20 TV shows that will completely mess with your mind

Apple TV+’s biggest show — and one of the best sci-fi shows of this century — is the workplace thriller Severance. The plot follows office workers employed by a mysterious company called Lumon and undergo a severance procedure that divides their personal and work lives. However, they start to become suspicious and investigate what Lumon actually does. Full of intrigue and conspiracy, Severance is a wildly inventive series that brilliantly executes its original concept.

The most mind-bending project that Marvel has ever produced is undoubtedly the series Legion, based on the X-Men comics. It follows David Haller, who has lived his life diagnosed with schizophrenia. After he is admitted to a psychiatric facility and has a strange encounter with another patient, he begins to question his diagnosis and discovers great power within him. The series features highly unconventional storytelling that is elevated by visceral imagery and atmosphere.

Black Mirror is the wildly popular Netflix sci-fi anthology series that highlights the dark side of technology. Each episode is set in a dystopian future where technology has advanced significantly and profoundly affects all kinds of human interaction and behavior. Some Black Mirror episodes are more lighthearted, but most of them are often disturbing and conceptually dark. The show is an obvious social commentary about where modern-day society is headed, which is what makes it so unsettling.

The late David Lynch is known as the master of the surreal, and this couldn’t be more evident in his cult-classic TV show, Twin Peaks. The story follows an eccentric FBI agent who visits a small town to investigate the murder of a seventeen-year-old girl. However, this leads him down a hole of bizarre mystery that he tries to unravel. The series is full of nightmarish and dream-like sequences that will have audiences undoubtedly questioning what is real and what is not.

Based on the 1973 film of the same name, Westworld mixes sci-fi and western elements to create a highly unique and imaginative experience. It is set in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, where visitors can interact with robots and indulge in their fantasies and desires. One day, the robots begin malfunctioning, and all hell breaks loose. The series is thematic and thought-provoking, while also being technically sumptuous and exciting.

The concept of Groundhog Day is taken to weird and wonderful heights in Russian Doll , starring Natasha Lyonne. It follows Nadia, a woman who keeps dying and returning to the night of a party that is being thrown in her honor. Repeatedly waking up the next day and unharmed as if nothing happened, she tries to figure out how to get out of the time loop. The series is darkly funny and embraces the absurdity of its presence with Kafkaesque-inspired imagery and storytelling. 

The OA is a short-lived sci-fi series on Netflix that incorporates both supernatural and fantastical elements in its story. It follows Prairie, a woman who went missing as a blind teenager and has now returned home with her sight restored. While some people think it is a miracle, others are more skeptical. With many bizarre elements and Biblical references, the series sets up something incredibly captivating, but was unfortunately canceled after two seasons by Netflix.

Maniac is a wacky and totally bonkers miniseries starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. It follows Annie and Owen, two strangers who take part in a pharmaceutical drug to help cure mental illness. This sends them on a mind-bending odyssey where they venture into hallucinatory worlds and play an array of eccentric characters in their own minds. This dark comedy manages to subvert expectations in every way possible, taking audiences on an adventure that will leave them spinning.

Mr. Robot is the TV series that made Rami Malek one of Hollywood’s most exciting new actors. In the series, he plays Elliot, who suffers from anxiety and doubles as a cybersecurity engineer and vigilante hacker. One day, he is recruited by Mr. Robot, an anarchist, to help him ruin his company. Technology is effectively used to craft the web of mysteries and lies that Elliot must uncover, as well as many psychological elements that will keep audiences on their toes.

Dark is a supernatural German series (the first ever produced for Netflix) that mixes elements of both horror and sci-fi. It is a family saga set in a German town where two young children go missing. This exposes the town’s sinful past and the double lives of their families. Time travel plays a pivotal role in the narrative, connecting multiple characters and storylines. The results are mind-boggling, and the highly ambitious plotting pays off, while also being full of suspense.

From Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Sense8 is a sci-fi series that thrives on carefully crafted characters and writing. It follows eight strangers from around the world who become mentally linked after experiencing a violent vision, and then having the ability to connect with one another’s thoughts. Because of this, they are seen as a threat and are hunted down. Science fiction elements are used to create a multilayered story about the power of human connection.

Based on the 2002 novel of the same name, Altered Carbon is a cyberpunk sci-fi series starring Joel Kinnaman and Anthony Mackie. It is set in a future where consciousness is digitized and restored, and human bodies are interchangeable, meaning death is no longer permanent. Kinnaman plays a prisoner who returns to life in a new body and must solve a murder to win his freedom. It’s another fascinating high-concept series from Netflix that was canceled after two seasons.

From Ex Machina and Annihilation director Alex Garland, Devs is a complex and thought-provoking sci-fi series starring Nick Offerman, Sonoya Mizuno, and Cailee Spaeny. It follows a computer engineer who investigates the disappearance of her boyfriend, which she believes a secretive computing firm is behind. Like Garland’s other works, Devs features incredible cinematography and plays with the characters’ and viewers’ perceptions of reality.

The Umbrella Academy takes a typical superhero series and turns it on its head, thanks to an apocalyptic and cosmic adventure. It follows the Hargreeves siblings, who were born to different mothers at random and possess extraordinary powers. This family of former child heroes must come together years later to save the world. The show offers twisty and trippy fun, with enough time travel and different versions of reality to keep viewers both confused and compelled. 

The God of Mischief from the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets his own show with Loki , with Tom Hiddleston returning in the role. After stealing the Tesseract, Loki encounters a mysterious organization known as the TVA, who protect the Sacred Timeline and control the multiverse. With its intricate plotting and highly ambitious storytelling, Loki navigates the world of multiple timelines with boldness and creativity, making for one of the most unique MCU projects ever.

WandaVision launched the MCU into television on Disney+, and alongside Loki, it is also one of the studio’s most inventive and delightfully different projects. It follows Wanda and Vision, who live a picture-perfect life in the town of Westview. The series is presented through different TV sitcom periods, until it becomes apparent that Wanda has cast a hex on the town in order to create a fake reality. Nothing is as it seems, and the results are fun and thrilling. 

Love, Death & Robots is an animated anthology series on Netflix, created by Deadpool director Tim Miller and produced by David Fincher. Each episode relates to one of the three titular topics and is individually produced by different animation studios from a wide range of countries. The stories reach across many genres, such as sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and comedy. Every entry in Love, Death & Robots is both a visual and conceptual feast, leaving a huge impact.

Fringe combines science fiction themes with a crime procedural drama and is created by J.J. Abrams. It follows FBI agent Olivia Dunham, who must work with a mad scientist and his son to investigate a series of unexplained phenomena, or fringe science. The show journeys down roads of parallel universes and paranormal activities, pushing the boundaries of sci-fi storytelling. It’s regarded as one of Fox’s best shows, and will pull viewers into its mysterious world.

Based on the Gimlet Media podcast of the same name, Homecoming is an eerie conspiracy thriller starring Julia Roberts and Janelle Monáe. Both seasons, which focus on different characters, are set at the mysterious Geist Group, a wellness company with an unorthodox program called the Homecoming Initiative. The series uncovers the institution’s dark secrets, moving between past and present, and creates a paranoia-inducing experience. 

The Twilight Zone is arguably one of the most iconic and influential shows of all time. The classic 1959 anthology series features a collection of mystical and otherworldly tales, in which ordinary people try to answer and solve extraordinary situations. Combining science fiction and horror, the series was generally considered ahead of its time, thanks to its exploration of futuristic concepts using social commentary and traditional genres. At the time, it pushed limits like never before.