Television series

La Brea

Name: La Brea
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Released: 2021
Cast: Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, Chiké Okonkwo, Rohan Mirchandaney, Jon Seda

A family is torn apart when a sinkhole opens beneath Los Angeles, trapping half of them in a mysterious primeval world. Part survival drama, part puzzle box, La Brea balances intimate family trauma against big sci-fi mysteries. For viewers who want their genre thrills grounded in genuine emotional stakes.

TVMaze rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love survival stories where the mystery of the place matters as much as the people stuck in it, and you don't mind a family drama running alongside the prehistoric peril.

Skip it if you want a tidy, self-contained adventure, since this one splits its attention between two halves of a family and asks you to stay with a slow-building mystery.

What it asks of you: Three seasons and thirty hour-long episodes is a real commitment, paced as a patient, serialized mystery where answers arrive slowly and the drama is mostly in the people.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Lost2004

The obvious DNA match: a disparate group stranded in a mysterious place, slowly uncovering larger mysteries while wrestling with personal demons. NBC clearly studied this formula and borrowed its backbone.

But Lost's later seasons fragmented into frustration for many viewers. La Brea has already concluded, which solves one problem but means you're committing to whatever ending it chose.

Manifest2018

Another NBC mystery-box show about people vanishing and returning transformed. Same DNA, similar pacing, equally committed to the idea that family bonds survive impossible circumstances.

But Manifest also ended abruptly on a cliffhanger that left fans angry. If unresolved endings infuriate you, this might not be the night for either show.

The OA2016

Ambitious sci-fi that prioritises emotional core over easy answers. Like La Brea, it's willing to look silly in service of genuine mystery and character relationships that matter.

But Also cancelled mid-story. Also demands real patience with slow-building mythology. If you want answers wrapped in a bow, these are not your shows.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from La Brea

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Severance2022

Both centre on families torn apart by forces beyond individual control, and frame survival as secondary to the question: how do we reconnect?

A family man caught in a sci-fi system that fragments his life and identity, desperate to reunite with loved ones he's separated from. The emotional architecture—separation, mystery, the drive to be whole again—is La Brea's exact mirror, but in a claustrophobic corporate nightmare instead of a sinkhole.

But Deliberately glacial and atmospheric. It withholds answers even more severely than La Brea. If you want forward momentum, this will frustrate you.

Yellowstone2018

Family at the centre, secrets pulling them apart and pushing them together, a landscape that's both beautiful and hostile. The emotional machinery that makes La Brea work is here too, if in a completely different context.

But It's a soap opera with ranch drama instead of sinkhole mystery. Entirely different register and pace. If you want sci-fi, this will feel like a detour.

The Leftovers2014

A show about people processing catastrophic loss and impossible circumstances with the same mixture of wonder, desperation, and love that La Brea reaches for. Quieter and more ambitious, but the emotional core is identical.

But Intentionally oblique and sometimes painful to watch. La Brea is more straightforward mystery; this is grief without easy comfort. Heavier on tone than plot.

Fringe2008

Family mystery across multiple worlds, sci-fi that builds steadily from small strange incidents to universe-spanning revelations. Manages both intimate character work and genuine scope without losing either.

But Five seasons of gradually escalating strangeness. Requires real commitment and tolerance for serial mythology. Not the show for someone wanting self-contained episodes.

Dark2017

Families fractured by temporal mysteries, a small community trying to survive impossible circumstances, layered mythology that rewards close attention. Genuinely complex and strangely beautiful.

But German, subtitled, and deliberately complicated in ways that demand active viewing. If La Brea felt slow, Dark will feel glacial. No easy answers here.

The Passage2019

A small group of ordinary people navigating a transformed world alongside something larger and stranger. Post-apocalyptic without being grim, mysterious without being obscure.

But Cancelled after one season. Also, it's closer to vampire fiction than hard sci-fi. If you want grounded mystery, this tips toward the fantastical more than La Brea.

The Adam Project2022

Same fundamental story—parent and child separated by impossible circumstance, one trying to cross into another world to find the other—told as action-adventure rather than supernatural drama.

A father trying to save his son by navigating a dangerous alternate world he doesn't understand. It's got the family urgency and the sci-fi scaffolding, but it's actually fun—lighter, faster, less interested in making you suffer for revelation.

But Optimistic in a way La Brea isn't. Sometimes to a fault. Also only two hours, so if you're hungry for serialized mystery, it'll feel like an appetizer.

The Shape of Water2017

Both ask: when you're trapped in an alien world with no way home, what keeps you human? Both answer: love, and the presence of another person.

A woman alone in a hostile world, drawn to something strange and unknowable she finds there. Beautiful, patient, committed to the idea that connection and love matter more than understanding. The tone is quieter but the emotional stakes are as high as La Brea's.

But Not a mystery box. Not an adventure. It's a creature-feature love story that requires tolerance for stillness and metaphor. Completely different genre register.