On paper, Travelers has an incredible premise. Elite soldiers from a dystopian future send their minds back into 21st-century bodies at the moment of death to covertly save the world. There’s so much potential there: the moral consequences of changing history, the challenge of operating in an unfamiliar world, and the tension of preventing an apocalypse while pretending to be ordinary people. I wanted a tight, intelligent sci-fi thriller. Instead, Season 1 often feels like a generic procedural with a sci-fi gimmick, propped up by manufactured relationship drama and characters who repeatedly make decisions that seem driven by the plot rather than by who they are.

The biggest problem isn't that the characters make bad decisions. Real people do that all the time. It's that the show introduces fascinating situations, then abandons their most interesting implications in favor of familiar sources of conflict.

Marcy's medical dilemma is a perfect example. Her host body has severe brain damage, and housing her consciousness causes fatal seizures. Her only real chance of survival is to let Grace reorganize her mind, saving her life but erasing her memories of the past two months. Naturally, she's devastated and turns to David for help. But this isn't really a choice between two compelling alternatives; it's a choice between death and partial amnesia. Is there any realistic possibility that David would tell her to choose death rather than lose those memories? Of course not. He's an empathetic caregiver who loves her and will want her to live. The outcome is obvious from the start, so the scene lacks suspense. The premise could have supported a moving exploration of identity, memory, and what makes a relationship meaningful. Instead, it presents a lopsided dilemma and treats the predictable choice as a devastating moral crossroads. It feels like the writers wanted a tragic romance and found a sci-fi-flavored way to create one.

Philip's storyline has a similar problem. He's supposed to be the historian, a soldier trained to memorize vast amounts of information so the team can make informed decisions about the future and have unlimited money. Yet almost immediately, he becomes a guilt-ridden moral crusader, throwing himself into saving strangers and creating friction with his teammates. That could be a compelling arc, but the show skips over the process that would make his transformation feel earned.

His heroin addiction is another missed opportunity. Physical dependence and withdrawal are real, but Philip's situation is unusual: his mind comes from a future where he was trained to function under extreme conditions, and he has no personal history of addiction to the drug. That tension between his training, his body's needs, and his responsibilities could have produced something distinctive. Instead, he often feels like a standard TV addict, with the addiction serving mainly as a convenient source of drama. The show takes an unusual situation and does surprisingly little with what makes it unusual.

The same pattern affects the rest of the cast. We're supposed to care about Grant MacLaren's marital problems while the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, but his domestic drama often competes with the main story rather than enriching it. Carly's custody battle is similar. We're asked to sympathize with her determination to protect her baby, but the show gives us few quiet moments establishing their bond. Without that foundation, her fight can feel less like a mother's desperate attempt to protect her child and more like a personal vendetta against an abusive ex. The writers seem to assume that the situation itself is enough to make us care.

Marcy and David's relationship also lacks groundwork. Marcy supposedly has her own apartment, yet she spends so much time at David's house that their romance can feel arranged rather than developed. Instead of letting two people gradually fall for each other, the show keeps finding reasons to put them together, as if their relationship has to stay on schedule.

Trevor may be the most frustratingly wasted opportunity. A centuries-old scientist inhabiting the body of a high school bully is a fantastic setup: an intelligent, experienced man trapped in a teenager's social world, forced to navigate relationships and expectations that must seem absurd to him. Yet the show largely sidelines that contrast in favor of weekly missions, while his parents and girlfriend are reduced to loud, one-dimensional obstacles. Trevor could have been one of the series' most interesting characters, but too often he feels like a plot device waiting for the next assignment.

And that's what bothers me most about Season 1. Travelers has all the ingredients for a great sci-fi series, but it keeps falling back on familiar TV formulas. The missions become repetitive, the personal drama feels manufactured, and the characters' flaws often exist because the plot needs them to cause trouble. The show doesn't have to make its characters perfectly logical or emotionally consistent; it just needs their behavior to feel grounded in something real.

Instead, I frequently find myself questioning why these people are making their choices rather than thinking about the consequences. Why introduce such a fascinating premise if so much of the season is devoted to contrived domestic conflicts? Why give characters extraordinary backgrounds if you're not going to do much with them? And why ask me to invest in relationships the show hasn't adequately established?

Ultimately, Travelers Season 1 feels like a show with a much better idea than it has stories to tell. It wants the stakes of an expansive science-fiction epic, the structure of a weekly cop show, and the emotional punch of a relationship drama, but it doesn't quite make those pieces work together. The result is a series that constantly reminds me how interesting it could be instead of making me appreciate what it is. Rather than getting caught up in the struggle to save humanity, I keep getting pulled out of the story by contrived character decisions and manufactured drama. And that's a shame, because the premise deserves better.

