Sci-fi is a varied, decades-spanning genre that has been around in one way or another ever since the invention of cinema; people have been loving films about exploring space and living grand adventures on mysterious planets ever since Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon. Like all grand narrative genres, sci-fi also has the versatility needed to be declined in hundreds of different subgenres that explore this side or the other of the genre’s most beloved tropes and settings.
One of these subgenres is the space Western. At first, it might seem that the two genres, both foundational pillars of cinema, have very little common ground, with one being set in space and the other generally featuring trigger-happy cowboys galloping around. A key element of Western stories, however, is the idea of the frontier—and there’s no frontier quite like space, to quote the genre-defining television series Star Trek.
10 John Carter (2012)
Directed By Andrew Stanton
John Carter is the second of only two screen adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom book series, first published all the way back at the beginning of the 20th century. Even though John Carter wasn’t exactly a critical darling or a box office success, its atmosphere perfectly captures the spirit that every sci-fi and western combo should have.
That’s because the Barsoom series is one of the very first examples of a story taking together elements that are typical of cowboy stories and putting them in remote space or far-off planets. John Carter is the story of a Confederate soldier who is mysteriously transported to the planet Barsoom—a fictional version of Mars—where he finds another civil war happening that is much similar to the one he was fighting on Earth. Few things are as Western-inspired as a lone hero facing down a massive war in a mostly desert landscape.
9 Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Directed By Jon Favreau
Space Westerns don’t get much more literal than Cowboys & Aliens, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The story is set in the second half of the 19th century in the Southwestern United States, and it begins with Jake Lonergan, a man who wakes up with no memories at all and a peculiar-looking bracelet attached to his arm. Things quickly take a futuristic turn when an alien ship attacks the town Lonergan was dragged to, where he was meant to stand trial after being recognized as an outlaw.
Cowboys & Aliens is a fun action flick that is quite unique in the wider space Western genre, with sci-fi elements landing in the middle of what would be a perfectly regular Western story rather than the more common opposite, which sees Western tropes being applied to a sci-fi story. Incredible performances by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Sam Rockwell complete the picture.
8 Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
Directed By James Gunn
Guardians of the Galaxy was quite the leap for the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it was released in 2014. While Phase One and the first half of Phase Two had already had stories set in space, Guardians of the Galaxy was a complete tonal shift—and one that proved incredibly successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of that year and also one of the most beloved of the entire Marvel canon.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect example of how Western-typical tropes can be blended into a sci-fi story to make something that is still undeniably sci-fi but has that same gritty feeling that most Westerns have. In this case, it’s all about the movie’s ragtag group of anti-heroes main characters, who would do equally well—and spread chaos and destruction—on horseback in some half-forgotten frontier town as they do in space.
7 Fallout (2024-Present)
Created By Graham Wagner And Geneva Robertson-Dworet
TV Show My Favorite TV Shows My Watchlist Success! 57 9.1/10 Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star 0/10 Leave a Review Fallout Release Date April 10, 2024 Showrunner Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Writers Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Cast Ella Purnell Lucy MacLean
Aaron Moten Maximus
Moises Arias Norm MacLean
See All Cast & Crew Stream Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming Set 200 years after an apocalypse, Fallout follows residents of luxury shelters as they re-enter a post-nuclear world. Confronted with a bizarre and violent landscape, the series explores the stark contrasts between their sheltered existence and the harsh realities of the outside universe. Main Genre Sci-Fi Seasons 1
Having your story set in some sort of wasteland—be that wasteland natural or man-made—is the perfect way to make sure your audience’s minds immediately think about space Westerns, even when the rest of said story’s elements aren’t necessarily Western-like. That’s exactly what happens in Fallout, Prime Video’s 2024 critical darling based on the video game franchise of the same name.
