Dear steamers and lovers of mechanical vapours, allow me to guide you on a fascinating journey through the television series that have managed to capture the very essence of our beloved aesthetic. For steampunk — that sublime fusion of 19th-century steam and futuristic dreams — has finally conquered the small screen with a magnificence that would have made Jules Verne himself green with envy.
Since 2010, the advent of streaming platforms has allowed the genre to deploy its full visual complexity: copper gears, majestic airships, smoky laboratories, and visionary inventors now populate our evenings. Here, then, is my personal ranking of the twenty most remarkable productions, listed from the least captivating to absolute perfection.
Summary Table: The 20 Best Steampunk Series at a Glance
For steamers in a hurry, here is our complete selection ranked from the least captivating (20) to absolute perfection (1), with the streaming platforms where you can find them:
| Rank | Series Title | Year | Platform(s) | Steampunk Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Warehouse 13 | 2009-2014 | Prime Video | Playful adventure, technological artefacts |
| 19 | His Dark Materials | 2019-2022 | HBO / Canal+ | Airships, retrofuturist parallel universe |
| 18 | Shadow and Bone | 2021-2023 | Netflix | Tsarpunk, industrialised magic |
| 17 | Into the Badlands | 2015-2019 | AMC | Post-apocalyptic dieselpunk |
| 16 | Appare-Ranman! | 2020 | Crunchyroll | Steam race, spirit of invention |
| 15 | The Case Study of Vanitas | 2021 | Crunchyroll | Vampiric Paris Belle Époque |
| 14 | Princess Principal | 2017 | Anime platforms | Victorian espionage, anti-gravity |
| 13 | Violet Evergarden | 2018 | Netflix | Typewriter Punk, mechanical prosthetics |
| 12 | Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing | 2011 | Anime services | Aerial opera, flying battleships |
| 11 | Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress | 2016 | Crunchyroll / Netflix | Armoured trains, survival steampunk |
| 10 | The Nevers | 2021 | Tubi / Roku | Victorian women inventors, gadgets |
| 9 | The Irregulars | 2021 | Netflix | Underground Victorian London |
| 8 | Penny Dreadful | 2014-2016 | Prime Video / Showtime | Industrial Gothic, Faustian science |
| 7 | Unicorn: Warriors Eternal | 2023 | HBO / Max | 19th-century London, steam robot |
| 6 | Carnival Row | 2019-2023 | Prime Video | Fae neo-noir, massive airships |
| 5 | Paris Police 1900 | 2021 | Canal+ | Industrial Belle Époque realism |
| 4 | La Révolution | 2020 | Netflix | French biopunk, uchronic 1789 |
| 3 | Nautilus | 2024-2025 | Prime Video / France 2 | Anti-imperialist Jules Verne |
| 2 | The Legend of Korra | 2012-2014 | Netflix / Paramount+ | Asian dieselpunk, Republic City |
| 1 | Arcane | 2021-2024 | Netflix | Art Deco Magipunk, absolute masterpiece |
Special mention: Les Sentinelles (2025, Canal+) — Radium-punk of the Great War, an exceptional French production set in the trenches of 1914-18.
Discover the detailed analysis of each series below to make your choice!
The Foundations of the Genre: Classic and Hybrid Series (Ranks 20 to 16)
20. Warehouse 13 (2009-2014) — Prime Video
This playful series transforms a secret warehouse into a true cabinet of technological curiosities. Historical artefacts rub shoulders with retrofuturist gadgets, including the famous electric "Tesla" and the polished-brass "Farnsworth" communicator. A joyful ode to the spirit of invention that will delight newcomers to the genre.
19. His Dark Materials (2019-2022) — HBO/Canal+
In this parallel universe governed by an austere theocracy, sumptuous airships traverse the skies and "anbaric" electricity powers instruments of artisanal beauty. The alethiometer — that compass of truth with its complex gears — perfectly embodies the marriage between mysticism and precision mechanics.
18. Shadow and Bone (2021-2023) — Netflix
Inspired by Imperial Russia rather than Victorian England, this series offers us a refreshing "Tsarpunk". The Ketterdam gangs, with their rigged canes and their meticulous heists, evoke the golden age of Victorian organised crime transposed into a world of industrialised magic.
