors. The studio appears focused on making its enormous world feel significantly more reactive.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was already praised for NPCs that remembered previous encounters and reacted dynamically to the player. With more than twice its animation count and an entire development team dedicated specifically to creating believable citizens, GTA 6 could take that concept considerably further.

Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to launch November 19, 2026.

Michael Strahan has welcomed his fifth child at 54, which is a surprise to his fans because the happy occasion reportedly happened earlier this year. The ‘Good Morning America’ host welcomed a baby girl with his longtime girlfriend, Kayla Quick, sometime in 2026.

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Michael Strahan A Welcomes Baby Girl At 54

Congratulations are in order for ‘GMA’ host Michael Strahan and his longtime girlfriend, Kayla Quick. The duo has reportedly been dating since 2015 and welcomed a baby girl earlier this year, according to TMZ. The ‘GMA’ host has four other children — 34-year-old daughter Tanita and 31-year-old son Michael Jr., with his ex-wife Wanda Hutchin, and 21-year-old twins daughters, Isabella and Sophia with ex-wife Jean Muggli.

Strahan has shared pictures of his 37-year-old bae with him and his family on Instagram on over the years, including after a family dinner with his twins back in 2022. The foursome had a “CincoDeMayo” dinner and the ‘GMA’ host shared a photograph on the platform. 

He also shared pictures from Isabella’s high school graduation back in 2023 on Instagram. Quick is seen posing with Strahan and the twins, and the ‘GMA’ host included a snap of him with the graduate as well as video footage.

Fans Were Shocked By The Baby News

After PEOPLE shared the baby news on Instagram, shocked readers replied in the comment section. Not only were fans surprised to learn about the baby, several were also surprised that Strahan has four other kids as they congratulated the couple.

User @emilieirenelauchmen wrote, “Congrats Michael and Kayla.”

@lizv810gmail added, “Omg congratulations 👏👏 I want to see pictures.”

@grammagayle45 replied, “Happy for both of you!!!🙌🥰.”

User @bella_wynnter wrote, “I didn’t even know he had other kids besides the twins 😂.”

User @butterscotch820 exclaimed, “You got to be kidding!!!!!”

Others readers had jokes.

@gee_777_gee wrote, #That was Quick 😂😂😂😂🤗🥂♥️.”

@bobbypac2019 joked, “What in the Nick Canon is going on here?”

User @_a_shopaholic added, “Oh, I thought they were about to say he became a grandfather.”

@lizv810gmail noted, “He’s a grandfather.”

Strahan Supported Quick’s Wellness Brand FIZZNESS

Aside from their baby news, Strahan recently supported Quick’s business with videos on social media. Quick is the co-founder of FIZZNESS, a health and beauty wellness supplement company, and the ex-NFL star supported his girlfriend by appearing in a promotion video for the brand’s drink GORGIE on Instagram at the McLaren F1. He also featured the beverage in a video for Men’s Health and gave viewers a peak inside his refrigerator. 

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“The Valley” star Brittany Cartwright‘s divorce from Jax Taylor has been ongoing since August 2024. Now, one of the latest developments in the legal battle is that the mom of one has been granted a restraining order from the former Bravo star after he allegedly threatened violence against her. This comes after Taylor was revealed to be dating Cartwright’s former publicist, Lori Krebs.

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According to TMZ, Cartwright’s restraining order was both filed and granted by a judge on August 27 in L.A. Superior Court. Per the order, the former “Valley” star is required to keep 100 yards of distance between himself and his estranged wife. However, it’s also important to note that Cartwright’s request for sole custody of their child was denied.

Cartwright and her legal team presented a decade-long pattern of abuse allegedly committed by Taylor. She stated that he displayed “coercive control, financial abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, gaslighting, and even physical violence perpetrated upon me.”

Among the most dammig claims from the restraining order request came when Cartwright accused Taylor of threatening to not only end her life, but also to “gut me like a fish.” She stated that amid the threat, he caused bodily harm by throwing furniture at her.

