T_he Secrets Of The Algorithms_ is not a two-episodes-too-long Netflix docuseries, but it should be. The streaming giant’s method of processing audience viewing habits is fascinating. But can the algorithms also decide what shows work? Could the computer run the data on the most popular and come up with a hybrid – say, a sci-fi drama set in the 1980s for fans of Mr Stephen King and mullets – and create a stone-cold hit?

This, according to Netflix, is the stuff of science fiction, though Stranger Things – a sci-fi drama set in the 1980s for fans of Mr Stephen King and mullets – is the company’s biggest original show. Is latest season was watched by 64 million households, according to Netflix’s own viewing figures released last week.

To its competitors, Netflix’s computations look like something out of Weird Science, but the data shows that sci-fi is king. And engineering shows to entice as many different audiences – or “taste communities”, in Netflix-corp speak – is sensible as the competition heats up.

Sometimes, you don’t have to tweak the formula at all. Disney’s foray into streaming begins this month with The Mandalorian, the first live-action series from the Star Wars franchise. Set five years after the film Return Of The Jedi, the new eight-part production cost $12.5 million an episode and is a sure-fire hit given Star Wars fandom’s appetite for its silver-screen adventures.

Audiences are prepared to forego good eyesight to watch this stuff. Newly launched Apple TV+ forked out $15 million per episode for See, so audiences can enjoy big screen-quality action on their iPhones. Set in a distant future, where a virus has rendered most of humanity blind, See stars Game Of Thrones alumni Mr Jason Momoa as a tribal leader in a battle for the Kingdom of Earth. Squint long enough at this one, Apple TV+ wagers, and it’ll be like King’s Landing never fell.

Apple TV+ has also bet a space programme-sized budget on For All Mankind, a 1960s-set drama from the creator of Battlestar Galactica, which imagines an alternate universe where science fiction – the Russians make it to the moon first – is rendered as science fact.

The BBC throws it back to Victorian England with The War Of The Worlds, an adaptation of the 1897 story from the godfather of sci-fi, Mr HG Wells. Not here for the extra terrestrials? Soak up the out-of-this-world period detail instead.

And in 2020, the BBC will also be home to Devs, a miniseries about big tech power from Mr Alex Garland, writer and director of Ex Machina and Annihilation. The creator hinted at the show’s content at this year’s New York Comic-Con, where he mused: “If you are at a computer powerful enough, you could use determinism to predict the future and understand the past.”

Is he making a show about algorithms? Netflix will hope theirs help annihilate the competition this season with The Witcher, the streaming giant’s big-budget fantasy launch, starring Mr Henry Cavill as monster hunter. It’s another sign that the winter of sci-fi and speculative fiction is coming. But which shows will see the light of spring? Perhaps only the algorithms know.