Benjamin Plotinsky writes about how religion, particularly Christianity, has surged in popular sci-fi and fantasy movies and books lately, overcoming dominate politic themes, but politics appears to be coming back a bit. He points to Star Wars as the best example, saying the original movies had a bit of Christian imagery, but nothing like the more recent prequels. “More generally, why has mainstream sci-fi and fantasy as a whole become so religious? One reason may be the religious revival that the United States and much of the world have been undergoing since the 1970s. This ‘revenge of God,’ in French scholar Gilles Kepel’s phrase, has seemingly begun to be felt even in secular Hollywood.”

Plotinsky points to the recent Battlestar Galactica series as an example of political themes coming back.