Common Sense Media Review
Smart time travel show balances thrills with humanity.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Travelers
What's the Story?
Four people: a single mom, a junkie, a high school athlete, and a janitor with a cognitive disability, all of whom are supposed to die on the same day, have their bodies inhabited by TRAVELERS from the future (led by Will and Grace's Eric McCormack), sent here to prevent the eventual extinction of the human race. In addition to their missions, they also have the challenge of seamlessly integrating into their new hosts' lives without anyone finding out.
Is It Any Good?
Surprisingly low-key for such a high-concept show, this series offers a good mixture of suspense and personal drama. With five characters to feature, each with different lives and personal problems, as well as a mission of the week to focus on, the scripts do an excellent job juggling the separate elements and keeping all the relationships easy to follow. The wide variety of characters means the show gets to explore many different kinds of stories: young love, marital drama, and family conflict, in addition to the more action-focused plotlines.
Travelers isn't groundbreaking television by any means, but there's a real humanity to the characters that gives it an unexpected gravity. What's particularly refreshing is that even though Travelers takes its premise seriously, it never becomes self-serious, and in this genre that isn't always an easy feat.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about time travel in Travelers. What do you think would be the coolest part of traveling back in time? The hardest?
Imagine it's possible to transfer your mind into another person's body. Would you do it? Is there a specific person or kind of person whose body you'd want to inhabit?
TV Details
- Premiere date : December 23, 2016
- Cast : Eric McCormack , Mackenzie Porter , Niesta Cooper , Jared Abrahamsson , Reilly Dolman
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Action
- TV rating :
- Last updated : October 19, 2021
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate