From the resurrected Dexter to the philosophical horrors of 'Severance'—the 'After Credits' editorial team has selected the best TV series of 2025, for which it was worth staring at screens. Spoiler: this year turned out to be phenomenal for successf...

2025 turned out to be unusually generous: Vince Gilligan returned with a disturbing sci-fi about the end of the world, Netflix proved that detective series still have something to say, and Severance continued to blow viewers' minds with its philosophical puzzles. But the main thing is that this year finally saw something no one expected: worthy comebacks of legends (yes, we mean Dexter), unexpected hits from newcomers, and series you want to talk about the day after watching. The 'After Credits' editorial team has selected the best TV series of 2025 that deserve not just attention, but a full marathon with your phone turned off and pizza ordered for the night.

American Primeval

The series, released early this year on Netflix, did not receive due attention from viewers and was not mentioned in the press, which, in my opinion, seems unfair. The project, directed by Peter Berg and written by Mark L. Smith (author of 'The Revenant'), transports the viewer to a world where human nature appears in its most cruel and uncompromising manifestations. In this world, man becomes not just a wolf to another man, but a truly bloodthirsty monster, ready to sacrifice the interests of others for his own goals. The mini-series is based on stories about the birth of the American West and the brutal clashes between settlers—bearers of different cultures and religions—in the territory of Utah.

The plot takes place in the mid-19th century at a fort in southwestern Wyoming. Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin) and her teenage son are looking for a guide to reach her husband. The journey will be difficult: they need to cross an insurmountable ridge and terrain inhabited by warring Indian tribes, criminals, and unpredictable Mormons. No one dares to accompany them, but the head of the Fort Bridger trading post offers Sara a guide—Isaac Reed (Taylor Kitsch). Later, a runaway Indian girl joins their group, and together they fight off pursuers who have a bounty on Sara's capture.

The series is a harsh and gritty drama with a gripping plot, high-quality action, and an authentic atmosphere of terrifying wilderness. While watching, the viewer, along with the main characters, will feel the threat emanating from a variety of sources.

Top 10 series of the year according to Evgeny Aniskovich:

1. Dying for Sex
2. Murderbot Diaries
3. Chad Powers
4. One of Them Days
5. Seasons
6. Adolescence
7. American Primeval
8. Win or Lose
9. The Pitt
10. The Studio

Adolescence

So many fascinating cinematic minutes that 2025 gave us will be enough for the next couple of years. But something stands out especially strongly. My personal list of series this year is topped by 'Adolescence'. For me, it became an example of how new ways of communicating with the viewer come from cinema into the series industry.

Showrunner and screenwriter Jack Thorne has long been known for his skillful work with trauma in storytelling. His exploration of human vulnerability in 'Adolescence' becomes especially deep and, in a sense, heartless towards the unprepared viewer. In this same project, director Phil Barantini's love for long takes and in-camera editing, familiar from his previous works, reaches its peak: the form ceases to be a technique and becomes a way of existence for the story.

Such projects no longer give advice, serve as entertainment, or act as a moral compass. Their main goal is to immerse you in the state of the characters, awaken all empathic receptors, and confront you with uncomfortable questions that in your ordinary life you would hardly want to answer. 'Adolescence' is a depressing and heavy spectacle, but at the same time fascinating and charming in its own way due to its honesty and refusal to smooth over rough edges.

I especially want to highlight the work of Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham (who is also a co-creator of the project): their acting organically emphasizes the tension without false melodrama and makes this story alive and unbearably close.

Top 10 series of the year according to Ellina Chernikova:

1. Monster: The Ed Gein Story
2. The Paper
3. It: Welcome to Derry
4. Severance
5. Stranger Things
6. The Haunted Hotel
7. It's All Her Fault
8. Furniture Company
9. One of Them Days
10. Adolescence

It: Welcome to Derry

Perhaps the main series discovery for me personally in the outgoing year was 'It: Welcome to Derry'. Of course, the prequel to 'It' from Andy Muschietti cannot be called a 'hidden gem': the show was surrounded by attention long before its release, and after its debut on HBO, it naturally took over all social networks thanks to epic video compilations. However, no one, including even the most devoted fans of Stephen King's novel and its feature-length adaptations, could have imagined that instead of a pleasant-tasting (and at best fan-service) gum, where the plotline of the Losers' Club is shoved unchanged into the 60s setting, viewers would get a well-crafted horror project with strong dramaturgy, likable characters, many 'absolute cinema' moments, and one of the boldest and wildest pilots in the history of modern television.