Brittany Cartwright Made Other Allegations Against Jax Taylor

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Elsewhere in the filing, Cartwright stated that Taylor damaged her property. Specifically, she’s accusing him of breaking three of her iPhones, an iPad, and damaging other items at the home. Additionally, the Bravo star says Taylor stalked her, partly by gaining access to her iPhone, messages, some of which he deleted, and her Instagram account.

She said in the request for protection that this was all without her consent. Taylor is also accused of taking her $70,000 wedding ring and refusing to return it.

Cartwright went on to say in the filing that Taylor threatened to go “public” with false allegations against her. That’s not all; she stated that he posted private messages between them from a website called OurFamilyWizard. For context, the site is designed for parents navigating child custody schedules and other co-parenting situations.

The Bravo Star Says Jax Demeaned Her

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Cartwright also used the restraining order filing to accuse Taylor of referring to her with the use of derogatory terms. They include: “b-tch,” “c-nt,” “fat a-s b-tch,” “fatty,” “broke a-s b-tch,” and “wh-re.” According to her in the filing, he used this language against her behind closed doors, in public, and when in the presence of their young son.

Additonally, Cartwright claimed that Taylor is using the idea of child and spousal support as an intimidation tactic. She also stated that he has exhibited demanding behavior, accusing her of relying on her financially and claiming that after the divorce she’ll be forced to pay him.

It’s important to note that as of now, neither party is required to pay spousal or child support to the other.

Brittany Cartwright Has Responded To Jax’s Romance With Lori Krebs

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Taylor was seen publicly with Krebs in May 2026, and the two were seen together on subsequent occasions. Notably, this comes after Krebs served as Cartwright’s publicist for roughly a decade. The Bravo star reacted in an August 2026 interview with PEOPLE, noting her close relationship with Krebs.

She said, “I mean, this person was not only my publicist, she was like a sister to me for 10 years. It’s just complete, complete betrayal.” Additonally, Cartwright highlighted the hypocrisy of the new romance between her ex and now former publicist.

According to her, “I mean, this person guided me through my horrible divorce, guided me through all the Airbnbs I was living in [after Jax and I split] and would come to my house and let me cry on her shoulders after I had been physically, emotionally and financially abused by this man.”

The Kentucky native added, “She knows every in and out of everything in my life and still chose to sleep with the enemy, basically.”

Jax Accused Brittany Of Blocking Brand Deals

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According to Page Six, in a since-deleted Instagram post, Taylor accused Cartwright of attempting to block a brand deal with Divergent Lifestyle Co, which is a company that works with dads who have kids with autism. He shared that this came after he posted a flier for an upcoming company event.

Per the post, he accused Cartwright of sending the company a message, saying, “Hi, my ex-husband posted this event. I was wondering if you are sponsoring him or if he is officially involved in this event. If so, I’d like to share some information with you.” Cartwright also allegedly asked the company for a donation link.

Taylor then said, “This is just another example of her contacting every company, brand, or opportunity I get, trying to sabotage my ability to work and move forward with my life. This keeps happening over and over again, and I’ve already lost several jobs because of it. It honestly disgusts me that I feel like I have no other choice but to post this stuff publicly.”

Kylie Jenner is laughing off growing speculation that she and Timothée Chalamet are preparing to welcome their first child together. The beauty mogul directly addressed the pregnancy rumors during an appearance on her friends’ podcast, revealing that she no longer feels obligated to correct every story circulated about her personal life. However, Jenner did offer a clear response to the latest claims, confirming that she is not currently pregnant.

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Jenner discussed the rumors while appearing on Victoria Villarroel and Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolaou’s “Better Half” podcast. “I think that I’m so used to people creating their own narrative that I actually have to just laugh about it and I really don’t care, because I just assume people will figure it out eventually, which is what they always do,” Jenner said.

The 29-year-old explained that she had recently encountered online posts claiming she was expecting a baby with Chalamet. “People think I’m pregnant right now, at least I saw some things, and I’m like: “Well, I’m not gonna address everything, ’cause it’s like, I’m gonna be in a bikini somewhere, or I’m gonna be out, and the rumors will be squashed,”” she added.

