Fantastic puzzle series, or so-called Mystery box shows, will help you to test your patience, attention to detail and analytical thinking, as well as try your hand at solving the most intricate riddles of this and other worlds.
From the iconic «Lost» from the 2000s to the latest Apple TV+ hit «Severance», these series explore stunning mysteries step by step, discuss fascinating scientific hypotheses, play with time and space, and disorient viewers with unexpected plot twists and turns. This forces them to desperately search for answers.
Severance (2022 — …)
Genre: science fiction, dystopia, thriller
IMDb rating: 8.7
Duration: 2 seasons, 19 episodes
The debut series of American comedian Ben Stiller has become a modern embodiment of the magic of «the great mystery», which in the 2000s became a worldwide phenomenon «Lost». The show combines a sci-fi thriller about experiments on human consciousness with a sarcastic dystopia about office slavery, loneliness, and double life.
According to the story, the Lumen corporation invented a revolutionary way to maintain work-life balance — a procedure called «separation», which separates employees’ work memories from their personal ones using a special chip in the brain. That is, the main, or outer, personality enjoys life without knowing what they are doing at work, while the inner personality takes on monotonous work in the office and knows nothing about the world outside.
Mark Scout, the head of the macro data processing department, undergoes a split procedure to get rid of the painful memories of his wife’s death for a while. But one day, he meets a former colleague who has bypassed the chip, managed to retain his work memories, and begins to suspect something is wrong. He realizes that Lumens management’s methods go far beyond ethical standards, and together with his colleagues, he begins to fight for his rights and explore the company’s secrets.
There have hardly been any other puzzle series in recent years that have generated so many fan theories and controversies. Can two personalities compete for control of one body? Has Lumon really learned how to raise the dead? Why are Mark’s colleagues sorting some strange numbers, and why does the city of Kir look like it was transported back to the 70s of the last century, even though the characters use modern smartphones?
These are just a small fraction of the questions that keep «Severance» fans awake at night and enrich the owners of specialized YouTube channels. Thousands of viewers come after each episode in search of the missing details to complete the biggest TV puzzle of recent years — Severance.
Dark (2017-2020)
Genre: science fiction, detective, drama
IMDb rating: 8.7
Duration: 3 seasons, 26 episodes
In a small German town near a nuclear power plant, two children suddenly disappear and a mysterious stranger appears at the same time. This triggers a series of events, the mystery of which is connected to the lives of four local families and centers around time travel.
The authors of «Dark» offer viewers multiple timelines, complex cause-and-effect paradoxes, intricate philosophical concepts, and many mysteries to puzzle over. The non-linear plot involves more than 100 characters. That’s why it’s almost impossible to understand them without a separate genealogical trees by Netflix, which I think is a real work of art.
Westworld (2016-2022)
Genre: science fiction, drama, remake
IMDb rating: 8.4
Duration: 4 seasons, 36 episodes
In the future, scientists have developed robots that are almost indistinguishable from humans. Mechanical actors, or «hosts», have become the basis of an amusement park where guests can take part in exciting adventures stylized as a trip to the 19th century US West.
For $40 thousand a day, androids are allowed to do anything, even kill. After all, it is not difficult for them to erase their memory and restore their mechanical body. But one day, this well-established universe is threatened when, after an update, some robots begin to behave unpredictably, even chaotically.
Behind the scenes, the team running the attraction is concerned about the increasingly frequent incidents. The problems increase when some of the park’s «inhabitants remember» their previous lives and discover that they are just expensive toys for the corrupt human elite. This prompts the robots to evolve, go beyond their programs, and start fighting for freedom.
Immediately after the release of the first season, the puzzle series «Westworld» became the subject of numerous controversies and, thanks to the vivid imagination of viewers, gave rise to dozens of theories. Who is Arnold? What does «the man in black» achieve? What is a maze? Are there other theme parks? Enthusiastic fans of the series began to search for hidden details, riddles, and allusions. But from season 3, «Wild West World» began to lose its trademark mystery gradually, which soon affected the ratings and accelerated its closure.
Lost (2004-2010)
Genre: fiction, adventure
IMDb rating: 8.3
Duration: 6 seasons, 121 episodes
After the crash of Oceanic 815 over the Pacific Ocean, 48 surviving passengers find themselves stranded on a desert island. Soon they realize that strange things are happening around them: some of the characters hear unexplained whispers, others gain supernatural powers, polar bears and smoke monsters attack people in the middle of the tropics, and an underground bunker hidden in the jungle reveals traces of mysterious experiments.
The enormous popularity of «Lost» has sparked a lot of imitations and given a powerful impetus to the puzzle series genre. Fans of the show are still trying to connect some of its details with the characters’ past, offering dozens of explanations, which, unfortunately, the controversial finale of the sixth season failed to provide.
Leftovers (2014-2017)
Genre: science fiction, drama, detective, mystery, film adaptation
IMDb rating: 8.3
Duration: 3 seasons, 28 episodes
The first episode of «Leftovers» offers viewers a shocking premise: three years ago, a mysterious event took place around the world, resulting in the disappearance of more than one hundred million people without a trace. Over the course of three seasons, the show tells the story of the aftermath of this terrible loss, inviting us to put all the details of the great mystery together to uncover its cause.