17. Into the Badlands (2015-2019) — AMC
In this post-apocalyptic future regressed to a feudal structure, motorised technology survives through improvisation. Vehicles assembled from recycled parts and architecture blending Southern plantations with refineries create a striking dieselpunk aesthetic that flirts with our retrofuturist universe.
16. Appare-Ranman! (2020) — Crunchyroll
This animated series celebrates the spirit of invention through a trans-American race in which each steam vehicle reflects the extravagant personality of its creator. A joyful homage to the technological optimism of the great World Exhibitions of the 19th century.
Japanese Animation: Refinement and Mechanical Poetry (Ranks 15 to 11)
15. The Case Study of Vanitas (2021) — Crunchyroll
An alternative Belle Époque Paris where aristocratic vampires and baroque airships coexist in an explosion of colours and ornaments. The Gothic-lolita aesthetic meets the most extravagant machinery here, creating a hedonistic vision of the genre rarely equalled.
14. Princess Principal (2017) — Anime streaming
In a London divided by a wall, young female spies use H.G. Wells's "Cavorite" to defy gravity. Victorian espionage gadgets, vocal prosthetics, and combat automata compose an arsenal worthy of the finest novels of scientific adventure.
13. Violet Evergarden (2018) — Netflix
This work of heartbreaking delicacy offers us "Typewriter Punk": the heroine's mechanical prosthetics, animated with obsessive attention to detail, type on typewriters in a sublimated post-war Europe. A poetic meditation on communication and reconstruction.
12. Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing (2011) — Anime services
The aerial battles between celestial battleships and small open-cockpit "Vanships" constitute a visual opera dedicated to retrofuturist aviation. These flying dreadnoughts, bristling with turrets, transform the sky into a maritime battlefield of epic beauty.
11. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (2016) — Crunchyroll/Netflix
Colossal armoured locomotives traverse an apocalyptic Japan besieged by creatures with hearts of steel. The roar of boilers, the meticulous management of steam pressure, and improvised mechanical weapons create a "survival steampunk" of rare intensity. Engineering becomes the ultimate rampart against extinction.
Gaslamp Fantasy: When Gothic Meets Steam (Ranks 10 to 6)
10. The Nevers (2021) — Tubi/Roku
In a Victorian London upended by the appearance of women with extraordinary powers, the inventor Penance Adair embodies the figure of the genius creator. Her workshop, saturated with brass prototypes and futuristic plans, produces primitive electric cars and weapons concealed in parasols. Technology as an instrument of female emancipation.
9. The Irregulars (2021) — Netflix
This retelling of the Sherlockian myth from the perspective of street children plunges us into Victorian industrial poverty. Labyrinthine sewers, misty docks, and Frankensteinian scientific experiments compose a "grunge" vision of the London we thought we knew.
8. Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) — Prime Video/Showtime
Dr Frankenstein's laboratory, with its galvanic machines crackling electricity, symbolises the dark face of the Industrial Revolution. This London suffocated by factory smog, lit by flickering gas lamps, reminds us that progress always has a price. A Gothic work of fascinating darkness that explores Faustian science.
7. Unicorn: Warriors Eternal (2023) — HBO/Max
Genndy Tartakovsky's stylised animation gives us a late 19th-century London invaded by malevolent forces, where a steam robot rubs shoulders with reincarnated heroes. The automata and smoky streets create a dreamlike atmosphere that transcends the genre's conventions.
6. Carnival Row (2019-2023) — Prime Video
In the city of "The Burgue", faery creatures and humans cohabit in explosive tension. Massive airships patrol above a city where Victorian architecture oppresses the magical refugees, transformed into an exploited workforce. A powerful allegory of contemporary migration crises, draped in the velvet and steel of the darkest steampunk.
French Masterworks: The European Renaissance (Ranks 5 to 3)
5. Paris Police 1900 (2021) — Canal+
This series immerses us in a violent and muddy turn-of-the-century Paris, where new police technologies (anthropometry, telephone, forensic medicine) are filmed with an almost fetishistic fascination. For those seeking authentic industrial decorative inspiration, it is a visual goldmine that captures the grimy realism of the Belle Époque.