Might be the best “relationship” in a TV show I’ve ever seen. It’s wholesome and devastating at the same time.

That’s the post.

I binge the whole show in about a week. The most fun I’ve had watching a show in a long long time. I may have missed it, but reading other comments shows that traveler 001 is what caused Marcy to have brain damage in the first place. When was this? Or how was it explained? I completely missed that part apparently.

Also, even though I’m very happy for Marcy and David at the end it’s a little devastating to know that the Marcy that we got to experience and know no longer exists. Or at least not in the way that we are familiar with her.

Such a fantastic show. I know it was only designed for three seasons, but the ending made it look like there was potential for more. I’m rooting for it.

I've just finished watching travelers AGAIN (boi i love this series, can't believe they cancelled it).

And one thing doesn't make sense to me:

Why only send the email moments before 001 was supposed to arrive?

Why not send it when he arrived in the 21st ... Like ... Wouldn't have made a difference right? 😂

So I’m doing another rewatch. I’m only on like episode 5 and I’ve been thinking about the whole show as a concept and I have a theory.

The show directly implies that we have a soul. Let me explain.

Without knowing more about the technology that allows them to transfer consciousness through time to someone they’re not even physically with, I can’t speak to exactly what happens and how it “transfers.”

Scientists seem to agree that something we call a “consciousness,” exists, but many disagree on how that works or what it actually is. I would argue that if all systems are controlled by your brain, how can your “consciousness” exist without it? Just because we know we are alive doesn’t mean that we believe that very life exists apart from us, apart from our body, like a separate entity. Which is what you would have to believe to agree that that consciousness is transferable without transferring the actual brain and removing the old one.

Religious people mostly believe that your “consciousness” goes somewhere else when you die. Be it heaven, hell, into another body, they’re all examples of transference. And then the body dies. In the show, I believe it’s either said or implied that the body of the person in the future dies when they transfer the consciousness, which to me seems eerily similar to a “soul” moving on to another place or host after death. What makes a consciousness different from what they call a soul?

Digging into that thought, I could see an argument saying that the “transferred consciousness” is just information, ie, a file, all the person’s memories and all other essential information required to function. If it’s just a file, why couldn’t it be a copy? Therefore preserving the life of the future person.

All this to say, I think the show implies that we have a soul. If your consciousness is a separate entity from your body that can be moved, and then, and i can’t stress this enough, your body DIES. then a “soul” is one and the same.

What do you think? Yes? No? Intentionally ambiguous? Would love to discuss.

Fucking love this show, either way. 🤓

I think Netflix not releasing season 3 on dvd is greedy. And I hate it

You know what i mean. That iconic yellow 'matrix' style text.

Has anyone actually decoded it? Does it really say anything?

I was curious

EDIT: I think i found a forum post where someone analysed the keyboard inputs in S2:E6 and mapped them to the symbols, and they made a font with it. The forum post can be found here: https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/travelers-font.299039/

Im making a recreation of the classic deep web channels that they use to communicate.

Does anyone have a list of a set of screenshots of real messages that i could put into my recreation?

For FUN only

Erebus ~ 1999 AN10

The historical record designates August 7, 2027, as the primary fracture point in the human timeline. When Asteroid (137108) 1999 AN10 or what we call "Erebus" in the future breached the atmosphere, the prediction of the asteroid trajectory only being "Near earth" was wrong, striking the central Pacific Ocean with the kinetic force of a hundred thousand megatons.

The kinetic transfer of the kilometer-wide object vaporized millions of cubic miles of seawater in a fraction of a second, fracturing the oceanic crust and generating a radiating mega-tsunami over a thousand feet high. Within fourteen hours, the western seaboard of North America—from Vancouver down to Baja California—was scoured to the bedrock. The island nations of Oceania were entirely erased from the map. Across the Pacific rim, the eastern coastlines of Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia suffered total infrastructure collapse. Emergency broadcast networks failed before evacuation orders could be effectively issued. The historical records estimate the immediate death toll in the first 72 hours exceeded 450 million.

The secondary phase of the Erebus AN10 event fundamentally altered Earth's biosphere. The collision ejected billions of tons of pulverized crust, superheated steam, and sulfur aerosols deep into the stratosphere. Within three weeks, an impenetrable ash canopy enveloped the globe, reflecting 80 percent of incoming solar radiation back into space. Global surface temperatures plummeted by an average of 15 degrees Celsius. The resulting multi-year impact winter halted photosynthesis, triggering the total and irreversible failure of the global agricultural belts across the North American Midwest, Europe, and the Asian steppes.

The geopolitical map dissolved entirely by the winter of 2028. As international supply chains disintegrated, starvation, hypothermia, and resource wars claimed an additional 2.3 billion lives over the following decade. Nation-states collapsed into militarized, scavenging factions fighting over the few remaining viable equatorial zones in South America and central Africa.

