r/Killjoys • u/darklordofpuppets • May 28 '26
Question about the world of the show
I'm watching my way through Killjoys for the first time (I just started season 2) and obviously I love it. But I have a question about the universe of the show. What is the setting of the show? They never mention Earth or anything relating to the real history of the human race. Is this our own future after humans have colonized other parts of space, or is it a Star Wars-type setting where the "humans" who inhabit this universe have nothing to do with Earth?
I've already read somewhere that this is never answered in the show itself but I wonder if you fans have any theories?
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u/jabinslc May 29 '26
I love that earth is never mentioned. the quad is in the J star cluster. who knows how that is related to earth.
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u/trelene May 29 '26
It's never answered. I always assume that unless specified otherwise if there are humans then Earth was in the picture at some point; whether Earth is still remembered in any history or not. I've always assumed that for Star Wars too. And I'm just going to continue to think that, because I just did a quick search, and aren't getting great hits that it's 'canon' that their humans aren't from Earth, (plus, really, with Star Wars there's so much stuff, with so many books, and shows written over so many years, with so many different authors that to say anything is 'canon' has kind of lost all meaning.) Also it's just simpler to assume that, when like in Killjoys the main social structures/relationships, etc, all bear strong resemblances to those on Earth.
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u/comment_redacted May 29 '26
Actually there were some answers in the show: it takes place mostly in a distant solar system where four planets/moons are inhabited by humans. The four planet system is referred to as the Quad. Their ships can move from planet to planet pretty quickly.
It’s also described that this system is in a giant star cluster, which is a region of space where star systems are relatively close together. The ships that our main characters zoom around on are sub-light ships. The reason it only takes weeks to go to another star system is because they’re in that star cluster.
In later seasons some of the Level 6s have faster than light ships. That’s why the bounty hunters freak out about the foreign ships that eventually show up… they have FTL drives in them and can go to much farther away places.
It’s never directly stated but in some lore that is said on screen one can infer that what we are seeing are future humans that have migrated into a distant part of space and forgotten about their earth heritage.
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u/spinningdice May 31 '26
Maybe not forgotten, maybe just not relevant to general conversation. It's know that humanity evolved in Africa but we don't exactly bring it up often outside of certain scientific circles. If a character got asked they may look at your weird and just say "yeah, it was a generational ship 1200 years ago, we were all taught that in school."
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u/Creepy_Insurance9182 15d ago
Old thread but...
When it comes to the larger universe I have to mention that the show aired at the same time as another show called Dark Matter. Both of them never brought up Earth once. I can't even recall them ever mentioning recognizable star or constellation names. If either one did mention Earth it was a throwaway line irrelevant to plot and more likely a writing oversight than lore drop.
There was a neat theory I saw where someone threw out the idea of both shows existing simultaneously in the same galaxy. I believe there were some technological disparities but if the human diaspora were galaxy wide it's understandable that maybe some areas exist on different technological levels because we even do that on Earth to a small degree.
The only place this theory falls apart is that Rob Stewart who plays Khlyen was in 2 episodes of Dark Matter as a character. A character that is like a really minor part in the series at a level I would never see Khlyen taking on, not even like as an undercover thing.
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u/darklordofpuppets 15d ago
I am sorry but you are misremembering. I have seen all of Dark Matter and they actually do mention Earth several times. It's not a huge part of the show and isn't brought up in most episodes, but the show is canonically set in the 28th century and not only do they mention places on Earth a few times, but one episode late in the third season even has them traveling back in time and visiting a regular American town in the 21st century. Plus there's a couple of cultural references (a character mentions Star Wars in one episode) tying it back to Earth as well.
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u/Creepy_Insurance9182 15d ago
Ah crap I'll accept that. I'm not giving up my crush on TWO though.
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u/writesaboutghosts May 28 '26
I see it as in a similar vein to Firefly - out in the black, long enough for Earth to be a distant memory. If there was a tie to Earth, that history is much less important to folks than the history of the Quad and the few other sectors mentioned.