Love shocking revelations that alter the storyline of a series? We recommend these TV shows with unexpected plot twists. These shocking scenes leave viewers guessing about what’s next and influence character development and story-building.
Some of the best thriller TV shows with twisted plots use the art of cliffhangers to propel the narrative, leading to iconic on-screen moments that take your breath away. A case in point is the unforgettable death scene of Gus Fring (played by Giancarlo Esposito) from one of the all-time highest-rated shows Breaking Bad (2008-2013). On the other hand, the complex web of time and space in the suspense series Dark (2017-2020) is another mystery that viewers had to unravel peel by peel. The true identities of Jonas Kahnwald (played by Louis Hofmann) Martha Nielsen (Lisa Vicari), and the character arch of Charlotte Doppler (Karoline Eichhorn) are simply mind-boggling.
Additionally, several great plot twists were brought in by a battery of complex characters in Game of Thrones (2011-2019) which shook the world and hardcore fans. On the other hand, when crime and state ideologies clashed in Money Heist (2017-2021), it created major twisted plots (remember Berlin’s death?) in one of the best crime drama TV shows and led to fan theories that tried to piece the jigsaw puzzle.
With such unexpected plot twists that have us hooked till the end of these TV shows, makers have tapped into an audience who cannot have enough of such dramatic developments.
Spoiler ahead!
These are some of the most unpredictable TV shows with plot twists
IMDb rating: 8.2
Created by: Álex Pina
Cast: Úrsula Corberó, Álvaro Morte, Itziar Ituño, Pedro Alonso, Alba Flores, José Manuel Poga, Najwa Nimri
No. of episodes: 48
Approx. duration of each episode: 45-50 minutes
Synopsis: The Spanish crime drama follows the Professor (Morte) and his band of highjackers as they take over the Royal Mint of Spain and the Bank of Spain and threaten to bring the country’s economy to its knees. A mastermind in every sense, the Professor has hatched the most fool-proof plan to extract gold and retrieve his group unscathed by the police, but an endeavour of such a large scale has its own risks with very high stakes.
Awards won: Eight Iris Awards, one International Emmy Award and four Spanish Actors Union Awards.
Why you should watch it: The revelation that the Professor and Berlin were brothers, the latter’s story, the fact that Raquel (Ituño) switches sides, Tokyo (Corberó) being killed so ruthlessly and Alicia Sierra (Nimri) ends up working with the Professor are some of the most unexpected plot twists that made Money Heist a grand success. In fact, seasons 3, 4 and 5 are among the Top 5 Most-Watched Non-English Series on Netflix.
IMDb rating: 8.3
Created by: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Cast: Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Yunjin Kim, Harold Perrineau, Henry Ian Cusick, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Watros, William Mapother, Terry O’Quinn
No. of episodes: 121
Approx. duration of each episode: 40-43 minutes
Synopsis: It is a game of survival of the fittest on a seemingly deserted island. After a massive plane crash, on the eerie tropical land, 48 survivors must team up and work together to stay safe and steer clear of the mysterious inhabitants called The Others.
Awards won: 10 Primetime Emmy Awards
Why you should watch it: From the big revelation about The Others in the first season to Michael Dawson (Perrineau) killing Ana Lucia (Rodriguez) and Libby (Watros), Hurley (Garcia) realising that Ethan (Mapother) is one of The Others and was disguising to live among the humans are some of the major turns in the story. How can we forget that The Main In Black pretended to be Locke (O’Quinn), the personification of goodness in season 5 and that Desmond (Cusick) caused the plane crash? While the first season raised several questions, the ensuing ones aimed to answer them while taking fans on a roller coaster ride like no other.
Image credit: Lost/ IMDb
IMDb rating: 8.4
Directed by: Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Raashi Khanna, Bhuvan Arora, Amol Palekar, Kay Kay Menon
No. of episodes: 8
Approx. duration of each episode: 60 minutes
Synopsis: In the garb of a dying printing press, Sunny (Kapoor) and his close friend Firoz (Arora) begin an illegal business of counterfeit notes. They master the art of printing the perfect note, and Sunny emerges as a top player with the alias Artist. While police officer Michael Vedanayagam (Sethupathi) and counterfeit expert Megha Vyas (Khanna), Sunny’s love interest, try to track down the Artist, the clock is ticking away.
Why you should watch this: This marks Shahid Kapoor’s OTT debut, and he nails it as the rogue note maker. The scene where Megha shows Sunny his own fake note serves as a major juncture in the series, but Sunny evades suspicion. Additionally, the way Mansoor Dalal (Menon) uses Sunny while Michael gets behind them is another important episode.
The season finale, where Michael and Megha almost catch Sunny is a major plot twist. This is where Sunny and Firoz release their cash stash on the road. The season ends on a cliffhanger, leaving viewers wondering whether Sunny will be able to evade Megha.