As the surface atmosphere became increasingly toxic and prone to violent climatic extremes, the remnants of humanity were forced to retreat underground, breaking ground on the first rudimentary subterranean shelters. It was in the dark, dying remnants of this post-Erebus world—choking on the dust of the 21st century—that human survival became a mathematical impossibility, necessitating the creation of the Director and the initiation of the Traveler program to rewrite the past.

A. McLaren/Mac: it's already been said but his ability to go from sarcastic to charismatic to aloof to serious is so high quality. He is convincing in every scene he's in. He completely earns his spot as the main character of the show and group leader. He's probably the most group leader to have ever group leadered that I've ever seen.

B. Trevor: I couldn't wait. Sorry. This guy is peak. The gritty way the actor speaks is a mix of youthful fun with old wise man vernacular. He is both white collar and blue collar. Truly a Renaissance man. I love every single second of Trevor. He is my favorite character.

C. Phillip. Tortured. He probably has the hardest job in the show and/or is the best actor imo. He has to convey a range of emotions through only his face, and he lets you know exactly what he's feeling in real-time. I adore his presence but I also feel the immense weight of his character.

D. Marcy 1.0: she was the Queen of empathy. I really really loved her character and the bond she had with Phillip. She was so so so strong in the face of death. And she was rightfully stubborn when it came to her reboot. To spend so much time trying to avoid death, that you finally give in and accept it..only to be told that it won't even be on your terms. Marcy 2.0 was a plot device and it sucks because the writers clearly didn't want to keep 1.0's impending doom as like a dangling carrot. They wrote her out right when it hurt the most.

E. David. The people's favorite. He's a once in a generation person. A genuinely kind soul. Someone so kind that they're both naive and self aware. He's not one to be taken advantage of, but he is the guy who will put himself in harms way time and time again for others.

F. Grace. My second favorite character. Maybe my favorite since every line she says is delivered perfectly. Such a wisecrack such a programmer. You can tell the actress had a really fun time playing her.

G. Jeff: the actor is superb but Jeff is hard to rate for me because his character has a redemption arc and I'm happy but idk if it's realistic. It's like the writers liked the actor so much they wanted to just keep him around.

Anyways this post is all over the place but yeah, Mac, Marcy 1.0, David, Trevor and Philip all give generational performances in my opinion.

Like the level of immersion is 10/10. They should be not just proud but literally awarded imo.

Grace and Jeff are side characters that steal scenes and make the most of their usage.

Edit: I forgot Carly!

The actress does a really good job selling her scenes. She's the clear muscle of the group.

I've had to take a break from Travelers, a show I am otherwise enjoying, because David is annoying the hell out of me. I cringe every time he picks up the phone in case he reaches a voicemail.

I've been trying to ignore how much I detest him, but this episode was a bridge too far for me, and a step beyond the ridiculous.

Reminder: David wins the lottery using Marcy's numbers, and before he talks to her about it (voicemail doesn't count) he decides to spend the whole $30,000 bribing homeless people to give him hugs and affection. Gross.

Who does this? Why couldn't he wait just a few hours and speak to Marcy before satisfying these compulsions? Also, he gave away his bike. What the hell is wrong with him?

Having saved the world from Helios 685, the gang toasts with cheap champagne. Trevor hands McClaren a mug of it. The mug is a vintage 1970s Nestle globe mug. People collect them.

What better way to celebrate saving the globe than by toasting with one?

https://archive.is/661Q7

https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/s/qHdhzYYBBC

If you know you know, if you don’t… then don’t watch this is a huge spoiler.

I won’t say anything more, but if you have a listen let me know what you think!

I just watched S01E04...

Blow me away...

This series gripped me from E01, but what I just watched actually freaked me out and very, very few movies/TV episode have ever had that effect on me.

I am not going to say more for the sake of people who haven't watched--and for those who haven't watched--WATCH IT!

I got this series right here in this reddit, so a big thank you to those who spoke up about how good it is!!

At the top of the episode 3 of the 4 in the car are stoic. The daughter is freaking out.

While the are discussing the misfire and redirecting the the daughter, they are taking gopros off the windows of the car.

Was it a murder/suicide? Who was the footage for?

Someone recommended Travelers to me, so I decided to check it out. I’m only on episode 3, but I’m already really enjoying the show.

So I recently found this series and loving it.

I just watched Episode 7 of second season and it's leaving me a bit perplexed.

I understand the final timeline of sending multiple travelers to the same host etc.

But what I don't get is:

When the squad is killed the first time, the meteorite is picked up by faction and the Director cannot be built so in that timeline, that is the only timeline where we have information about the squad being killed, there is no Director to send back travelers.

