Seminal director Steven Spielberg is well-renowned for bringing aliens to life on both the big and small screens. Whether it be friendly aliens in E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, violent invaders in War of the Worlds, or whatever he’s up to with next year’s Disclosure Day, the beloved filmmaker is well-versed in extraterrestrials. But while these titles have since become cinematic classics, one of his alien-based efforts has flown under the radar…and is all set to be rediscovered on Netflix. These aliens are not just of the invading variety, but of the destroying Earth variety, as Falling Skies drops audiences into a post-apocalyptic scenario in which the planet has been decimated by extraterrestrial conquerors. However, a scrappy band of human freedom fighters have survived – and now they’re rising up under the leadership of E.R. and The Pitt star Noah Wyle. All five seasons of Falling Skies are due to become available on streaming on Netflix in the United States from January 1st, 2026, and you can check out the official synopsis below…
In the wake of an alien attack that has crippled most of the world, shock has turned to resolve as the survivors gather to fight back. Leading the charge is Boston history professor Tom Mason, whose wife was killed in the attack, and one of his three sons is among a group of captive teens. Desperate to rescue his son, Tom joins forces with the 2nd Massachusetts, a makeshift regiment assigned to protect the survivors. As second in command to Weaver, Tom uses his knowledge of military history to gain intelligence about the aliens and form a plan of attack. But the plan keeps changing and more questions surface as the survivors discover what they’re really up against: a highly intelligent, heavily armed alien force whose purpose on Earth is the biggest mystery of all.

Unlike So Many TV Shows, ‘Falling Skies’ Has a Definitive Ending

TNT

Created by Robert Rodat, Falling Skies ran all five seasons on TNT between June 2011 and August 2015, and was produced by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg initially under DreamWorks Television before shifting to Spielberg’s own Amblin Television. The series stars Moon Bloodgood, Drew Roy, Jessy Schram, Maxim Knight, Seychelle Gabriel, Peter Shinkoda, Mpho Koaho, Connor Jessup, Will Patton, Sarah Carter, Colin Cunningham, Doug Jones and Scarlett Byrne alongside Wyle, and was met with solid reviews throughout its run, ranging from scores of 88% to 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Falling Skies is also one of the rare instances in which the series, despite issues behind the scenes involving a conveyor belt of showrunners, was given the chance to end on its own terms. Ending the show with a definitive conclusion rather than the kind of abrupt ending that plagues so many TV shows, Noah Wyle at the time described is as “miraculous” that Falling Skies was able to end the way it did.

Release Date

2011 – 2015-00-00

Network

TNT

Directors

Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jonathan Frakes, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Adam Kane, Fred Toye, Holly Dale, Anthony Hemingway, Bill Eagles, Carl Franklin, David Solomon, John Dahl, Matt Earl Beesley, Michael Katleman, Miguel Sapochnik, Mikael Salomon, Nathaniel Goodman, Peter Leto, Rob Lieberman

Writers

Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, Mark Verheiden, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Bryan Oh, Carol Barbee, Jack Kenny, Josh Pate, M. Raven Metzner, Heather V. Regnier, Joe Weisberg, Ryan Mottesheard, Bruce Marshall Romans, Fred Golan, Jonathan Glassner, Marc Dube, Robert Rodat, Melissa Glenn

Noah Wyle

Thomas ‘Tom’ Mason

Moon Bloodgood

Dr. Anne Glass