‘Electric Dreams’: Amazon’s Philip K. Dick Anthology Series Deserves Another Look

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With Amazon working on a new series based on Philip K. Dick’s Clans of the Alphane Moon (according to Variety), it’s a good time to remember a lesser-known anthology series from 2017 that also drew inspiration from Dick’s writing. While The Man in the High Castle often receives praise for Amazon, this earlier series packed in a surprising number of mind-bending and unusual stories, making it a hidden gem on the platform.

Featuring a fantastic cast including Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, and Richard Madden, the 10-episode sci-fi series Electric Dreams is a great option for science fiction fans while they wait for the next big adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s work. Since Netflix is also developing The Future is Ours, based on Dick’s novel The World Jones Made, now is the perfect time to explore the thought-provoking and unusual world of Electric Dreams.

‘Electric Dreams’ Has Something For Every Sci-Fi Enthusiast

Philip K. Dick’s stories are more popular than ever, and Prime Video’s Electric Dreams is a hidden gem for sci-fi fans. This series, which aired 10 episodes between 2017 and 2018, uniquely adapts one of Dick’s short stories – or, in one case, a novella – per episode.

The show features a wide range of complex and fascinating episodes. These explore intriguing ideas like telepaths causing riots (“The Hood Maker”), space tourism with robots (“The Impossible Planet”), a train station representing purgatory (“The Commuter”), heists committed by lifelike humanoids (“Crazy Diamond”), grief experienced through virtual reality (“Exhibit Piece”), alien invasions on Earth (“Human Is”), mysterious body-swapping (“The Father Thing”), automated systems after a nuclear war (“Autofac”), oppressive surveillance states (“Foster, You’re Dead!”), and the disturbing influence of advertising connected to mass murder (“The Hanging Stranger”).

With so many thought-provoking themes, Electric Dreams is consistently engaging. Even if you don’t love one story, a new episode starts quickly – each one is only about 50 to 60 minutes long. What’s unique is that each episode has a different writer and director, including well-known science fiction creators like Matthew Graham (Childhood’s End), David Farr (Outcasts), Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials), Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Michael Dinner (Invasion), Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim), and Dee Rees (Upload).

How ‘Electric Dreams’ Got Lost in the Sci-fi Shuffle

Despite receiving similar positive feedback from both critics (72% on Rotten Tomatoes) and general audiences (75% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2 rating on IMDb), the highly anticipated anthology series Electric Dreams didn’t gain much traction when it first aired. It’s unclear why the show was largely forgotten, but its release coincided with the huge popularity of Prime Video’s The Man in the High Castle, another series based on the work of Philip K. Dick.

Between 2015 and 2019, The Man in the High Castle was far more popular than Electric Dreams, which quickly faded into obscurity. Adding to this, the critical and commercial success of Blade Runner 2049 – the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, itself based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – made it easy for Electric Dreams to be forgotten.

One reason Electric Dreams didn’t gain much traction was its unusual release strategy. It first aired on Channel 4 in the UK in September 2017, and then came to Prime Video in the U.S. in January 2018. To make things even more complicated, the single season was split into two parts, with a four-month break between the sixth and seventh episodes. This lengthy delay caused viewership tracking to stop, as data was only recorded for the first half of the season.

With two more seasons of the show coming soon, now is a great time to watch Electric Dreams, a fantastic but often overlooked sci-fi series on Amazon.

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2026-04-04 00:54