15 Biggest TV Plot Twists Of 2025, Ranked

Shocking deaths! Secret pregnancies! Underground bunkers! From serial killers hiding in plain sight to jaw-dropping acts of betrayal that changed everything, the past 10 months have already delivered enough wild twists to leave even the most seasoned TV viewer reeling — and that's why we're here today.

As part of TVLine's ongoing Year in Review, we're pausing to revisit (and rank!) the moments that required extra time to process — aka the biggest plot twists of 2025. 

Fair warning: Because this is a celebration of twists, you're about to enter a spoiler minefield. You might want to turn back if you're behind on any of the following 15 shows, presented here in alphabetical order: "Adolescence," "Chicago Med," "Dexter: Original Sin," "Dexter: Resurrection," "The Diplomat," "Love Island USA," "Overcompensating," "Paradise," "Peacemaker," "The Pitt," "Poker Face," "The Rehearsal," "Task," "We Were Liars" and "Wednesday."

And one more disclaimer: To keep this list somewhat manageable, we limited ourselves to one twist per show. (Let's be real, some of these shows could spawn entire lists of their own.)

Read on for TVLine's ranking of the Biggest TV Plot Twists of 2025 (so far), then hit the comments and tell us which ones left you most stunned.

Just before Season 10 came to a close, Hannah was waiting on the results of her physical exam and psych evaluation to find out if she could be a surrogate for her sister. She worried that her drug addiction and unstable romantic life were going to be an issue, but when she got the call, she learned it was her physical that presented a roadblock: The doc was already pregnant!

The last person Hannah dated was Ripley, so that would've made him a likely baby daddy candidate... except for the fact that the two had already split up a while ago. Then, the finale delivered an encore twist when we saw Hannah arrive at Dean's place, announcing, "We need to talk," implying — but not confirming! — he was the father. While we have since learned Archer is, in fact, Hannah's baby daddy, we're still spinning from all those unexpected developments. — Claire Franken

We're used to twists and turns on Peacock's addictive summer dating show — that's why bombshells were invented, after all — but even we weren't prepared for the absolute atomic bomb that was dropped on the villa when the show asked viewers to vote on who should be coupled up with the latest arrivals.

To catch you up: Jeremiah and Huda were a toxic pairing for the ages, constantly bickering and generally making everyone else in the villa miserable. So when it came time for America to vote for which guy should be paired up with new arrival Iris, they chose... Jeremiah. Now we admit we were rooting for this to happen, just for the drama it would bring. But we never dared dream it would actually come to pass! Huda, of course, had an epic meltdown, and she and Jeremiah were never the same. "OK, that's messy as f—k," Olandria quipped... and we couldn't agree more. — Dave Nemetz

When Carmen spent nearly an entire Charli XCX concert stuck in a bathroom with explosive diarrhea, we thought it couldn't get any worse. We were wrong. After she washed away any lingering evidence from the ordeal, a sopping wet Carmen, with mascara smudged all over her eyes, began to head home. That was when she experienced the unthinkable: Peter, the disgusting frat bro dating Benny's sister, approached her in the parking lot.

"Where are you headed?" he said. She replied that she didn't know. Without even cordially inviting her with a verbal invitation, Peter simply nodded his head in the direction of his place... and Carmen followed him like a dog! We hoped it wasn't so, but when the next episode picked up, it happened: the two secretly hooked up. We were absolutely gob smacked by the revelation because: A) What kind of girl wants to get frisky following such a violent gastrointestinal episode? And B) How could she betray Benny and Grace like that? Why, Carmen, why?! — C.F.

Noah Wyle knew that fans of "The Pitt" would be champing at the bit for backstory by Episode 11 — and boy, did it deliver. During a tender exchange, the depth of Robby's relationship with Dr. Heather Collins was revealed. She initially confided in her ex about her recent IVF journey that ended in miscarriage, admitting that she wasn't strong enough to try again. Then came a deeper confession: years earlier, she'd gotten pregnant but wasn't ready to be a mother. 

