HBO's Overlooked 2-Season Sci-Fi Crime Drama Is A Must-Watch, But There's A Catch

Television is flush with crime dramas on network, cable, and even streaming platforms nowadays, but shows that combine sci-fi with crime are much fewer and farther between. HBO delivered a show that struck a great balance between the two genres, but the series was so overlooked at the time that it only ran for two seasons. Beforeigners is still worth watching, and it was once easily accessible in the United States for anybody with an HBO Max subscription. Now, in 2026, there's a catch for any would-be viewers.

Beforeigners was a sci-fi crime drama set in Oslo, and the premise was certainly unique. When the first season began, people from the Stone Age, Viking Age, and 19th century began to appear in Norway. The result was action sequences worthy of Vikings, as well as a fun modern dynamic between Senior Detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) and Viking shield-maiden Alfhildr Enginnsdóttir (Krista Kosonen) as partners. Not only did the series have quite a clever title, but it managed to deliver a lot of interesting twists within just twelve episodes over two seasons.

While the majority of the first season is Norwegian-language with subtitles for English-speaking viewers, the second season shifting focus to Jack the Ripper meant that there was much more English involved in Lars and Alfhildr's investigations. Beforeigners would be an excellent candidate to binge-watch, thanks to the unique premise and relatively short run. Unfortunately, even though the show aired relatively recently with season 1 in 2019 and season 2 in 2021, the drama isn't as easy to access as it was less than ten years ago.

Beforeigners Isn't Currently Streaming On Any Major Platforms

Beforeigners was just one of many shows that were pulled from HBO Max following the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2022. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the decision from Warner Bros. Discovery to remove Beforeigners from the HBO Max streaming library wasn't due to concerns about the quality, but rather for strategic and financial factors. Warner Bros. Discovery took writedowns by removing the shows, which also included Beartown out of Sweden, Kamikaze out of Denmark, Lust out of Sweden, and The Informant out of Hungary.

While some shows that are cancelled by one major platform can sometimes simply be picked up by a different one, that wasn't the case among major streaming services available in the United States. Beforeigners' new streaming home in now SkyShowtime, a European streaming service that came from a joint venture between Comcast and Paramount. The result is that Beforeigners can be easily found for subscribers in certain areas of Europe, there is no longer the option of watching it via HBO Max.

The two seasons are available for purchase in the U.S., however. Anybody who is interested enough (or invested enough) in watching can find the episodes on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango. The full seasons are generally around $15, and episodes are $2.99 each on Prime Video and Apple TV. Fandango is a slightly better deal, with episodes costing 1.99 each. The full seasons are also available for $9.99 each in Standard Definition. HDX is the pricier option at $14.99. Beforeigners isn't impossible to find, but it's certainly not strangerforward.

Why Beforeigners Is Worth Watching (If You Can Find It)

Paying extra to watch the show when a person already subscribes to HBO Max isn't the most appealing prospect, but Beforeigners is still worth the 12 hours to watch from start to finish. While there are plenty of crime dramas available, and plenty of sci-fi options that include time travel in some form or other, the Norwegian series sets itself apart. It also gets off to a quick enough start that once a viewer accepts that this is a world in which people from hundreds of years in the past suddenly appear in modern-day Norway, they can go right along for the ride with Lars and Alfhildr.

Special mention has to go to Nicolai Cleve Broch as Lars and Krista Kosonen as Alfhildr. Any show that focuses on a pair of leads really needs chemistry to keep the dynamic interesting, and the two stars certainly deliver on that front. Kosonen had to navigate her character both as a shield-maiden at heart and a police recruit, while Broch had to portray Lars adjusting to his new normal, for better or worse.

The subtitles aren't difficult to read for anybody who has ever watched a movie or show with closed captions on, and English-speakers will find bits and pieces of the language scattered throughout season 1 and especially season 2. Beforeigners had enough going for it that it could have run for well beyond just those two seasons, if not for the financial decisions that came out of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Even though it can't be found on HBO Max anymore, it's worth checking out.