Rather than issuing formal denials whenever speculation emerges, Jenner said she prefers to let time disprove inaccurate reports. “So I kind of just don’t feel the need to say anything ever,” she declared. “I’m just like: ‘Well, it is what it is.’ I can’t comment on everything, so I just laugh about it and join in on the party,” she said with a chuckle.

The Reality Star Has Mixed Feelings About Another Pregnancy

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Although Jenner denied that she is currently pregnant, she has not completely ruled out expanding her family in the future. The Kylie Cosmetics founder already shares two children with her former boyfriend Travis Scott. Their daughter, Stormi, is eight, while their son, Aire, is four.

Jenner recently acknowledged that she is not eager to experience another pregnancy at this stage of her life. “The thought of carrying another baby right now feels insane,” she said during an appearance on her sister Khloé Kardashian’s show, “The Girls.”

During a FaceTime conversation with family friends Yris Palmer and Malika Haqq, Jenner also said she was “99.9 percent sure” that she would not use a surrogate. She explained that her previous pregnancies resulted in “big healthy babies,” leaving her with “no reason for me to really have a surrogate.”

Kylie Jenner And Timothée Chalamet Went Public In 2023

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Jenner and Chalamet first took their relationship public in September 2023 when they were photographed kissing in the stands at a Beyoncé concert. The couple has since maintained a relatively private romance while occasionally appearing together at major entertainment and sporting events.

Jenner was a consistent presence during Chalamet’s awards campaign for “Marty Supreme,” the Josh Safdie film in which he played a character inspired by a real underground table tennis player in 1950s New York. Chalamet had been considered an early contender for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but Michael B. Jordan ultimately won for his performance in “Sinners.”

The pair’s relationship has now continued for nearly three years, making questions about engagement, marriage and children increasingly common. Neither Jenner nor Chalamet has publicly announced plans to marry or start a family together.

Kylie Jenner Wants Her Breast Implants To Be Even Bigger

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Pregnancy was not the only body-related topic Jenner discussed during her appearance on “Better Half with Stas & Vic.” The 29-year-old revealed that she has been considering another breast augmentation and wants to increase the size of her implants. Jenner previously confirmed that she underwent breast augmentation surgery before welcoming her daughter, Stormi.

During the podcast, Karanikolaou asked, “Should we talk about those fat juicy t-ts you got?” Jenner admitted that she has repeatedly told her friends about wanting to go bigger, while Karanikolaou claimed she has been discussing the idea for approximately a year. “I do want them bigger,” Jenner declared.

She clarified that she wants them “bigger and more out there” before joking, “I want my t-ts to walk in before I do.”

Kylie Jenner Wants A Diamond Belly Button Piercing Before Turning 30

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Jenner also revealed another cosmetic plan she hopes to experience before her 30th birthday. The reality star said she wants to have her belly button pierced and incorporate diamonds into the jewelry.

Karanikolaou encouraged the idea, suggesting Jenner could wear “a really sexy diamond from 14 karat” and adding that the piercing would pair well with low-rise clothing.

Jenner’s friends fully supported the plan and appeared confident that she would choose something suitably glamorous. “She’s going to have the best,” Villarroel declared.

Texas Roadhouse is in the hot seat with its Black diners after allegations of targeted food tampering surfaced online. The restaurant claims the rumors are just that, rumors. But is the trust already gone? 

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Social Media Post Alleges Employees Are Targeting Black Diners

What Texas Roadhouse is calling an “online hoax” began with a blurry screenshot. It seemed to posted in a Facebook group by a user called Nancy Smith. The user opened to the post with, “To all you Blacks in here keep this in mind. Hope you enjoy your meal next time you eat out.” They further claimed that there’s a private Facebook group of white servers practicing a plan to target Black diners. The group allegedly has over 400,000 members.

“When a table of Black diners comes in and places their order we walk ack to the kitchen to get your food when ready. There is ALWAYS a blind spot in the kitchen and we are licking our fingers and touching your food. If it happens to be a Texas Roadhouse or Logan’s, these rolls are full of our white saliva. Some of the cooks are in on this too. Think they are playing. They aren’t.”

