Fringe (2008)
Fringe is a 2008 sci-fi & fantasy series created by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. It stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and Jasika Nicole.
A plane full of passengers dissolves into goo, and that is only Tuesday for the FBI's Fringe Division. Olivia Dunham, a sharp field agent, teams with Walter Bishop, a brilliant scientist newly sprung from a mental institution, and his wary son Peter to chase phenomena mainstream science won't touch: teleportation, mind-reading, creatures grown in labs. Case by case, the strange events knit into a larger pattern involving a parallel universe pressing against our own. Created by J.J. Abrams and team, it blends monster-of-the-week thrills with heady mythology, mad-science tenderness and genuine unease.
Quick answers
What is Fringe about?
A plane full of passengers dissolves into goo, and that is only Tuesday for the FBI's Fringe Division. Olivia Dunham, a sharp field agent, teams with Walter Bishop, a brilliant scientist newly sprung from a mental institution, and his wary son Peter to chase phenomena mainstream science won't touch: teleportation, mind-reading, creatures grown in labs. Case by case, the strange events knit into a larger pattern involving a parallel universe pressing against our own. Created by J.J. Abrams and team, it blends monster-of-the-week thrills with heady mythology, mad-science tenderness and genuine unease.
When was Fringe released?
Fringe was released on 9 September 2008.
How many episodes does Fringe have?
Fringe has 100 episodes across 5 seasons.
Who made Fringe?
Fringe was created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and J.J. Abrams.
Where can I watch Fringe?
Fringe is available on Hulu, Pluto TV, Google Play, Amazon, AppleTV and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Fringe
Stream: Hulu
Watch free: Pluto TV
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Official site
Cast
- Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham
- Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop
- Jasika Nicole as Astrid Farnsworth
- John Noble as Walter Bishop
- Lance Reddick as Phillip Broyles
- Blair Brown as Nina Sharp
- Leonard Nimoy as Dr. William Bell
- Seth Gabel as Lincoln Lee
- Kirk Acevedo as Charlie Francis
- Mark Valley as John Scott
- Ryan McDonald as Brandon Fayette
- Michael Cerveris as The Observer / September
Similar series
Explore Fringe guides
Fringe in our writing
- Companion guide: Mad Scientists
- Companion guide: Multiverse & Parallel Worlds
- Companion guide: Paranormal Investigators
A few thoughts on Fringe
For more fringe science and dread, Stephen King's The Institute traps gifted children in a secret government facility; Half-Life 2 drops you into an interdimensional invasion born of a lab accident; BioShock turns unchecked experimentation into horror; and Muse's Black Holes and Revelations supplies the paranoid, cosmic soundtrack.
Paranormal investigators chasing cases mainstream science ignores
Fringe sends its FBI division after teleportation, mind-reading and lab-grown creatures that ordinary science refuses to touch. These shows share that beat: investigators working the weird cases, chasing patterns the authorities would rather ignore, one impossible file at a time. From federal conspiracies to small-town hauntings, each keeps a badge pointed straight at the inexplicable.
Science fiction that bends reality and questions what is real
Beyond the monsters, Fringe is obsessed with a parallel universe pressing against our own and the question of what is real. These stories pull the same thread, bending reality with alternate worlds, engineered minds and futures that feel a heartbeat away. Heady, unsettling science fiction that rewards patience with a bigger picture.
Games built on rogue experiments and mad science
Walter Bishop's mad-science tinkering gives Fringe its soul, and these games run on the same rogue-experiment energy. Sealed facilities, test chambers and outbreaks born in a lab, each one drops you inside a science project that went catastrophically wrong and asks you to survive it firsthand.
Ordinary people turned into test subjects with strange abilities
Fringe keeps circling children and adults turned into test subjects, gifted and cursed by experiments they never agreed to. These stories follow the same wound: people discovering strange powers, hunted by the institutions that made them, trying to stay human while everyone treats them as data.