While Netflix has released some incredible, award-winning shows over the years, including Stranger Things, Wednesday and Adolescence, the streaming giant has also dropped some questionable content too. But while some of their cringier content leans into the humor, like their classic Christmas rom-coms, there’s one sci-fi series that aimed high, and still missed every imaginable mark.
In 2019, Netflix released The I-Land, a seven-episode sci-fi series that scored one of the worst Rotten Tomatoes scores to date. From the critics, the series earned a dismal 8%, with the public liking it a bit more at 35%. With such low scores, and no second season to redeem itself, the series will continue to be one of Netflix’s most unwatchable series of all time.
What Is ‘The I-Land’ About?
Certainly getting inspiration from the hit ABC series Lost, The I-Land follows ten strangers as they wake on a beach in a seemingly deserted island with no connection to one another, and no memory of how they got there. Dressed in identical clothing, these strangers have no choice but to fight for their survival, both amongst themselves and the threats from their new environment. Through it all, they also try to piece together what led them there in the first place. In the trailer, for instance, main character Chase (Natalie Martinez) even makes a direct nod to Lost, saying, “What? Did our plane go down?”
As the ten strangers play out their own tropical version of The Hunger Games, the series also follows the powerful people who set these ten people up as a prison experiment. In addition to Martinez (Death Race,End of Watch), The I-Land, created by Anthony Salter,also stars Kate Bosworth, Alex Pettyfer, Kyle Schmid, and Bruce McGill.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
What ‘The I-Land’ Got Wrong
From the reviews, it’s safe to say The I-Land fell flat on countless areas to become the awfully-rated series. While critics were excited and interested by the premise at first, the series quickly subverts it, removing any of the intrigue and shifting its genre from a gripping mystery, to a flat, uninteresting drama instead. As such, whatever questions are left aren’t unraveled throughout the episodes, with hints and puzzle pieces at every corner. Instead, plot points and storylines seem halfhazardly thrown together in an all-around mess of too many ideas and too little time.
“A bafflingly horrible sci-fi show, the kind of project that leaves your jaw on the floor, not unlike the first time you saw Tommy Wiseau‘s The Room,” one review wrote on Rotten Tomatoes, referring to Wiseau’s now cult-classic from 2003 that boasts a much higher 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. “This is sci-fi without a vision, a genre piece that doesn’t know how its own genre works,” wrote another reviewer. “The I-Land is begging to be forgotten.” As time will have it, it seems that’s exactly what happened.
So, while we wouldn’t recommend watching The I-Land if you’re looking for a compelling or at least interesting watch, it still is fascinating to see a show be regarded so poorly from a streaming giant that’s beloved around the world. After all, with so many movies and TV shows from around the world, Netflix is bound to have some duds ever so often.