Read more: 10 of the best suspense movies on Amazon Prime Video with IMDb rating 8 and above
IMDb rating: 8.5
Created by: Sam Esmail
Cast: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday
No. of episodes: 45
Approx. duration of each episode: 47-50 minutes
Synopsis: Elliot Alderson (Malek), a cybersecurity genius and mast hacker, gets drawn into a secretive hacking group called F-Society. He is tasked to take down E-Corp, the corporate company Elliot works for. While his friend Angela Moss (Doubleday), who blames E-Corp for the death of her parents, tries to do so by legally gathering evidence, Elliot and his boss, Mr Robot (Slater) put their plan into action.
Awards won: Won three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.
Why you should watch it: One of the most unexpected plot twists came in episode 7 of season 2 when it was revealed that Elliot was in prison throughout the season and that the “analogue loop” we saw was his coping mechanism. The history of Mr Robot’s origin as a manifestation of Elliot’s mind and a personification of his deceased father, as well as the revelation of the third personality in the psychological thriller‘s season finale are mind-blowing.
IMDb rating: 8.5
Created by: Puneet Krishna, Karan Anshuman
Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi, Divyendu Sharma, Vikrant Massey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rasika Dugal, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Priyanshu Painyuli
No. of episodes: 19
Approx. duration of each episode: 60 minutes
Synopsis: Akhandanand Tripathi, aka Kaleen Bhaiya (Tripathi), is a millionaire carpet exporter and the mafia lord of Mirzapur. He has been dominating the region since Satyanand Tripathi (Kharbanda), Kaleen Bhaiya’s father, took over. Kaleen Bhaiya’s son, Munna (Sharma) is a power-hungry goon who wants to inherit the family business built on the illegal arms and opium trade. On the other hand, Guddu (Fazal) and Bablu (Massey) wish to have a better life but are drawn to the Tripathis.
Why you should watch it: The intense violence and unexpected plot twists of Mirzapur are not for the faint-hearted. The brutal wedding scene where Munna kills a pregnant Sweety (Pilgaonkar) and Bablu is a major turn in the story. Munna Bhaiya killing the compounder (Abhishek Banerjee) and Beena (Dugal) killing Satyanand are also unexpected turns in the series.
The killing of the Tyagi brothers is a major scene as well. The murder mystery around who died — Bara or Chota Tyagi — is a cliffhanger which we hope will be resolved in the upcoming season. Additionally, the mystery behind Radheshyam ‘Robin’ Agarwal’s (Painyuli) enigmatic character is also yet to be unravelled in season 3.
IMDb rating: 8.5
Created by: Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams
Cast: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner, Julia Garner, Marc Menchaca, Lisa Emery, Esai Morales, Felix Solis, Janet McTier
No. of episodes: 44
Approx. duration of each episode: 55-60 minutes
Synopsis: For the Byrde family, comprising Martin ‘Marty’ Byrde (Bateman), his wife Wendy (Linney) and their teenage children Charlotte (Hublitz) and Jonah (Gaertner), everything is quite well and happy, except the fact that the patriarch secretly launders money for a big Mexican cartel. When things go out of hand, the financial broker relocates to the lazy town of Missouri Ozarks. But will that put an end to it all?
Awards won: Won four Primetime Emmy Awards and three SAG Awards.
Why you should watch this: The brilliance of Ozark lies in complex character arcs and an ever-evolving plotline. Whether it was Ruth (Garner) electrocuting Uncle Ross (Marc) after learning he was ratting the family out to the FBI, cartel head Darlene Snell (Emery) killing rival head Del (Morales) or Omar Navarro (Solis) killing Hellen (McTier) in front of Marty and Wendy, every plot twist just made the show even more absorbing.
Read more: 15 of the best suspense thriller series on Netflix with an IMDb rating of 7 or above
IMDb rating: 8.6
Directed by: Kim Cheol-gyu
Cast: Lee Joon-gi, Moon Chae-won, Seo Hyun-woo
No. of episodes: 16
Approx. duration of each episode: 60-65 minutes
Synopsis: At a glance, Baek Hee-sung (Lee) is the ideal family man with a happy wife, a daughter and a successful business. But this facade hides a dark secret that he shields from his strong-willed detective wife, Cha Ji-won (Moon). However, secrets have a way of getting revealed, and it is upon her to unearth the mystery as she embarks on the journey to solve as many such cases as possible. But what will happen when this case rattles her family life?
Why you should watch it: A cat-and-mouse chase, this K-drama show with cliffhangers has major turns in the story. The revelation of Hee-sung’s identity, what he is hiding and how Ji-won gets to the bottom of it all shake viewers to their core.