Viewers are still arguing about the nature of the cataclysm in the series: a paranormal phenomenon, a failed experiment by mad scientists, alien tricks, a wormhole in space, or the work of a cruel deity? But in the end, what happened is probably not so important. Because the main advantage of the series is its characters, who, despite the emotional chaos, continue to live, love and hope for a miracle.
Maniac (2018)
Genre: science fiction, drama, comedy
IMDb rating: 7.6
Duration: 1 season, 10 episodes
The main characters of the series, Annie and Owen, meet in a program to test an experimental drug. Suddenly, Aries realizes that he has been seeing the girl in his visions of saving the world for several days in a row.
Director Cary Fukunaga, who gave us the series «True Detective», has created an extraordinary project in which psychedelics borders on comedy, reality almost always intertwines with fiction, and dreams merge with memories. Therefore, it is worth being patient until the chaotic pieces of the puzzle form a coherent picture — the emotions from the ending are worth it.
Devs (2020)
Genre: science fiction, drama
IMDb rating: 7.6
Duration: 1 season, 8 episodes
The series begins as a spy thriller. Lily Chan, a programmer at the Amaya technology corporation, finds out that her boyfriend has disappeared. The girl conducts her own investigation and finds out that her fiancé was killed by tech magnate Forrest because of a leak from a secret program to create a powerful quantum computer.
It turns out that this device can recreate and even change events from the past to influence the present. Forest needs it to prevent an accident that once killed his entire family. But can a person really influence the course of events, or is it predetermined?
The second half of the show is a reflection on the nature of the universe and free will, which makes it the most complex work of «Annihilation» director Alex Garland. To understand all the intricacies of the plot, you need to have at least a superficial understanding of the philosophy of determinism and the principles of quantum computing. But if you’re not really interested in these complex ideas, you can just enjoy the great music, stylish shots, and acting.
Tales from the Loop (2020)
Genre: fiction, film adaptation, anthology
IMDb rating: 7.4
Duration: 1 season, 8 episodes
A small American town is located above the mysterious «Ring» — an underground research center where scientists conduct experiments that make the impossible possible. The effects of these experiments, like circles on water, spread around the area, causing a variety of fantastic events from stopping time and body swapping to traveling to parallel worlds.
The anthology series is an adaptation of the art book by the Swedish master of retro-futurism, artist and designer Simon Stålenhag. That’s why ordinary houses from the 1980s and outdated cars coexist in the frame with fantastic robots and futuristic towers of unknown purpose. Each episode tells a different story. All of them are interconnected, although at first glance it may not be obvious.
By the way, Stolenhag’s other graphic novel, «Electric State», was the basis for the fantasy film of the same name movie Netflix, which premiered on the streaming service on March 14, 2025.
Wayward Pines (2015-2016)
Genre: science fiction, horror, drama, film adaptation
IMDb rating: 7.3
Duration: 2 seasons, 20 episodes
In search of his missing colleagues, Secret Service agent Ethan Burke finds himself in the mysterious town of Wayward Pines. The Internet, telephone, and television do not work in this strange settlement. What’s more, the town is surrounded by a wall and is simply impossible to leave. Communication with the locals is useless — they all adhere to strict rules that prohibit talking about the past.
Soon Ethan finds one of the most wanted, his former lover Kate Hewson. But this only increases the number of questions that the audience will have to look for answers to. After all, the woman claims to have lived in Wayward Pines for 12 years, although the hero saw her at work five weeks ago.
You are looking at film adaptation of science fiction novels Blake Crouch. And as part of our selection of puzzle series, it is worth mentioning another television adaptation of the writer’s works — the series «Dark Matter». Its protagonist, physics teacher Jason Dessen, finds himself in a parallel universe and tries to protect his family from an alternative version of himself. And figuring out the twists and turns of these bizarre adventures is no easier than finding a way out of Wayward Pines.
Manifest (2018-2023)
Genre: science fiction, drama, thriller
IMDb rating: 7.0
Duration: 4 seasons, 62 episodes
Apparently, there is a curse over all airplane flights whose numbers begin with eight. But while the remains of Flight 815 from the Lost series simply rust on the shore of an island after the crash, the plane of Flight 828 in the «Manifest» series calmly lands at its destination airport 5 years after disappearing from the radar. No one was waiting for it.
The passengers have no idea where they have been all these years. During the flight, they didn’t notice anything strange at all. And after landing, they begin to sink deeper and deeper into a mysterious rabbit hole, where they are led by voices in their heads and visions from the future.
If you like to piece together the smallest hints of the solution and build incredible hypotheses, then this puzzle series is for you. Fans of the fantastic show have posted many theoriesto explain its events and are related to the volcanic apocalypse, Noah’s Ark, and the divine consciousness of the Manifest. You will be able to choose your version after watching the series.