The user also claimed that this “plan” started with the “Karamello the candy bar Anthony crap.” It appears it to be a reference to Karmelo Anthony, who was recently sentenced to 35 years for the stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet. The incident happened in April 2025. “Enjoy y’all’s food,” the user added.

Texas Roadhouse Calls Food Tampering Post An “Online Hoax” 

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Historically, the thriller genre has been immensely important to literature, easily among the global publishing industry’s favorite kinds of books. But while classics like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes novels and modern masterpieces like Thomas Harris‘ Hannibal series have attained inimitable international acclaim, there have been other great thriller books from the past which have unfortunately been left behind.

Of course, saying that these books have been “forgotten” is a bit of an exaggeration for the sake of drama, but there’s no denying that they haven’t been read—or even heard of—by even a fraction of the number of readers that they deserve to be loved by. These are undeniable masterclasses in thriller writing; suspenseful, tense, and imbued with high stakes that make them all-around page-turners.

‘Beast in View’ (1955)

Image via Soho Syndicate

Canadian-American writer Margaret Millar was a groundbreaking pioneer in several senses, from her contributions to bridging the gap between old-school whodunnits and modern psychological thrillers to her unprecedented writing about the psychology of female characters. Beast in View is one of her most essential works, about a reclusive heiress who’s tormented by a series of phone calls from a mysterious woman claiming to be an old acquaintance.

The title may be best remembered as an episode of the beloved TV shows Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, yet the source material itself has been tragically forgotten despite having won the Edgar Award in 1956. It’s one of the best books of the 1950s, an exquisitely noir-ish thriller with shocking twists and subversive genre tropes that have allowed it to age better than many thriller books that are far more recent.

‘The Wheel Spins’ (1936)

Image via Sharp Ink

The Lady Vanishes isn’t generally regarded as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best-known or most widely celebrated movies, yet it’s an exceptional mystery thriller nonetheless. As such, it’s surprising just how underappreciated Ethel Lina White‘s The Wheel Spins, the book that inspired the movie, is today. In it, a young English socialite traveling alone on a train meets a mysterious stranger along her journey.

Though the book was a major critical and commercial success in its time (even more so by the time The Lady Vanishes hit theaters), White slipped into relative obscurity as time passed. That needs to change, and there’s no better starting point to change that than The Wheel Spins. Thanks to its intensely claustrophobic suspense, simple yet layered premise, and relentless pacing, it has aged wonderfully from cover to cover.

‘The Hours Before Dawn’ (1959)

Image via Faber & Faber

During her peak, Celia Fremlin was a widely recognized and highly praised voice in the world of crime and mystery literature, but her work eventually began to fade out of the mainstream. It’s incredibly strong work; however, perhaps most notably, the Edgar Award winner The Hours Before Dawn. In it, an exhausted young mother in suburban London starts growing suspicious of her new lodger while suffering from severe sleep deprivation and the chaos of an apathetic husband.

Fremlin was a master of the domestic thriller genre, and nowhere is that clearer than here, one of those thriller books that became the blueprint for an entire subgenre. It’s a brilliantly chilling piece of paranoid thriller literature that should still prove to be an impossible-to-put-down page-turner for anyone who loves domestic thrillers. Add to that a surprisingly progressive and nuanced exploration of the weight of ’50s domestic expectations of women, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Hours Before Dawn has aged as well as it has.

‘Cat of Many Tails’ (1948)

Image via Simon & Schuster

Ellery Queen is both the name of the fictional detective of the book series that carries his name, and the pseudonym under which American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee wrote the books. The 20th book in the series is Cat of Many Tails, where Queen must find and stop a serial strangler terrorizing a heatwave-stricken New York City while leaving behind no clues.

The Ellery Queen series is massive, but thankfully, it doesn’t need to be read in order, and considering that Cat of Many Tails is arguably the best of the bunch, one could very easily start there. A foundational and downright masterful serial killer thriller (written before the term “serial killer” was even coined), it’s an ahead-of-its-time puzzle-solving mystery that has aged wonderfully thanks to its atmospheric tone, thematic depth, and Dannay and Lee’s timeless prose.