IMDb rating: 8.7
Created by: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
Cast: Louis Hofmann, Karoline Eichhorn, Lisa Vicari, Maja Schöne, Mark Waschke
No. of episodes: 26
Approx. duration of each episode: 50 minutes
Synopsis: In the dark and gloomy German town of Winden, cases of missing children stoke fear in the residents. Little do they know that a wormhole connects their past, present and future in a way that can alter the time-space dimension. Relationships are gravely affected as each episode introduces new twists that reveal the true identity of the characters.
Why you should watch this: Revelations of Hannah Kahnwald’s (Schöne) past secrets, the identity of Noah (Waschke), the relation between Jonas Kahnwald (Hofmann) and Martha Nielsen (Vicari), and the character development of Charlotte Doppler (Eichhorn) make the German sci-fi thriller series intriguing. Watch this at your own risk as the series is not only intricate and complex but also addictive.
IMDb rating: 8.9
Created by: Nic Pizzolatto, Issa López
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams
No. of episodes: 30
Approx. duration of each episode: 45-50 minutes
Synopsis: The anthology series follows a bunch of detectives who investigate a string of brutal murders and heinous crimes across the US. The first season was adapted from the real-life child abuse scandal and ritualistic killings in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, in the early 2000s. While the second and third seasons included a few fictional stories, the fourth season is inspired by the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident, in which Russian hikers died mysteriously, and the 1872 incident of the Mary Celeste ship whose crew disappeared with no plausible reason.
Awards won: It bagged five Emmy Awards in 2014 and the 2015 BAFTA for Best International TV Show.
Why you should watch it: While it is difficult to point out one major plot twist, the gripping and complex story of each season, the intricate psychological tricks, how the personal lives of the detectives get intertwined and the shocking revelations in every episode make it a superbly thrilling show.
IMDb rating: 9.2
Created by: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Cast: Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Willaims, Sophie Turner, Lena Heady, Aidan Gillen
No. of episodes: 73
Approx. duration of each episode: 55 minutes
Synopsis: Who sits on the Iron Throne rules over Westeros. This fantasy drama series, based on the Song of Fire and Ice novels of George R. R. Martin, is an epic saga where nine noble families fight for this ultimate goal. Amid family rivalry, deceits, betrayal and unexpected character deaths, the fate of the Seven Kingdoms and the realms hang at stake as an ancient nemesis returns.
Awards won: 59 Primetime Emmy Awards, one BAFTA and a Golden Globe. Game of Thrones was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, eight Golden Globes and seven Critics Choice Awards.
Why you should watch it: Right from Ned Stark’s beheading in the first season to the infamous Red Wedding, Littlefiinger’s (Gillen) deceits, Cersei’s (Heady) ruthlessness, the Red Woman’s manipulations, Sansa Stark (Turner) killing Littlefinger, Tyrion Lannister’s (Dinklage) tactics, Daenerys Targeryon’s (Clarke) big turnaround towards the end, her relation with Jon (Harrington) and the final fate of Westeros in the season finale — every season was full of shocking plot twists that added new layers and unexpected turns. I must say, I was quite late to the party and started binge-watching only after six seasons were released. But have to agree that I couldn’t hit the pause button.
IMDb rating: 9.5
Created by: Vince Gilligan
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, Dean Norris, Krysten Ritter, Jonathan Banks
No. of episodes: 73
Approx. duration of each episode: 55 minutes
Synopsis: When diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Walter White (Cranston), a seemingly ordinary chemistry teacher, joins the criminal underworld with his former Jesse Pinkman (Paul) to make meth to make money for his family. Eventually, as he emerges as a fierce drug lord, another arch-rival, Gustav ‘Gus’ Fring (Esposito) must be tackled.
Awards won: 16 Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, three SAG Awards and six Critics Choice Television Awards.
Why you should watch it: Breaking Bad mastered the art of developing the main characters immensely. Walter becoming the man he feared to encounter is perhaps the biggest plot twist. “I am the one who knocks!” he says.
The way he let Jesse’s girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter) die, Hank and Mike Ehrmantraut’s (Banks) death, Jesse killing Gale, Walter poisoning Brock and Gus’ end are undoubtedly some of the biggest unexpected plot twists that no one saw coming.
(Hero and feature image credit: Dark/ Photo by Stefan Erhard/Netflix – © 2016 Stefan Erhard/ IMDb)
Note:
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-What is the most unpredictable TV show?
Some of the most unpredictable TV shows include ‘Dark’, ‘Mirzapur’, ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Game of Thrones’.
-What series has the best plot?
‘Mirzapur’, ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Farzi’, ‘Dark’, ‘Money Heist’, ‘Flower of Evil’ and ‘Vincenzo’ are some of the highest-rated series with the best plots.
-What TV series has shocking twists?
A shocking twist in the plot of a series keeps the audience guessing and glues them to the screen. ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Dark’, ‘Money Heist’ and ‘Black Mirror’ are some series with such unexpected twists.
