The Good Place
If you appreciated Russian Doll's sneaky philosophical depth, The Good Place is your next stop. The series starts with a simple premise: Eleanor Shellstrop, a decidedly mediocre person, dies and is mistakenly sent to a utopian afterlife. What follows
is a brilliantly funny and surprisingly profound exploration of what it means to be a good person. Like Nadia, Eleanor is a sarcastic, self-interested protagonist who is forced into self-improvement by her bizarre circumstances. The show swaps Nadia’s looping deaths for rebooted realities and psychological experiments, all wrapped in a high-concept comedy that constantly reinvents itself.
Fleabag
For those who connected with Nadia’s specific brand of messy, intelligent, and darkly funny womanhood, meet Fleabag. While it lacks a supernatural element, this series is the definitive portrait of a complex woman navigating grief, family, and love with a cutting sense of humor and a tendency to break the fourth wall. Creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives a masterclass performance as the titular character, whose inner turmoil is both hilarious and heart-wrenching. It shares Russian Doll's DNA in its unflinching look at a protagonist wrestling with her past and her own self-destructive tendencies, all delivered with impeccable comedic timing.
Undone
This visually stunning animated series from Amazon Prime Video is perhaps the closest spiritual successor to Russian Doll's reality-bending mystery. After a near-fatal car crash, Alma discovers she has a new, fluid relationship with time and reality. She uses her abilities to investigate the truth behind her father’s death. The show’s rotoscoped animation creates a dreamlike, surreal quality that perfectly complements its existential themes of mental health, trauma, and the nature of existence. It’s a puzzle box that, like Russian Doll, is as much about the protagonist’s internal journey as it is about solving the central mystery.
Severance
Severance takes the idea of a fractured self and turns it into a chilling corporate thriller. Employees at the mysterious Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. The “innies” know nothing of the outside world, and the “outies” have no idea what they do for eight hours a day. The show’s slow-burn mystery, sterile yet unsettling aesthetic, and deep dive into questions of identity and free will will appeal to viewers who loved unpacking the layers of Russian Doll. It’s less about a time loop and more about a life loop, with characters trapped in a system they don’t understand.
Search Party
Imagine if Nadia’s quest to solve her own death was instead a quest by a group of listless Brooklyn millennials to find a missing college acquaintance. That’s the starting point for Search Party, a dark comedy that satirizes millennial ennui before spiraling into a genuinely thrilling noir mystery. The show excels at blending genres, moving from comedy to thriller to courtroom drama across its seasons. Its sharp, witty dialogue and focus on characters who are in way over their heads will feel familiar to fans of Nadia’s chaotic journey.
Maniac
This Netflix miniseries is a surreal, retro-futuristic dive into the human mind. It follows two strangers, played by Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, who connect during a mysterious pharmaceutical trial promising to cure all their mental anguish. The trial sends them through a series of wildly different, genre-hopping dreamscapes, from a 1980s caper to a high-fantasy adventure. At its core, Maniac is about the power of human connection to heal trauma, a central theme it shares with Russian Doll. If you were captivated by Nadia and Alan finding each other across timelines, you’ll love the strange, touching bond that forms in this visually inventive and deeply weird show.
Lodge 49
While it may be the most unconventional pick on this list, Lodge 49 shares Russian Doll’s warm, shaggy-dog spirit and its belief in finding meaning in unexpected places. The series follows Dud, a charmingly optimistic ex-surfer adrift after his father’s death and the collapse of his family business. He stumbles upon a fraternal order, the Order of the Lynx, and becomes convinced that its strange, esoteric teachings hold the key to getting his life back on track. It’s a gentle, funny, and deeply humane show about community, hope, and the search for a little bit of magic in a mundane world.