‘Rogue Male’ (1939)

Image via New York Review Books

Geoffrey Household was a well-respected and prolific British author in the thriller and suspense spaces, but he never got to become a household name (pun not intended) of the stature of authors like Agatha Christie. Even still, he continues to be best-known for Rogue Male, a novel originally serialized in three issues of the Atlantic Monthly magazine. In it, a hunter plans to assassinate a European dictator, but his plan is neutralized, and he’s captured, tortured, and left for dead.

Rogue Male did one-man-army thrillers well before James Bond or Jason Bourne made them cool, establishing a blueprint for the genre that has continued to age like fine wine. One of the best mystery books of all time, it’s a gripping survival thriller that reads as shockingly fresh and modern for an 87-year-old novel. The BBC TV adaptation starring Peter O’Toole is fantastic, but this is one of those cases where there’s no beating the source material.

‘The Scapegoat’ (1957)

Image via Virago

Daphne du Maurier was a hugely important British author of groundbreaking psychological thrillers, best known for masterpieces like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Even the greats have criminally underappreciated works, however, and in du Maurier’s case, that’s The Scapegoat. In it, a lonely English academic on holiday in France meets his doppelgänger, a French aristocrat who steals his identity and then quickly vanishes.

There’s no actual evidence that du Maurier was actually inspired by Mark Twain, but The Scapegoat feels like some sort of dark, thrilling twist on The Prince and the Pauper. The book has aged beautifully, remaining a potently atmospheric and suspenseful study of dual identity whose ambiguous conclusion is still widely debated all these many decades later. Only the greatest of thrillers still elicit such ardent discussions so long after their publication.

‘The Face of a Stranger’ (1990)

Image via Headline Book Publishing

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Nowadays, British author Anne Perry is perhaps best-known as the subject of Heavenly Creatures, a Peter Jackson film chronicling the case in which she, then 15 years old, and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker, murdered Parker’s mother in New Zealand. After a five-year prison sentence, Perry changed her name from Juliet Hulme and went back to the UK. Written before that became public information, The Face of a Stranger is the first installment in the William Monk series, where the Victorian London police detective Monk wakes up with amnesia and must solve a brutal murder while trying to regain his memories.

The Face of a Stranger is one of the best thriller books of the 1990s. Some readers may understandably opt to steer clear of Anne Perry’s whole bibliography, but this undeniable masterpiece does stir up some interesting conversations on separating the art from the artist. The author’s reputation has certainly not aged well, but the book itself has retained every bit of its atmospheric, gritty, slow-burning edge.

‘Pressure’ (2005)

Image via Jeff Strand

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Though most of the thriller books that have had enough time to age like fine wine are classics from the 20th century, there are also a few awfully underrated gems from the early 21st century that keep getting better with age as well. Case in point: Jeff Strand‘s Pressure, an incredible horror thriller about a family man whose childhood friend turns out to be a dangerous killer determined to force him into becoming his partner in (literal) crime.

Strand is an exceptional horror writer who excels at both pitch-black humor and absolutely gnarly horror, and Pressure offers plenty of both elements to satisfy even the most demanding thriller book fans. The humor still holds up after several revisits; the pacing and cat-and-mouse character dynamics don’t lose any of their punch, and the remarkable tightness of Strand’s plotting further ensures that Pressure will remain timeless for as long as a copy of it exists out there.

‘Dissolution’ (2003)

Image via Pan Books

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C.J. Sansom was a British historical fiction master best known for his Matthew Shardlake novels, books that still serve as further evidence that there’s some incredible yet awfully underrated thriller literature from the 21st century to discover. The first installment in the series is Dissolution, about a lawyer and reformer from 16th-century England sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate a brutal murder.

It’s one of the best thriller books of the 2000s, even if it isn’t often recognized as such. It was the subject of Disney+’s Shardlake, but in this case, the book is infinitely better than the adaptation, despite being even lesser-known. This Tudor-era mystery is a downright masterclass in crafting a historically accurate atmosphere, bringing a period of history to life vividly and in full service of a compelling story, and grounding a nail-biting thriller plot in such richly researched elements.