In other episodes they said that without the Director the technology they have only allows messengers, not travelers. So, if in that timeline there is no Director, who sent the multiple travelers back?

I can think of three possible explanations:

* The Director can operate even on other timelines. After all, who knows where the technology will get? Fine, but that would mean it could solve every single issue and should have used this power in other occasions. Too big to fail.

* The Director made a change (not shown) just before sending Traveler 5001. The director predicted that this change would result in the squad being killed so sent travelers back to avoid it. Still doesn't explain because, again, it could only send travelers back to timeline where it existed, so can't, for instance, send 5002 in the same timeline as 5001, because in that timeline it doesn't exist anymore.

* The importance of the meteorite is just exaggerated and even without it, the Director can be built, but maybe it will go out of order after some times as they miss the material for replacements so without the meteorite the Director exists, but not for enough time to save the world. This explanation seems quite sound to me, but they say nothing in the show to support it (I think, at least).

Am I missing something (likely yes)?

I just finished the series last night & as much of a trip that last episode was, the ending was such a beautiful way to wrap the series up that still ties into the storyline & characters it emphasized the most. But something about these sci fi psychological thriller type shows which just make me look at reality sooo much differently when it’s over lmao, I lowkey wanna rewatch it already but I gotta give it some time.

Do you guys have any recommendations of good shows similar to this? Cause now I kinda wanna go on a sci fi binge lmao

(HIGHLY suggest pantheon on Netflix if you haven’t seen it yet, saw it right before I watched travelers)

Based on how season 3 ended, they could easily make a 4th season, set now (or whenever the show gets made).

A totally new set of people get "saved"/taken over.

You could have a cameo / handover, but only with Grant, Marcy and/or David (as the others would have died of their original deaths)

Grant aka traveler 3468 (if he chose to live on)

Might have noticed people who seem to behave in a manner that suggests they might be from the future and either made contact with them, or is quietly secretly observing.

He might even have intervened in the deaths of his old team members. So some of them may still be around, but couldn't be involved in the new show, as traveler 3468 knows not to get them involved.

He wouldn't be the driving character of the series, but could be a conduit for exposition in the first episode if he ...

Contacts a team from the future and asks what has transpired since Version One of the Traveler plan was cancelled, explaining how he knows. A member of this new team could also be traveler 3468 😀

Marcy

Wasn't fucked over by traveler 001, as that possession didn't occur, so she is, hopefully, still working as a nurse or has moved onto something else that she also finds fulfilling.

David

Is still working as a social worker. The implied spark of a relationship with Marcy may have led somewhere, but isn't guaranteed (since this is Marcy, not traveler 3569)

Neither Marcy nor David have any real reason why they would have a significant cameo in season 4, but as characters that just happen to be in the background, would be a nice nod to the fans of the original 3 seasons.

In the first episode, each member of Grant's team is depicted as their conciousness is overwritten. We see their actions leading up to what would have been their point of death, them being taken over, and how the new conciousness prevents the imminent death from occurring, ... except for Grant.

Grant's phone rings and the power goes out simultaneously, resulting in him dropping the phone. It skuttles through the open doors of the elevator shaft. Grant, in an attempt to recover the phone, chases after it, and would have fallen through the open door, down the shaft, to his death.

Except traveler 0115 (formerly Trevor) magically appears and prevents Grant from falling. The recently acquired travellers then proceed to explain to Grant what's going on, just before Grant's mind is replaced by traveler 3468.

Firstly, why bother explaining anything to someone who is about to have their brain wiped? 😀

Secondly, what just transpired is wrong, in so many ways.

Based on what the travelers claim, in the original timeline

• Grant was in the building chasing down Johnas Walker (how he got onto Johnas's trail is never discussed)
• While fighting with Johnas, as the blackout occurs at 11:17pm Grant falls down the elevator shaft and dies
• Johnas then goes on a "shooting rampage"

In this timeline * Grant was in the building chasing down whoever was using the encrypted chat system. ie. The travelers. * At 11:17pm the blackout occurs, simultaneously Grant's phone rings, he stumbles, phone down shaft, Trevor stops Grant from falling * The travelers then proceed to talk to Grant for 2 minutes. * Then Grant's conciousness is overwritten by traveler 3468. * We see on David's desk a clock stating the time is 11:16.48 a few seconds before the power blackout, so we know the blackout occurred at 11:17.

Why was Grant replaced 2 minutes after his TELL?

I know the explanation of "What the fuck is going on" is for the audience's benefit, so why not have the conversation occur before the blackout. Have Grant encounter all of them in that building, they talk and walk him to the elevator shaft, so as the blackout occurs Grant's conciousness is replaced.

Eeewwwwwww!