In fact, 'Derry' proves its worth even with limited presence of the main crowd favorite—the dancing clown played by Bill Skarsgård. Fans, of course, eagerly awaited his appearance, but the series held up well without him for five episodes. Pennywise appears here in various guises, and some of them make an even more frightening impression than the made-up Swede in a funny costume with a strange hairstyle.

As is often the case with King, the alien monster here turns out to be far from the most terrible evil. The provincial town of Derry appears as a miniature copy of America: the military seeks to catch the bloodthirsty creature to keep their own population in fear; Ku Klux Klan adherents roam the streets in civilian clothes; a black man is accused of murdering children without any substantial evidence; nearby live Indians expelled from their lands by 'frontier settlers'; a juke joint for black people opens within the city limits; protests at Ole Miss and the Cuban Missile Crisis loom on the horizon. Of course, one cannot ignore the truly cathartic and—allow me this epithet—triumphant finale, which can only be outdone by the guys from Hawkins.

Top 10 series of the year according to Nikita Margaev:

1. Underbelly
2. The Narrow Road to the Deep North
3. The White Lotus
4. Chief of War
5. Yellowjackets
6. One of Them Days
7. The Pitt
8. Stranger Things
9. It: Welcome to Derry
10. Adolescence

Dexter: Resurrection

If anyone deserved a resurrection, it's Dexter Morgan—and in the most literal sense. After his son shot him in the finale of the controversial season 'New Blood', our beloved noble psychopath woke up from a coma only to realize that Harrison had disappeared, and Angel Batista was on his tail with uncomfortable questions about the past. Dexter heads to New York—a city that never sleeps, just right for someone who hunts at night. And if you thought the franchise had nothing left to say, 'Resurrection' proves otherwise from the very first minutes.

The creators returned to that very Dexter—cold-blooded, methodical, with caustic internal monologues, the one we loved so much in the first seasons of the original. No more drawn-out drama—instead, a measured pace, tension, and a new adversary in the form of a billionaire psychopath played by Peter Dinklage, who clearly isn't going to play by the rules. Critics unanimously recognized the series as a triumphant return: a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, rave reviews from IGN and Screen Rant, and viewers call it the best season since the legendary Trinity arc. Moreover, the first season hasn't even ended yet, and Paramount+ has already renewed the show for a second. It seems the darkness really never disappears—it just waits for the right moment to strike.

Top 10 series of the year according to Roman Kovalev:

1. Breathe
2. Stranger Things
3. Slow Horses
4. One of Them Days
5. Outsource
6. Seasons
7. Severance
8. Adolescence
9. Dexter: Resurrection
10. The Pitt

Dying for Sex

'Dying for Sex' is a rare example of a series that does not try to deliberately squeeze tears out of you due to the specificity of the topic, but wants to find an inner response in the viewer and even inspire. At the center of the plot is the story of Molly, who, faced with an incurable disease, decides to live the remaining time as she always wanted but never allowed herself.

This show is not afraid (and does not want to be afraid) to speak openly about topics that are usually avoided: fear of death, corporeality, sexuality, loneliness, and the right to the most diverse desires in vulnerable moments of life. A certain provocativeness of the series is already embedded in the title, but at the same time it is one of the most touching projects that tug at the heartstrings. Its strength lies in the emotional depth of the story and the characters: they are contradictory, imperfect, sometimes uncomfortable, and thanks to this, truly alive.

The authors did not try to smooth over the rough edges or give a comforting ending, but honestly told the real story of a woman, which contains a lot of truth, but, alas, no hope. 'Dying for Sex' is a series that does not entertain, but makes you feel, think, and learn to accept the complexity of human experiences. And it is also a series that finally proved how great and daring an actress Michelle Williams is.

Top 10 series of the year according to Nadezhda Vasilyeva:

1. Adolescence
2. One of Them Days
3. Nobody Wants This
4. Stranger Things
5. The Studio
6. Peacemaker
7. Severance
8. Andor
9. Dying for Sex
10. The Pitt