3 Body Problem is one of the best sci-fi series on Netflix right now, an ambitious story of alien invasion based on a celebrated trilogy of books. But there’s another sci-fi Netflix show that’s in the exact position, although far fewer people have heard about it. And that’s a huge shame, considering that it’s even better.
What is The Eternaut about?
This show builds slow, and it’s the better for it
The Eternaut released its first season on Netflix in April 2025. Based on the Argentinian graphic novel originally published in 1957, it’s set in Buenos Aires, and begins with a trio of high school girls on a sailboat toasting their futures. One of them goes below deck, and is horrified to see one, then the other of her friends collapse.
We shift to a scene of a group of old friends playing cards, even though one of them, Omar (Ariel Staltari), is kind of crashing the party. The power goes out, and while the friends play it off as no big deal at first, it soon becomes clear that something very odd is happening outside. Snow is falling, in the summer, in Buenos Aires, and everyone it touches, dies instantly.
I’m taking my time setting the stage because I want to give an accurate impression of how The Eternaut carefully builds drama. We do not plunge into the thick of the action; you realize how dangerous and strange the situation is along with the characters, which makes the whole thing much more tense.
Eventually, the show settles on Juan (Ricardo Darín) as its main character. After throwing together a makeshift protective suit, he goes out into the snow to look for his ex-wife Elena (Carla Peterson) and their daughter Carla (Mora Fisz). Slowly, we learn more about what exactly is happening, who’s behind it, and what might be done about it.
Why The Eternaut is a surperior post-apocalyptic drama
Postapocalíptico
The post-apocalyptic genre is very crowded: The Last of Us, Mad Max, The Walking Dead, Silo, Fallout, Paradise, Into the Badlands…the list goes on and on. And although each one is different, there are some tropes that recur. You will see some of those tropes in The Eternaut. The toxic snow is the main threat, but as institutions fail and ordinary social mores fail, Juan has to deal with some people who turn to lawlessness, a common plotline on something like The Walking Dead. We’ll find packs of survivors flocking together, images of wreckage on the roads, and other cliches you’ll find in other stories like this.
The Eternaut has several things that help it stand out. To start, because the original comic began in 1957, it can claim to have developed a lot of the tropes that later became common in post-apocalyptic fiction. Beyond that, the cast and crew of The Eternaut treat the story with uncommon care. Juan is a little like Joel from The Last of Us in that he’s taking care of a young girl, in this case his daughter, but Juan doesn’t feel like any hero you’ve ever met. He’s not a grizzled veteran or a superhero; he’s a thoroughly ordinary guy in a tragically ordinary situation. You’ll soon grow to care for many members of the cast, and suspicious of others.
The Eternaut is also unique because of its setting. The Eternaut is a Spanish-language show, one of the many fantastic foreign language series Netflix has produced. That gives it a unique point of view. We’ve often seen what New York City looks like when it’s getting reduced to rubble or has already been reduced to rubble, but there’s basically no movie or TV show of this kind set in Argenina. The original Eternaut comic is widely celebrated in that country, to the point where there’s a full illustration of it in the city’s Uruguay subway station.
The Eternaut Season 2 is coming
And it’s going to be bigger and better
The scene that illustration depicts hasn’t happened in the TV show yet. The first season of The Eternaut runs for six episodes, all of which pass very quickly. The upcoming second season, which producers promise will be more expansive and visually dazzling, will be eight episodes long. If all goes well, it will drop it 2027.
That’s a while to wait, but it could be worse; the people who found and fell in love with The Eternaut when it first dropped in 2025 have already been waiting an agonizingly long time. If you’re one of the many who hasn’t yet sampled this series, things should be slightly easier.
The ends are nigh
The second season of The Eternaut will be its last, so by the time it’s over, this will be a tight, compact thrill ride. The ending has been germinating for over 60 years, so hopefully Netflix will get it right.
In the meantime, the next season of 3 Body Problem, a show that’s also coming up on the end of its story, should come out sooner. If you have Netflix (or a way to watch Netflix), you can enjoy it all.
- Release Date
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April 30, 2025
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Bruno Stagnaro
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Dante Mastropierro
Maquinista
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Jorge Sesán
Maquinista 2
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Ricardo Darín
Juan Salvo
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