‘The Last Good Kiss’ (1978)

Image via Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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There’s a solid argument to be made that James Crumley‘s The Last Good Kiss is the forgotten thriller novel that has not only aged the best, but that most deserves a considerably bigger cult following. It’s one of the best hard-boiled detective books of all time, about a private investigator tracking down a missing author. Crumley, though vastly revered as a master of 20th-century thriller literature, never quite reached the mainstream like other hard-boiled fiction writers. If there’s one of his books that deserves infinitely more love, however, it’s this one.

It’s the first detective noir book featuring the character of C.W. Sughrue, one of the most underappreciated hard-boiled protagonists in the history of thriller literature. But aside from having excellent character writing, The Last Good Kiss benefits from Crumley’s timeless, beautiful prose and the gritty 1970s tone and atmosphere. It’s one of the greatest noir novels of all time, and it deserves to be rescued from the oblivion that it has fallen into as the years have passed.

Science fiction television got much braver after 2000. Networks and streamers increasingly trusted audiences with fractured timelines, morally compromised heroes, dense political systems, artificial consciousness, and entire episodes built around ideas that might take hours to fully unpack. The genre stopped needing to simplify itself just because it had a weekly schedule.

The best series from this period also understand that one clever premise cannot carry fifty hours of television, which is the main problem of shows that majorly came in the 90s. A world needs people whose decisions change it. Technology needs consequences. Politics need personal stakes. And when a show really gets all of that right, finishing an episode at midnight becomes an extremely dangerous decision. These 6 sci-fi TV shows were released in the 21st century and they’re my favorites.

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‘Severance’ (2022– )

Image via Apple TV

Severance takes the familiar fantasy of leaving work at work and turns it into something horrifyingly literal. Employees at Lumon Industries can undergo a procedure that separates their workplace memories from everything outside the office, creating an “innie” who never experiences home and an “outie” who never experiences the job. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) enters that system while grieving his wife, then gradually discovers that Lumon’s immaculate corridors are hiding far more than an unusual employment policy. Apple renewed the series for a third season after its second became the platform’s most-watched series at the time.

The corporate satire is vicious, yet the show gains its emotional power from treating innies as full human beings instead of conceptual puzzles. Helly R. (Britt Lower)’s rebellion, Irving Bailiff (John Turturro)’s attachment to Burt Goodman (Christopher Walken), Dylan George (Zach Cherry)’s growing curiosity about his outside life, and Mark’s divided existence keep widening the moral problem. Even waffle parties and employee rewards become unsettling once Lumon controls the workers’ entire reality. Few current shows turn office furniture into this much psychological pressure.

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‘Dark’ (2017–2020)

Image via Netflix

A child disappears from the German town of Winden in Dark, pulling four interconnected families into a mystery spanning generations. What initially resembles a missing-person thriller gradually exposes caves, nuclear history, family secrets, and a relationship with time that becomes increasingly complicated. Netflix’s three-season series follows that structure all the way through rather than stretching its mystery indefinitely.

The achievement is organizational as much as emotional. Parents, children, younger selves, older selves, and family relationships keep crossing until remembering who someone is can become its own intellectual workout. Yet the complexity always circles back to recognizable desires. People want to save children, undo mistakes, preserve relationships, or escape grief, and those understandable impulses repeatedly create larger problems. Dark rewards concentration more than almost any streaming-era series.

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‘Black Mirror’ (2011– )

Image via Channel 4

Black Mirror has spent seven seasons taking recognizable human behavior and giving it slightly more dangerous technology. Its anthology format means one episode can explore artificial consciousness while another attacks social status, surveillance, digital grief, entertainment, or the temptation to preserve every memory. Netflix released six additional episodes with Season 7 in 2025, extending a series that has survived partly because its central anxiety keeps finding new material.

