# The Crossing (2018)

> Refugees from a future American war arrive in a small town, and a sheriff, a federal agent and a searching mother uncover a conspiracy behind their arrival.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/62337

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 11
- Episode runtime: 44 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: science fiction, drama
- Created by: Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Steve Zahn, Natalie Martinez, Sandrine Holt, Georgina Haig, Tommy Bastow, Rob Campbell, Rick Gomez, Marcuis Harris
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6461824/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: earnest, suspenseful, melancholic

## What critics say

Viewers found the time travel refugee allegory predictable and flawed, with silly plotting and paradox problems, though still watchable despite its unfinished ending.

## Synopsis

The Crossing (2018) is a single-season American science fiction drama created by Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin for ABC. Its eleven episodes, now a canceled run, follow refugees from a war-torn America set 250 years in the future who arrive seeking asylum in an ordinary American town. The engine of the story is their arrival and the suspicion it provokes: local sheriff Jude Ellis (Steve Zahn), a man carrying a past of his own, works alongside federal agent Reece (Natalie Martinez) and Emma Ren (Sandrine Holt), a mother searching for her missing refugee daughter, as each episode peels back another layer of a conspiracy at the heart of the arrivals. Dr. Sophie Forbin (Georgina Haig) adds a scientific thread to the mystery. Each week mixes procedural investigation with personal drama about displacement and belonging, and the tone stays earnest and accessible rather than grim. The show is set in a present-day American town that becomes a site of moral tension, and its time travel premise gives a sense of paradox and fate. Viewers who enjoy the layered dread of Dark, the immigration allegory of Colony, or the small town mystery of Under the Dome will find familiar ground here, though the series ends without resolving its central questions.

## Shows like The Crossing

- [Quantum Leap (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/125352)
- [The Returned (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55317)
- [The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/98673)
- [Debris (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/88727)
- [Colony (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/55849)
- [12 Monkeys (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/54368)
- [Defiance (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/46303)
- [Continuum (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/39262)
- [Alcatraz (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/32505)
- [The Lazarus Project (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/121004)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt