Sci-fiis a varied, decades-spanning genre that has been around in one way or another ever since the invention of cinema; people have been lovingfilms about exploring spaceand living grand adventures on mysterious planets ever since Georges Méliès’sA Trip to the Moon. Like all grand narrative genres,sci-fi also has the versatilityneeded 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 spaceWestern. 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 seriesStar Trek.
John Carter
Cast
Adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, Disney’s John Carter brings the author’s Barsoom series to life. When American Confederate Civil War captain John Carter accidentally transports himself to Mars, he soon becomes entangled in the planet’s own internal power struggles. Using the increased strength and speed afforded to him by Mars' atmosphere, Carter fights to achieve peace on the distant planet known by the natives as Barsoom.
John Carteris the second ofonly two screen adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs’Barsoombook series, first published all the way back at the beginning of the 20th century. Even thoughJohn Carterwasn’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 theBarsoomseries 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 Carteris 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.
Cowboys & Aliens
Cowboys & Aliens is a sci-fi western directed by Jon Favreau, starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. Set in 1873 Arizona, the film follows a diverse group of settlers and Native Americans who must band together to combat a mysterious alien threat. The unexpected fusion of the Western and sci-fi genres evokes a unique struggle for survival and unity against an otherworldly invasion.
Space Westerns don’t get much more literal thanCowboys & 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 attacksthe town Lonergan was dragged to, where he was meant to stand trial after being recognized as an outlaw.
Cowboys & Aliensis a fun action flickthat 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.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring Chris Pratt as Peter Quill. Abducted from Earth as a child, Quill navigates intergalactic adventures, becoming entwined in a conflict centered on a powerful orb coveted by Ronan the Accuser.
Guardians of the Galaxywas 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 Galaxywas 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 Galaxyis a perfect example of howWestern-typical tropes can be blended into a sci-fi story to make something that is still undeniably sci-fibut 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.
Fallout
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.
Having your story set in some sort of wasteland—be that wasteland natural or man-made—isthe perfect way to verify 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 inFallout, 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.
Space Sweepers
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 Sweepersis a textbook space western movie filled withWestern-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.
Outland
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.
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 inOutland, 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.
“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 townin a more classic-looking Western.
The Mandalorian
Released on July 30, 2025 The Mandalorian follows a lone gunfighter navigating the galaxy’s outer reaches after the Galactic Empire’s fall. As a skilled bounty hunter, he operates in a lawless universe, undertaking various missions on the fringes of the New Republic’s territories.
The galaxy far, far away that is the home of allStar Warsstories 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 inits first season, when the story was less concerned about drawing connections to the largerStar Warscanon.The result is thatThe Mandalorianis 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.
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 animated series set in 2071, where humanity has colonized the Solar System following a catastrophic event. As crime surges, bounty hunters known as “Cowboys” are employed by the Inter Solar System Police to capture criminals in exchange for rewards.
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 asCowboy Bebop.Often considered one of the best anime of all time and ascended by now to a cult classic status,Cowboy Bebopincorporates 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.
“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 thebounty-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. Theyeach have their demons to fight and their past to face, like all Western anti-heroes do, as they travel from mission to mission.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars is a seminal science fiction film released in 1977 that follows the quest of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia from the oppressive Imperial forces. They are aided by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, as they strive to restore peace to the galaxy.
WhileStar Warsis mostly classified as a space opera, the Original Trilogy—andA New Hopein particular—borrows plenty of elements from classic Western movies, whose hype was just beginning to die down whenStar Warswas 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 evokesa very Western-like atmosphere with its isolated farms on the frontier and its shady cantinasfilled 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.
Firefly
Firefly is a science fiction television series set in the year 2517, focusing on the crew of the spaceship Serenity. As humans inhabit a new star system, the renegade crew, led by Captain Malcolm Reynolds, navigates conflicts and alliances while pursuing their own interests across lawless territories.
Fireflyis undoubtedly the best example of space Westernout 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 inFireflyhaving only fourteen episodes—and a concluding movie titledSerenity.
“I Think It Was The Greatest TV Show Ever”: Firefly’s Cancellation & Enduring Fandom Reflected On By Alan Tudyk
Firefly star Alan Tudyk reflects on the cult show’s premature cancellation and the enduring fandom, calling it the “Greatest TV show ever.”
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 theWestern-like anti-hero protagonists developing their character beats in a moresci-fisetting.