Most of the story of Fallout takes place in the retro-futuristic wasteland that emerged after humanity almost decimated itself in a series of resource wars. The main character Lucy leaves the safety of her Vault, the bunkers where humanity has survived, to travel through the wasteland that once was Los Angeles in search of her father—and that’s when she meets the Ghoul, played by Walton Goggins, another particularly Western-like character who makes a living as a gunslinger and bounty hunter.
6 Space Sweepers (2021)
Directed By Jo Sung-hee
Movie My Favorite Movies My Watchlist Success! Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star 0/10 Leave a Review Space Sweepers Release Date February 5, 2021 Runtime 2h 16m Director Sung-hee Jo Cast Song Joong-ki
Kim Tae-ri
See All Cast & Crew Stream Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming Space Sweepers, set in the year 2092, follows a crew of misfit space scavengers aboard the spaceship Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy with the potential for mass destruction, they find themselves entangled in a dangerous business deal. The South Korean space opera explores themes of survival and morality amidst high-stakes interstellar adventures. Directed by Jo Sung-hee, the film stars Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, and Jin Seon-kyu.
Widely considered the first true South Korean space blockbuster, Space Sweepers is a textbook space western movie filled with Western-like tropes and plot points set in a not-so-distant future where ships, robots, and looming megacorporations are the norm. The story follows the titular crew of space sweepers, who are led by Captain Jang and ebb out a meager living around a space station orbiting a dying Earth.
Their lives change completely when they meet a child robot, Dorothy, who carries a weapon of mass destruction inside her and who predictably soon has the whole of the Solar System after them. Anti-heroes have always been some of the Western genre’s favorite protagonists, begrudgingly working together as a group to achieve a common goal while also dealing with their personal demons that have inevitably led them to hide away at the very limit of the frontier.
5 Outland (1981)
Directed By Peter Hyams
Movie My Favorite Movies My Watchlist Success! Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star 0/10 Leave a Review Outland Release Date May 22, 1981 Runtime 109 Minutes Director Peter Hyams Cast Sean Connery Marshall William T. O’Niel
Frances Sternhagen Dr. Marian Lazarus
Peter Boyle Sheppard
See All Cast & Crew Stream Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming RENT
BUY
Outland is a 1981 science fiction thriller directed by Peter Hyams. Sean Connery stars as Marshal William O’Niel, assigned to a mining colony on Io, Jupiter’s moon, where he uncovers a dangerous drug-smuggling operation. Faced with corruption and violence, O’Niel takes a stand to bring justice to the lawless outpost. The film also features Peter Boyle and Frances Sternhagen in supporting roles. Writers Peter Hyams Main Genre Sci-Fi
Another favorite protagonist of Western stories everywhere is the lone lawman, alone in a hostile environment and with nothing but his wits, his weapon of choice, and his sense of justice to bring said environment back to order. That’s exactly what happens in Outland, one of the very first space westerns to be produced in the history of cinema and still a staple of the genre more than forty years after its release.
Related “I’m Trying To Comprehend What I Just Watched”: Cult Classic Sean Connery 1981 Sci-Fi Movie Leaves VFX Artists Stunned A cult classic Sean Connery sci-fi film from 1981 leaves VFX artists stunned, with one of them saying “I’m trying to comprehend what I just watched.”
The story follows Federal Marshall Willian O’Niel, played by Sean Connery, who is sent to work at a mining facility on Jupiter’s moon Io. The situation on Io is difficult and O’Niel’s family profoundly hates their new home, but O’Niel himself soon becomes embroiled in a dark secret that people will do anything to keep hidden. It’s a good thing O’Neil has his trusty shotgun with which to take on the bad guys, just as it would happen if he were the new sheriff of a frontier town in a more classic-looking Western.
4 The Mandalorian (2019-2023)
Created By Jon Favreau
The galaxy far, far away that is the home of all Star Wars stories is no stranger to space Westerns. The Mandalorian, however, the first live-action series in the franchise, really took that label to heart and dived deep into the genre—particularly in its first season, when the story was less concerned about drawing connections to the larger Star Wars canon. The result is that The Mandalorian is a textbook example of what a classic space Western should be.
