Television series

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

Name: Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Thriller
Released: 2021
Cast: Ashley Zukerman, Valorie Curry, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Sumalee Montano, Beau Knapp

A prequel to Robert Langdon's famous cases, this series sends the Harvard symbologist racing through Washington D.C. to save his kidnapped mentor and uncover a conspiracy. It's a puzzle-box thriller that moves fast, leans into the absurdity of its own mythology, and pairs intellectual games with genuine peril. For fans of smart adventure who don't mind their plots a bit baroque.

TVMaze rating

3.4

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The Blacklist2013

Serialized cat-and-mouse games with a charming criminal mastermind, genuine surprises in the mythology, and the same compulsive pace that makes you lose hours to just one more episode.

But The plotting sometimes collapses under its own conspiracies, and the central mystery gets messier rather than more satisfying the longer it stretches.

Manifest2018

Another paranoia-fueled NBC thriller about ordinary people caught in elaborate mysteries. Big questions, breakneck pacing, and it commits fully to its own strangeness without winking.

But The answers never quite justify the questions, and it gets increasingly convoluted before ending abruptly. Frustrating payoff.

The Da Vinci Code2006

The template for everything Langdon does: intellectual detective work, religious conspiracy, art history as clue. Hanks is perfect at playing smart without being smug. It's a solid weekend thriller.

But The pacing stutters when it stops moving, and the dialogue can be clunky when it tries to explain its own puzzles. Occasionally dull for a chase movie.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Warehouse 132009

Both pit ordinary people against elaborate mysteries embedded in history and objects. But where Langdon is a soloist, Warehouse 13 is about teams learning to trust each other. Langdon races; this ensemble breathes.

A secret government team protects dangerous magical artifacts scattered across America. Same DNA as Langdon—puzzles, codes, history weaponized—but it plays it as ensemble adventure instead of singular genius solving crimes.

But It's self-consciously campy in ways that won't appeal if you want serious stakes. The early seasons are clunky while it finds its voice.

National Treasure2004

Nicolas Cage hunting for hidden treasure via historical riddles and code-breaking. Genuinely fun, beautifully shot, and it understands the appeal of puzzles without taking itself too seriously.

But It's essentially a very expensive treasure hunt for kids. If you need real stakes or ambiguity, this won't deliver either.

Slow Horses2022

A spy thriller about intelligence operatives on the margins, with intricate plotting, witty writing, and Gary Oldman doing career-best work. Smart, tense, character-driven.

But It's deliberately paced and requires patience. Not a puzzle-box—it's espionage tradecraft, which is slower and less flashy than mystery-solving.

The Librarians2014

A team of underdogs protecting magical and historical artifacts from dangerous forces. High adventure, clever conceits, and it knows exactly how much fun it's having without ever stopping to explain itself.

But The tone is deliberately campy and throwback. If you prefer grounded thrillers, the whimsy will feel forced rather than charming.

Angels & Demons2009

Another Langdon case, this time in Rome with the Vatican as backdrop. More assured than the first film, better pacing, and Tom Hanks more comfortable in the role. Solid pulp.

But It's a very expensive movie about running through Italian landmarks following clues. The intellectual content is thin compared to the spectacle.

Midnight in Paris2011

A man falls into magical literary puzzles in Paris. Woody Allen at his most romantic and playful, and it's fundamentally about the pleasure of solving small mysteries through art and history.

But It's fundamentally a fairy tale masquerading as a thriller. If you need urgency or stakes, the whimsy undercuts the drama completely.

The Name of the Rose1986

Both worship at the altar of knowledge as weapon and key. But Langdon chases through modern America with gadgets and CIA backup; this monk has only reason and faith in a world designed to obscure truth. One is pulp, the other is literature.

A medieval mystery set in a labyrinthine monastery where a monk detective solves murders using logic and knowledge of forbidden texts. Gorgeous, dense, completely committed to its own intellectual architecture.

But It's slow, European, and demands you accept a 1986 film's pacing. The plot is a frame for ideas. If you watch for momentum, you will be disappointed.

The Conversation1974

Both feature brilliant men pulled into conspiracies larger than they initially realize. But where Langdon cracks codes, Hackman unravels surveillance. One is about reading symbols; the other is about listening to silence. Langdon wins; Hackman loses.

Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert entangled in a conspiracy he doesn't fully understand. A paranoia thriller about how information can be weaponized and how smart people can be used by forces bigger than themselves.

But It's a 1974 film. The pacing is deliberate, the action is minimal, and it ends with ambiguity rather than resolution. Entirely unglamorous about espionage.