With Peter Weller set to appear alongside Brad Pitt in the highly anticipated David Fincher-directed, Quentin Tarantino-scripted The Adventures of Cliff Booth, there’s no better time to remember the sci-fi show everyone forgot he made.
There’s nothing worse than a show with a solid premise that hooks you from the start, only for the network to cancel it before its secrets could be revealed. From The Society to that cliffhanger baby from Lois & Clark, unresolved plotlines can be even more disappointing than bad endings. I mean, just ask any Game of Thrones fan.
In 2002, seasoned showrunner Manny Coto took a shot at sci-fi storytelling after working on the Outer Limits revival. Odyssey 5 was a mind-bending, time-travelling epic about a group of astronauts who, on a routine mission, witness Earth’s destruction. That’s quite the shocker for a pilot episode.
Still, as engaging as the show’s first episode was, Showtime canned the project after just one season. What forced this show to meet an untimely end? The answer, as usual, boils down to money.
How Odyssey 5 Dared to Destroy Earth in Episode One
First, let’s address that bummer of an intro. Most shows about the end of the world have the heroes trying to prevent the apocalypse; in Odyssey 5, it happens right from the start. All is not lost, however, as our protagonists are given the chance to travel 5 years back in time to save our doomed planet.
The show then turns into a series of unfortunate events and coincidences that, more often than not, result in them changing the future for the worse. Kind of like The Butterfly Effect in a more scientific setting. And with RoboCop himself in one of the lead roles.
The AI Conspiracy That Was Ahead of Its Time
Odyssey 5 immediately captured its fans with its solid storytelling and outstanding performances, especially by Peter Weller. Every episode introduced new layers into the overarching mystery surrounding Earth’s demise, and the alien race orchestrating everything behind the scenes.
Even though the series came over two decades ago, it handles modern sci-fi woes exceptionally well. AI takes center stage in multiple storylines – something that 2026 audiences might appreciate even more than viewers from 2002.
For sci-fi fans, Odyssey 5 was the perfect companion piece to series like Firefly. Unfortunately, both shows suffered the same fate, and for pretty much the same reason. Not even Star Trek: Enterprise could reignite sci-fi’s popularity among 2002’s audiences. Showtime saw the writing on the wall, and decided to cut Odyssey 5 short to focus on different shows.
The Questions Odyssey 5 Never Got to Answer
After many twists and turns, Odyssey 5’s finale is as anticlimactic as they get. We finally get some answers regarding the Sentients (AI aliens) and the crew comes across a massive conspiracy that implies the moon itself might be an artificial construct. Season 2 promised some much-needed answers, and Coto had envisioned at least five seasons worth of Odyssey 5.
Almost 25 years later, it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever get a proper closure to Odyssey 5. Though Manny Coto tried to revive the show in several occasions, the veteran showrunner unfortunately passed away on July 9, 2023.
That marked the end of any attempts to resurrect Odyssey 5. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we have to accept that the show simply would never be the same without its original creator. Some mysteries are meant to remain unsolved – and that’s perfectly fitting for a show as mesmerizing as Odyssey 5.
Odyssey 5 ran for 19 episodes from June 21 to October 15, 2002, before Showtime pulled the plug. Weller led the series as Commander Chuck Taggart alongside Sebastian Roché as geneticist Kurt Mendel, Christopher Gorham as Taggart’s son Neil, Leslie Silva as TV reporter Sarah Forbes, Tamara Craig Thomas as shuttle pilot Angela Perry, and Gina Clayton as Paige Taggart.
Odyssey 5 is currently streaming for free on Tubi and The Roku Channel, available with a subscription on Fubo, and full episodes can also be found on YouTube — though their official status there is unclear.
As for Weller himself, he’s very much back — recent projects include voicing Dr. Stern in Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, starring in the crime thriller Bang (2025), reprising his iconic role in RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business, and landing a role in the Fincher-directed, Tarantino-scripted The Adventures of Cliff Booth, arriving on Netflix this December.