The story follows the titular character, Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, once an orphan raised by Mandalorians and now a faithful follower of the Way. His tranquil but lonesome routine as a bounty hunter gets disrupted when he gets assigned a peculiar job; retrieving a child named Grogu, which audiences immediately recognize as belonging to the same species as Master Yoda. Just like Master Yoda, the child soon reveals himself to be Force-sensitive, just as he and Djarin begin to form a father-son bond.
3 Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Created By Hajime Yatate
TV Show My Favorite TV Shows My Watchlist Success! 20 9.2/10 Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star 0/10 Leave a Review Cowboy Bebop Release Date 1998 – 1999 Network Adult Swim Showrunner Shinichirô Watanabe Cast Koichi Yamadera
Steve Blum
Megumi Hayashibara
See All Cast & Crew Stream Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming
BUY
Cowboy Bebop is a sci-fi/western action television series widely regarded as one of the best anime ever. The series follows a crew of four disconnected bounty hunters who all slowly come together aboard a ship known as the Bebop. The crew of the Bebop attempt to snag various bounties and embark on several misadventures to keep their pockets lined with coin and their stomachs full. The series also has a heavy musical motif, with each episode title named after various jazz “sessions.” Directors Shinichirô Watanabe Writers Keiko Nobumoto, Shinichirô Watanabe Seasons 1
Space Western spans a wide variety of mediums and that includes anime, where nothing has ever embodied the spirit of this particular genre as much as Cowboy Bebop. Often considered one of the best anime of all time and ascended by now to a cult classic status, Cowboy Bebop incorporates elements of Western and noir movies into a space setting—all to the tune of some of the most amazing jazz music ever heard in an anime.
Related “Loneliness and Redemption”: Cowboy Bebop Has One Secret That Makes It the Best Anime Ever Cowboy Bebop’s incredible and long-lasting success owes much to the philosophical themes that the anime shows through its main characters.
The story follows the bounty-hunting duo Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, who travel through space aboard their ship, the Bebop. Their crew is soon joined by Faye Valentine, an excellent con artist, and Edward Wong, a genius child hacker, as well as Ein, a Corgi who was genetically engineered to have human-like intelligence. They each have their demons to fight and their past to face, like all Western anti-heroes do, as they travel from mission to mission.
2 Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Directed By George Lucas
While Star Wars is mostly classified as a space opera, the Original Trilogy—and A New Hope in particular—borrows plenty of elements from classic Western movies, whose hype was just beginning to die down when Star Wars was first released. Some of these elements are more immediately noticeable, like the first part of the movie being set on the desert planet Tatooine, which evokes a very Western-like atmosphere with its isolated farms on the frontier and its shady cantinas filled with gunslinging, trigger-happy smugglers.
Han Solo and Chewbacca are also incredibly Western-like characters, savvy in the ways of the world and experts at evading the law, apparently cynical but ultimately willing to fight for the greater good. Luke might seem less Western-inspired than other characters around him, but several classics of the genre feature a young, naive protagonist who sets out on a mission that will turn him into a wise, experienced warrior—there’s a reason the hero’s journey has shaped stories for millennia, after all.
1 Firefly (2002)
Created By Joss Whedon
Firefly is undoubtedly the best example of space Western out there, with its characters being quite literally pioneers in the frontier of space, living their lives on the sides of a wider society dominated by the two superpowers of the United States and China. The show is a cult classic of the genre, with an incredibly dedicated following even despite its abrupt cancelation which resulted in Firefly having only fourteen episodes—and a concluding movie titled Serenity.
The story follows the nine-person crew of the ship Serenity, led by Captain Mal Reynolds, as they go on a series of odd jobs that mostly consist of smuggling cargo to and from different corners of the galaxy while dealing with their own past and the mistakes that haunt them—another great example of the Western-like anti-hero protagonists developing their character beats in a more sci-fi setting.