Stranger Things is a hard series to emulate because it combines so many different genres and storytelling components into one special package. The Netflix series started out as a nostalgic tribute to 1980s science fiction as the fictional town of Hawkins becomes the center of mystery and intrigue and the home of an alternate dimension. Future seasons have added romance, horror, adventure, and comedy elements. When you take into account every element of Stranger Things, you get a show that has been taken from dozens of others and inspired future programs.
We’ve already had to wait over two years since the last season of the show (which had waited three years between seasons three and four.) The long hiatuses the show indulges in asks for a lot of patience from fans. We have you covered, though. If you love Stranger Things, you can count on these similar shows to at least bide the time until the show’s fifth and final season arrives sometime in 2025. These are the shows like Stranger Things you’ll love.
The Walking Dead (2010)
Dead Boy Detectives (2024)
Dead Boy Detectives is one of the biggest what-if series on Netflix. Given only one season to grow, this supernatural teen drama follows two dead high school students who investigate crimes as ghosts. Much like Stranger Things, the show engages with parallel universes and adolescent angst. Jayden Revri and George Rexstrew are underrated in the roles of the two protagonists. If you want a quick binge, this show works well.
Safe (2018)
Safe is one of the best mystery series on Netflix based on author Harlan Coben’s novels. Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame plays a dad in search of his daughter. This storyline is identical to the one from season one of Stranger Things in which Joyce Byers turns Hawkins upside down trying to find her son, Will. Safe is able to slowly reveal secrets about its main characters as the investigation gets bigger and bigger. Hall is his typical superstar self in the main role.
Dark (2017)
Dark is like if the first season of Stranger Things was extended into three. This German mystery drama investigates missing children and the implications of their absence on the families in the town. The show eventually brings time travel and different timelines into the equation to make for a complex, entertaining, and thought-provoking series that often surpasses the ambition in Stranger Things. It is perfect viewing for the Halloween season.
Outer Range (2022)
Outer Range is not only similar to Stranger Things, but its Western elements make it a parallel show to Yellowstone, too. Starring Josh Brolin and Imogen Poots, the story tells of a ranch that is invaded by a black hole and the ramifications of an alternate realm on the small town it’s set in. Not many shows combine fantasy, science fiction, and Western into one. Outer Range is a unique show that deserved more time on Amazon Prime Video to flourish.
The OA (2016)
The OA is about a woman who impacts her small town in a variety of ways after being gone missing for years. Much like Eleven on Stranger Things, Prairie has a mysterious past that becomes the focus of the plot of the series. The tone and fantastic female lead performance make The OA another one of Netflix’s best series that was cut down way too soon.
The Twilight Zone (1959)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer revolutionized fantasy and adventure series on TV in the late 1990s. Sarah Michelle Gellar paved the way for Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things as the kickass female heroin who goes after the forces of evil in her hometown in California. The parallels in the age of the characters, the high school setting, the use of alternate dimensions, the importance of friendship, and occasional levity make both series vital viewing for those who love supernatural fiction on the small screen.
