Mars (Seasons 1–2)

Mars (2016) is a National Geographic sci-fi series you can watch online on iFILM, based on Steven Petranek's book How We'll Live on Mars. The show runs two formats inside each episode: scripted drama set in 2033, and documentary footage of the scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who are building toward the real thing right now.

In the fictional timeline, six crew members aboard the Daedalus land on Mars with a mandate to establish humanity's first permanent settlement. The show doesn't treat this as heroic exploration — it treats it as engineering. Equipment fails. Calculations go wrong. Every error on a planet with no rescue services carries weight. The cast includes Anamaria Marinca, Alberto Ammann, Clémentine Poidatz and Esai Morales. Back in the present-day segments, figures like Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson explain what the science actually requires.

The hybrid format is the show's real achievement: the 2033 drama gains credibility from the documentary layer, and the documentary segments become more urgent because you've just watched someone nearly die from a suit malfunction. Directed by Everardo Gout. Stream all seasons of Mars (2016) online on iFILM.