FX’s Devs doesn’t get nearly enough attention, despite being one of the best sci-fi shows of the 2020s. That’s really saying something, since the 2020s have provided several great offerings. Apple TV, especially, has killed it with this genre, producing Severance and Pluribus alongside a handful of others. Still, sci-fi shows from other production companies and streamers shouldn’t be ignored.

Devs was among the first sci-fi shows released this decade, hitting Hulu in March of 2020. Created by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Ex Machina, Annihilation), Devs follows a software engineer, Lily Chan, who works for a quantum computing company run by its CEO, Forest. Lily winds up fixated on a personal investigation of her employer following the suspicious death of her boyfriend on his first day at the company’s Devs department.

Devs Is Everything We Want In A Great Sci-Fi

Devs achieves a great deal with its eight episodes. Stars Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, and more give spectacularly nuanced performances, and everything from the filming to the writing is all we could ask for. Beyond this, Devs checks every box for a science fiction series. It’s not just imaginative, but also cognitively challenging, intensely suspenseful, and undeniably magnetic.

It’s become more necessary than ever that a sci-fi TV show explore complex social themes, and Devs does precisely this. The big questions of the series revolve around determinism and its contrast with free will. Every single moment and piece of dialogue meaningfully contributes to this. Still, though profound and complex, Devs keeps its themes accessible and right on the surface.

Devs Released At The Worst Possible Time

All of the above triumphs allowed Devs an impressive 82% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the show is woefully underdiscussed. It’s a project that few seem to be familiar with, and this has everything to do with when Devs released on Hulu.

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns were still relatively new. The public was distracted, so shows such as Devs went under the radar. Had the show been released just a month or so later, it could have gained wider recognition as people began turning to streaming to get through quarantine. Additionally, had Devs not been a miniseries, further seasons might have retroactively brought in renewed attention.

Of course, none of this was the case. There might have been a trickle of new viewership throughout the rest of 2020, but Devs got lost in the wave of backlogged projects that released as lockdowns were lifted. Regardless, this show has stood the test of time. It’s a true gem, hidden within Hulu’s library.