Emma Stone’s Bugonia has been the talk of 2025, and if you loved this bold, genre-bending film, the 2018 Netflix miniseries Maniac is the perfect follow-up binge. Bugonia proved once again that Stone can master black comedy, sci-fi, and thriller elements while delivering a magnetic, unpredictable lead performance. Maniac offers a similar blend of dark humor, emotional depth, and mind-bending visuals — and it showcases why Emma Stone is one of the most versatile actors working today.
What connects Bugonia and Maniac
Both Bugonia and Maniac marry black comedy with speculative sci-fi and center on pharmaceutical companies as plot catalysts. In Bugonia, Stone plays the CEO of Auxolith, kidnapped by conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien intent on enslaving humanity. The film moves between tense thriller beats and deadpan comedy, making it a uniquely modern entry in Emma Stone’s filmography.
Maniac, released on Netflix in 2018, trades kidnapping drama for a clinical trial gone beyond anyone’s expectations. Stone stars as Annie, a woman with borderline personality disorder who enrolls in an experimental pharmaceutical study. She meets Owen (Jonah Hill), and the two are drawn into an immersive therapeutic program that uses advanced tech and shared dreamscapes to explore memory, trauma, and identity. Both projects interrogate power, control, and what it means to be human — but Maniac does that from inside the mind, using surreal visuals and darkly funny moments.
What Maniac is about, in plain terms
Maniac follows Annie and Owen through ten compact episodes as they participate in a drug trial that promises to cure all mental ailments. Instead, the treatment traps them in a multilayered simulation guided by a coldly efficient AI and eccentric researchers. The story drifts through multiple realities — period dramas, fantasy quests, and symbolic landscapes — each reflecting the characters’ inner wounds. Stone’s Annie is raw and unpredictable, and the chemistry between Stone and Jonah Hill gives Maniac its emotional core amid the strangeness.
Why Maniac deserves more attention
When Maniac premiered, it earned strong critical praise — landing roughly 84% positive scores from critics and audiences — but it quietly slipped from mainstream conversation. Its surreal premise, intricate narrative structure, and refusal to fit into simple genre boxes made it less accessible to casual viewers. In the streaming boom of 2018, shows with unconventional storytelling often struggled to sustain buzz. Now, after Bugonia’s breakout success in 2025, Maniac feels ripe for rediscovery by fans who appreciate smart, offbeat sci-fi.
Emma Stone fans will love Maniac
Emma Stone has built a career on balancing comedy and drama, from Superbad and Easy A to more nuanced performances later in her career. Maniac is tailor-made for her strengths: it demands precise comedic timing, emotional authenticity, and a willingness to go deep into difficult, strange territory. With just ten episodes, Maniac is an ideal binge for fans who want a compact, intense experience that complements the tonal adventures of Bugonia.
If Bugonia hooked you with its black comedy and sci-fi thrills, Maniac will satisfy your appetite for surreal storytelling, psychological inquiry, and standout performances. It’s the kind of miniseries that rewards repeated viewings and sparks conversation about mental health, technology, and storytelling itself.
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