Ridley Scott’s Raised by Wolves Fuses Dune and Blade Runner in HBO’s Boldest Sci-Fi Gamble

If you’ve ever sat around thinking 'What if Dune and Blade Runner had a weird, brooding love child?', you can stop wondering—because that’s essentially what Ridley Scott cooked up with Raised by Wolves. Somehow this show managed to slip under just about everyone’s radar when it dropped in 2020, which feels kind of ridiculous given its pedigree. Blame the pandemic chaos or maybe the marketing, but trust me, if you’re a fan of grand, mind-bending sci-fi with a heavy dose of philosophical dread and striking visuals, you need this one on your watchlist.

Yes, It's That Kind of Sci-Fi Mashup

Raised by Wolves ran for two seasons—18 episodes in all—between 2020 and 2022. Aaron Guzikowski (the guy who wrote Prisoners) created the show, but Ridley Scott not only produced it, he directed the first two episodes himself. If you know Scott, that's a solid seal of quality for android weirdness and future doom.

The setup is basically this: Two androids (Amanda Collin as Mother and Abubakar Salim as Father) land on a bleak distant planet after Earth has been wiped out by religious war. Their mission? Set up a new human colony from scratch and raise kids—except they’re supposed to bring them up as atheists. Naturally, things go badly sideways when a shipload of religious zealots crashes the party, and factions start breaking out.

The religious conflict here isn’t just window dressing—the show's basically obsessed with what happens when faith and technology collide. Fans of Dune will recognize how absolute, almost weaponized belief systems shape everything. The world-building riffs on that post-apocalyptic, inhospitable Arrakis vibe, too. Think Dune’s mysterious religious puppet masters (the Missionaria Protectiva) crossed with Raised by Wolves’s own scripture-pushing Mithraic order.

'The show gets better and more involved as it goes, making for an addictive sci-fi experience.'

The Blade Runner DNA

Here’s where it gets even more interesting. Instead of just doing a rehash of Blade Runner-style replicant angst, Raised by Wolves pushes further into what might happen if machines actually tried to nurture humanity instead of just imitate it. There’s still plenty of moodiness and 'what is a soul?' moping, but it feels genuinely new—especially since these androids have to fix humanity instead of hunting it.

Plus, if you were into the chunky philosophy of Prometheus (yes, another Scott project), this show goes deep on similar questions: Where did we come from? Is faith an evolutionary bug or feature? What if the only way to reboot the human race is with very confused robots and weaponized scriptures?

Who’s In It, How’s It Do?

• Amanda Collin plays the fiercely weird android matriarch, Mother
• Abubakar Salim is Father, much more endearing in execution than his name suggests
• 18 episodes across two seasons (2020-2022)
• Season 1 scored 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 jumped to 86%
• Cancelled — yes, prematurely — thanks to the Warner Bros./Discovery shakeup in 2022
• No HBO Max streaming, but if you find a way to watch it, it's worth the hassle

Despite an awkward rollout and the very modern curse of being unceremoniously yanked from a streaming service, Raised by Wolves gathered some serious critical momentum in its second season. Word to the wise: it does not wrap up neatly, but what’s there is binge-worthy (especially if you want a sci-fi hit before Dune: Part 3, Blade Runner 2099, or Alien: Earth jam up your viewing schedule in 2026 and 2027).

The Bottom Line

If you like your science fiction heavy on religious brainwashing, android parenting, and existential horror—with some of Ridley Scott’s signature sterile dread for good measure—Raised by Wolves is weird, ambitious, and unfairly overlooked. It sits right at the intersection of three massive universes: Dune, Blade Runner, and even Alien. Not a bad place to hang out.

In short: dig it up, stream it however you can, and enjoy the weirdest synthetic family drama you’ve never seen.