Though it wasn't explicitly stated, Robby's wide-eyed reaction implied that Collins had an abortion while they were still together. "I was afraid of... all of it," she explained. "But mostly, I was afraid he would hate me for being selfish." Robby took a beat, then assured her she wasn't selfish. "Do you think he'd forgive me if he knew?" she asked. "Yes," he said softly. "More importantly, I know he'd want you to forgive yourself." — Ryan Schwartz

Brad Ingelsby's follow-up to "Mare of Easttown" was another HBO crime drama set in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, but it was also infused with a surprising emotional sensitivity in the same way "Mare" was. The set-up for "Task" was pretty standard: Garbage truck drivers Robbie and Cliff supplemented their income by ripping off drug dealers, until one of their heists went horribly wrong. But it's the way it went wrong that knocked us for a loop.

In the premiere, Robbie and Cliff's plan went sideways during a botched home invasion, and three people ended up dead. But as Robbie and Cliff made their escape, they realized they weren't alone: A young boy named Sam had just woken up downstairs... and now both his parents were dead. It was a real gut-punch that highlighted the unseen consequences of Robbie and Cliff's crimes, and Robbie ended up taking Sam home with him, revealing a tender side to the crook. All in all, it proved that "Task" was not just about good guys and bad guys, but about the shared humanity that binds us all. — D.N.

The Season 2 finale of Tim Burton's Netflix drama revealed that Thing, the literal right hand of the Addams Family, has actually been the severed appendage of Tyler's evil uncle Isaac Night all along. For those viewers who weren't able to connect the dots in their heads — or were more likely distracted by a second screen while watching — the show even gave us a campy little animation explaining that "Thing" is an anagram for "Night." Clever!

TVLine spoke with actor Owen Painter, who plays Isaac, about the "really cool" experience. "I felt a little bit of the pressure to do it right," he told us. "But that went away so fast with how much fun stuff there was to do. I kind of thought I would just be the goofy monster [Slurp] the whole time when I first got there, so this was a big surprise. It was a real game changer." — Andy Swift

Netflix's searing crime drama shocked us from the start, with the premiere following along in real time as cops burst into a suburban English home to arrest a 13-year-old boy named Jamie for murder. His parents were as stunned as we were: Surely the police had made a mistake? But the show had an even bigger shock in store for us.

Jamie's dad Eddie sat by his side in the interrogation room as the cops laid out the facts: Jamie was a classmate of the murdered girl, and he was spotted near the crime scene the night of her death. The real stunner came, though, when they showed surveillance footage of Jamie getting into a fight with the victim... and then stabbing her to death. It was a truly breathtaking twist, made all the more heartbreaking by Eddie's utter disbelief. Jamie tried to appeal to his dad, but Eddie pulled away, sobbing and asking, "What have you done?" before taking him into a bear hug. After that twist, we needed a hug, too. — D.N.

Episode 6 had us seeing double — literally and figuratively. When our titular antihero first met a gaggle of other serial killers at billionaire Leon Prater's compound, we knew Dex would have his hands full. And one by one, he began to take them out, but we never could've predicted what was about to transpire after he knocked off David Dastmalchian's creepy Gemini Killer. Upon arriving to a secret location at the behest of Prater, Dexter — and we — were absolutely gobsmacked to find out that the Gemini Killer was actually two killers: Identical twin brothers! (Gemini always killed in pairs, so twin killers offing their victims together? It almost makes sense.) 

The twist was campy, yes, but so delightfully fun and well-executed. The big reveal (among other things this "Dexter" follow-up did right) has us counting down the days until we're once again reunited with Michael C. Hall's Bay Harbor Butcher. — Nick Caruso

As "Poker Face" brought its sophomore season to a close, it became all about the identity of The Iguana, a highly skilled assassin who'd managed to evade authorities after killing someone at a wedding. We were initially led to believe Justin Theroux was playing The Iguana, but his murderous character was eventually offed, too — and we were genuinely shocked to learn that Alex (Patti Harrison), Charlie's silly and self-deprecating new friend in recent episodes, had been the real assassin all along. As Alex revealed to Charlie exactly how she'd pulled off her hits, Harrison brought new and fascinating layers to her character, the only person to ever fool human lie detector Charlie. — Rebecca Luther

For the entire run of this short-lived prequel, Miami Metro P.D. was chasing down a local kidnapper responsible for multiple child abductions and the death of Jimmy Powell. Then, the series took a shocking turn: Nicky, the son of Dempsey's Captain Aaron Spencer, became the next victim snatched up by the killer. But things only got darker from there. 

