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EXCLUSIVE: Unsolved Mysteries is back after Netflix revived the long-running true crime and paranormal franchise.

The series, which was hosted by Robert Stack and ran for over 500 episodes between 1987 and 2010, is being refreshed by Stranger Things EP Shawn Levy and his company 21 Laps Entertainment and Netflix.

I hear that Levy is overseeing the revamp in association with Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, the original production company run by the show’s creators John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. The latter will show run the series with Cosgrove, Levy and Josh Barry as exec producers. Robert Wise is co-exec producer and showrunner with Dunn Meurer.

The 12-part show will use re-enactments in a documentary format to profile real-life mysteries and unsolved crimes, lost love, cases involving missing persons and unexplained paranormal events. Each episode will focus on one mystery. In the original series, actors played the victims, criminals and witnesses but family members and police were regularly interviewed.


Unsolved Mysteries ran on NBC between 1987 and 1997 and CBS picked it up for two years after it was cancelled. Lifetime aired a number of new episodes in 2001/2002 and Spike also picked it up between 2008 and 2010 with Dennis Farina replacing Stack following The Untouchables actor’s death in 2003.

Cosgrove and Meurer have been keen to revamp the show for some time and have kept an updated web presence for the show with new cases. In a Reddit AMA in August 2017, Cosgrove said, “We are actively talking to a couple of broadcasters who have shown interest, and we’re very optimistic that we’ll have something by way of new episodes by the end of the year. It’s too early to go into much detail, but we’ve had our research producers look into possible stories, and they’ve found some excellent ones which can be ready to go quickly.”

The order is the latest high-profile Netflix series for Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment. The company produces four shows for the SVOD service after signing an exclusive multi-year deal in December 2017; Stranger Things, which recently wrapped its third season, Shadow and Bone, an eight-episode series based on Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Shadow and Bone and Six of Crow Grishaverse fantasy novels, from Bird Box writer Eric Heisserer and I Am Not Okay With This, created by The End of the F***king World’s Jonathan Entwistle and Christy Hall.

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• The wildly successful and first-of-its-kind mystery docuseries Unsolved Mysteries is being revived by the original creators (Cosgrove/Meurer Productions) along with the producers of Stranger Things (21 Laps).
• This modern take on the classic series will maintain the chilling feeling viewers loved about the original, while also telling the stories through the lens of a premium Netflix documentary series. Each episode will focus on one mystery and once again will look to viewers to help aid investigators in closing the book on long outstanding cases.
• Terry Dunn Meurer is showrunning this all-new version of the show she co-created with fellow EP John Cosgrove.
• Shawn Levy and Josh Barry are executive producing for 21 Laps.
• The original Unsolved Mysteries ran for 11 seasons and 260 episodes chronicling over 1,000 stories, and received six Emmy nominations.
• Episodes: 12 episodes
• Unsolved Mysteries is a Netflix production.
• Co-Creator / Showrunner / Executive Producer: Terry Dunn Meurer
• Co-Creator / Executive Producer: John Cosgrove
• Executive Producers: Shawn Levy, Josh Barry
• Co-Executive Producer / Showrunner: Robert Wise

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Agreed. Nothing will ever hold up against the original. The original had a uniqueness to it with the creepy music/atmosphere and the re-enactments, and obviously Robert Stack was so perfect that it’s impossible to put someone else in that role and expect to have it be nearly as good. From that perspective I understand why the new version won’t have a host/narrator, but I do feel you’re right that this will wind up another generic true crime series that won’t stand out from the pack.

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“Mystery on the Rooftop,” directed by Marcus A. Clarke:
The body of newlywed Rey Rivera was found in an abandoned conference room at Baltimore’s historic Belvedere Hotel in May 2006, eight days after he mysteriously disappeared. While the Baltimore Police maintained that the 32-year-old committed suicide by jumping from the hotel’s roof, the medical examiner declared Rey’s death “unexplained.” Many, including his devastated wife, Allison, suspect foul play.

“13 Minutes,” directed by Jimmy Goldblum:
Patrice Endres, 38, mysteriously vanished from her Cumming, Georgia, hair salon in broad daylight, during a 13-minute timeframe, leaving behind her teenage son, Pistol. Patrice’s disappearance intensified the existing tensions between Pistol and his stepfather as they dealt with the loss and searched for answers.

“House of Terror,” directed by Clay Jeter:
In April 2011, French police discovered the wife and four children of Count Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès buried under the back porch of their home in Nantes. Xavier, the family patriarch, was not among the dead and nowhere to be found. Investigators gradually pieced together clues and a timeline that pointed to Xavier as a devious, pre-meditate killer. For instance, they now know that shortly before the crimes occurred, Xavier inherited a gun that was the same model as the murder weapon.

“No Ride Home,” directed by Marcus A. Clarke:
Alonzo Brooks, 23, never returned home from a party he attended with friends in the predominantly white town of La Cygne, Kansas. A month later, a search party led by his family locates Alonzo’s body — in an area that law enforcement had already canvassed multiple times.

“Berkshire’s UFO,” directed by Marcus A. Clarke:
On September 1, 1969, many residents in Berkshire County, Massachusetts were traumatized by a sighting of a UFO. Eyewitnesses — many just children at the time — have spent their lives trying to convince the world that what they saw was real.

“Missing Witness,” directed by Clay Jeter:
At age 17, a guilt-ridden Lena Chapin confessed to helping her mother dispose of her murdered stepfather’s body four years prior. In 2012, Lena was issued a subpoena to testify against her mother in court, but the authorities were never able to deliver the summons — because Lena had disappeared, leaving behind a young son.

The reboot uses re-enactments and interviews to retell the circumstances of, well, mysteries that are unsolved. Covering crimes, tales of lost love, unexplained history and paranormal events, viewers are encouraged to call in with information that might solve the mystery.

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