Its strongest stories understand that technology rarely creates the weakness being examined. Jealous people become more dangerous when memories can be replayed. Cruel people gain new tools inside virtual environments. Lonely people will accept uncomfortable compromises when software offers companionship. That grounding explains why episodes such as “The Entire History of You,” “San Junipero,” and “USS Callister” feel completely different while belonging to the same show. You can sample Black Mirror instead of committing to it chronologically, although one episode has a habit of becoming three.

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‘The Expanse’ (2015–2022)

Image via Amazon

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The Expanse imagines humanity spread across the solar system while remaining stubbornly human about territory, resources, identity, and power. Earth, Mars, and the Belt have developed distinct political interests, and the discovery of the protomolecule introduces something genuinely alien into a civilization already struggling to avoid war. James Holden (Steven Strait) and the Rocinante crew eventually become caught inside conflicts much larger than the mystery that originally brought them together. Its sixth season carried that story through the war with Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) and the Free Navy.

The universe feels unusually convincing because economics and physics influence daily life. Belters grow up in low gravity and develop their own culture. Ships accelerate hard enough to punish human bodies. Water, air, distance, and acceleration remain strategic concerns rather than decorative science. The political material has equal weight, especially when personal loyalties collide with planetary ones. The Expanse requires attention during its opening stretch, then suddenly you understand why fans became so attached to one battered little gunship.

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‘The Orville’ (2017–2022)

Image via FOX

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The Orville begins with the crew of a mid-level exploratory starship traveling four centuries into humanity’s future, encountering new civilizations while dealing with the ordinary complications of working together. Early episodes lean heavily into workplace comedy, which initially made the show appear much lighter than its ambitions actually were. And right after that, it gets real. They get an AI that’s basically a living ChatGPT or Claude’s finest model. They touch on themes of time, stars affecting a planet’s living and punishment cycle, land on a planet that decides when somebody dies based on their social media rankings, and so much more.

One of the episodes of the show focuses on the crew landing on a planet that has a whole simulation of the real-world inside it. And the people living inside don’t even know they’re on a spaceship. That’s how mind-bending it gets. And oh boy, the ending is the literal AI war that we’re now so afraid of. That evolution is exactly why it ranks this high. The series can examine artificial life, gender, prejudice, democracy, cultural interference, war, and relationships while retaining a sincere belief that people can learn from one another. Isaac (Mark Jackson)’s place among the crew and the continuing Moclan (remember that viral 500 cigarettes clip?) stories give several of those ideas room to develop across years rather than resetting after one episode. Anyone who misses optimistic space exploration with genuine ethical arguments should give The Orville more time than its comedic reputation suggests.

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‘Battlestar Galactica’ (2004–2009)

Image via Syfy Channel

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Battlestar Galactica begins after the Cylons, artificial beings originally created by humans, nearly eradicate civilization. A surviving fleet led by the aging Galactica searches for a new home while Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) protects the ships and President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) attempts to preserve civilian government. The situation becomes immediately more dangerous once survivors learn that some Cylons can appear completely human. The series ran from 2004 through 2009 after the story was relaunched through a 2003 miniseries.

From there, the show treats survival as a political and moral problem as much as a military one. Elections still have consequences during extinction. Faith competes with evidence. Security can become an excuse for cruelty. Episodes such as “33” establish that pressure almost immediately, while later conflicts keep testing whether democratic principles can survive fear. Adama, Roslin, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff), Gaius Baltar (James Callis), Lee “Apollo” Adama (Jamie Bamber), and Number Six (Tricia Helfer) each approach that crisis from different emotional and ideological positions, giving the larger war a deeply personal shape. Battlestar Galactica can deliver enormous space battles, but the arguments afterward are often even better.

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Battlestar Galactica

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Release Date

2004 – 2009-00-00

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Directors

Wayne Rose, Michael Nankin, Rod Hardy, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Edward James Olmos, Robert M. Young, Jeff Woolnough, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Jonas Pate, Allan Kroeker, Anthony Hemingway, Jean de Segonzac, Marita Grabiak, James Head, Paul A. Edwards, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Brad Turner, Ronald D. Moore, Bill Eagles

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