It was later revealed that Dempsey's character — who was now Dexter's boss — was the man responsible for all of the crimes. His motive? He was enraged at the dissolution of his family, including his wife's newfound engagement. The big twist led to one tense finale showdown, where Dexter saved Nicky's life and took out his fourth victim in one fell swoop. But revealing one of its biggest stars as the season's Big Bad proved to be one of the franchise's biggest twists ever... and not the only "Dexter" reveal to make the cut here. — N.C.

In two seasons of "The Rehearsal," creator and star Nathan Fielder has proven he's nothing if not extremely committed to the bit. He'll recreate just about any indoor location, detail for detail, on a Los Angeles soundstage, or — as seen on our list of the year's most shocking TV scenes — he'll gladly relive every chapter of former airline pilot Sully Sullenberger's life, down to the creation of a horrifying puppet version of Sully's mother. Fielder's all in, all the time, which makes his HBO docu-comedy all the more entertaining.

But Fielder outdid even himself in the show's sophomore finale, where his season-long pursuit of better communication between airplane pilots crescendoed to the stunning reveal that Fielder had actually completed the training hours to become a real-life pilot. The lessons seemed futile at first, and Fielder just wasn't grasping the mechanics of how to land a plane without incident. Then, in an episode more gripping than we'd ever expect from this show, Fielder put in the work on his own time to improve his piloting skills, and he ultimately flew — and landed, whew — an actual Boeing 737. Once again, Fielder's commitment left us in awe... and wondering if "The Rehearsal" should even attempt topping this stunt in a potential third season. — R.L.

Season 3 of Netflix's political thriller didn't skimp on the twists, starting right away with the  premiere, with newly sworn-in President Grace Penn naming Hal (and not Kate) as her vice president. Nothing, though, could compare to the towering cliffhanger it left us dangling from in the finale, as Kate discovered that she couldn't even trust the man closest to her.

Amid tensions with the UK, Penn managed to strike a deal with Prime Minister Trowbridge to sink a Russian sub and bury its dangerous nuclear weapon on the ocean floor. But then Kate learned the sub no longer had the weapon on board — and pieced it together that Penn had lied, and a U.S. sub had actually stolen the nuclear weapon in secret. What's more, Kate's own husband Hal had lied to her about it — and he didn't deny it, either, coldly telling her, "You will tell no one." He also reported back to Penn, "She knows," pitting husband against wife in a high-stakes game of geopolitical poker. Keri Russell's stunned face said it all... and Season 4 can't get here soon enough. — D.N.

Peacemaker's joy at finding the "best dimension ever" really took a hit in Season 2, Episode 6, when the show's central superhero realized that the parallel universe that seemed superior to his reality wasn't the paradise he'd believed. The penny dropped as Adebayo went for a walk, an event that drew a surprising amount of unwelcome attention from the people around her. They stared. They pointed. They whispered. Eventually, they chased her, causing her to have to break into a run to save herself. At the same time, elsewhere, Harcourt noted, "I haven't seen a single person of color ever since I've been here." Chris didn't believe it at first, but then he noted a nearby American flag... and its swastika where the 50 stars should have been. Yep, the show had officially arrived in what DC Comics fans know as Earth X, an alternate reality in which the Nazis won World War II. We think Peacemaker spoke for us all with his reaction: "F—k me." — Kimberly Roots

If you didn't read E. Lockhart's 2014 novel upon which Prime Video's "We Were Liars" is based, there's absolutely no way you could have predicted that three of the show's main characters — Mirren (Esther McGregor), Johnny (Joseph Zada) and Gat (Shubham Maheshwari) — were actually dead for the entire first season, a dark truth revealed in the finale. And even if you did read the book, we're not sure that could have prepared anyone for the devastating performance from Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence remembered the horrific memories she'd been suppressing. Never mind the fact that Cadence now has to carry the additional guilt of knowing she was the one who started the fire that claimed their lives.

Needless to say, the show's second season — which flashes back to the older generation's sun-soaked misdeeds back in the 1990s — is sure to be another feel-good binge. — A.S.

Before "Paradise" premiered, Hulu played it really close to the vest with details about Dan Fogelman's "This Is Us" follow-up: All we knew was that it was about a "serene community inhabited by some of the world's most prominent individuals," as the official logline read, "but this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs and a high-stakes investigation unfolds." If it wasn't a big enough surprise that the death in question was of the President of the United States — and that it happened in the premiere — the end of that episode hit us with an even more insane wallop: The community where the action was set existed in a bunker miles below the Earth's surface, which housed what was left of the world's population after an unspecified global catastrophic event! — K.R.