4. La Révolution (2020) — Netflix
This bold uchronia rewrites 1789 through the lens of a viral epidemic transforming aristocrats into immortal predators. Medical "Biopunk" replaces the classic gears here: syringes, primitive microscopes, and clandestine autopsies compose a baroque and bloody variation on the genre that deserves our full attention.
3. Nautilus (2024-2025) — Prime Video/France 2
A return to Vernian roots is provided by this decolonial retelling of Captain Nemo. The submersible — an organic leviathan bristling with spikes — conceals a luxurious interior where mahogany libraries stand alongside brutal engine rooms. Nemo, reinvented as an Indian prince resisting the East India Company, makes his technology an instrument of anti-imperialist liberation.
The Podium: The Three Absolute Jewels (Ranks 2 to 1)
2. The Legend of Korra (2012-2014) — Netflix/Paramount+
Republic City, that metropolis inspired by 1920s Manhattan, offers us an Asian dieselpunk of extraordinary richness. Police airships, gleaming Satomobiles, electric trams, and platinum mecha-tanks compose a world where ancient spirituality confronts brutal modernisation. Technology as a means of equalising magical powers raises profound philosophical questions about progress and tradition.
1. Arcane (2021-2024) — Netflix
Here is the absolute apex — the masterpiece that transcends all codes. Produced by the French studio Fortiche, this series pits white Piltover, an Art Deco city where "Hextech" technology glows with golden light, against toxic Zaun, plunged in the green vapours of "Chempunk". Every mechanical invention is a psychological extension of its characters: Vi's destructive gauntlets, Jinx's unstable creations, Ekko's hoverboard. The class struggle becomes a visual ballet, science an ambiguous religion, and animation reaches heights never before equalled. It is the unsurpassable reference of the genre in 2026.
Special Mention: Les Sentinelles (2025) — Canal+
This recent French production deserves a place apart. Set in the trenches of 1914-18, this "Radium-punk" follows soldiers transformed into war machines by a radium-based technology that slowly poisons them. The massive prosthetics and clanking armour create a heavy, painful aesthetic, anchoring retrofuturism in real historical horror. A shattering fresco on the human cost of military progress.
Décor and Style Inspiration for Your Steampunk Interior
These series constitute formidable sources of inspiration for transforming your living room into a true steampunk cabinet of curiosities. The industrial lamps of Zaun, the monumental clocks of Piltover, or the Nautilus's navigation instruments can inspire your interior decoration.
Complete your universe with our steampunk décor collections, where you will find paintings, clocks, and industrial objects to recreate the atmosphere of your favourite series. Add authentic accessories such as goggles, hats, or pocket watches to fully immerse yourself in the aesthetic.
Do not forget that steampunk style is also embodied in clothing: explore our women's clothing and menswear to compose a wardrobe worthy of these series' heroines.
To Extend Your Journey into the Steampunk Universe
If these series have awakened your thirst for retrofuturist narratives, I invite you to discover our other guides on the Blog du Vaporiste. Explore the TOP 20 steampunk films to extend your cinema evenings, or plunge into the best manga of the genre.
For literature lovers, our selection of the 20 best steampunk books will transport you into the founding works of the movement. And if you wish to understand the historical roots of this aesthetic, our article on the Victorian era and steampunk will shed light on the genre's origins.
Finally, for creative souls wishing to personalise their universe, discover our steampunk DIY tips for crafting your own mechanical objects.
Conclusion: The Steam Keeps Rising
In fifteen years of creative effervescence, televised steampunk has earned its place in the canon. From refined Japanese animation to bold French productions, from magipunk universes to industrial dystopias, the genre proves it is far more than a surface aesthetic. It is a powerful visual language for questioning our relationship with technology, progress, and history.
So settle comfortably into your worn leather armchair, adjust your gear goggles, and let yourself be carried away by these universes where steam still fuels our wildest dreams.
Happy viewing, dear steamers, and may the vapours of discovery envelop you!
Sources
- Steampunk Explorer – Ultimate Streaming Guide 2024-2025
- Collider – Best Steampunk Shows Ranked (2024)
- Ranker – Best Steampunk TV Shows (2025)
- French Steampunk – Séries et films Steampunk novembre 2024
- Steampunk Store – Collections et articles de blog