With Stranger Things ending its phenomenal run in 2025, millions of fans are asking the same question: what do we watch now? That perfect blend of supernatural horror, 80s nostalgia, government conspiracies, and kids-on-bikes adventure doesn’t come around often. But the good news is that television has delivered plenty of shows that capture different pieces of what made Hawkins so special. Whether you’re craving small-town mysteries, time-travel chaos, or ensemble casts fighting monsters, these 16 recommendations will help ease the pain of saying goodbye to Eleven, Mike, and the Party.
1. Dark (Netflix)
If you loved the intricate plotting and mind-bending mysteries of Stranger Things, Dark is your next obsession. This German sci-fi thriller begins with a child disappearing in the small town of Winden, immediately echoing Will Byers’ vanishing. But where Stranger Things gives you monsters and government labs, Dark delivers time travel spanning four interconnected families across three different centuries.
The show is darker, more complex, and demands your full attention—but it rewards viewers with one of the most perfectly plotted narratives in television history. Every detail matters. Every conversation contains clues. By the time the three-season series concludes, you’ll understand why fans call it a masterpiece of storytelling. The emotional core mirrors Stranger Things: parents desperately searching for missing children, friendships tested by impossible circumstances, and the question of whether we can change our fates or if everything is predetermined.
Where to watch: Netflix (3 seasons, complete)
2. The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
For fans who loved the supernatural powers and dysfunctional-family-becomes-found-family dynamics of Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy delivers in spades. Seven adopted siblings with extraordinary abilities reunite after their father’s death and discover they have eight days to prevent the apocalypse.
The show balances dark humor with genuine emotional stakes, features an incredible soundtrack (just like Hawkins), and isn’t afraid to get weird with time travel, alternate timelines, and a talking goldfish assassin. The sibling dynamics mirror the Party’s relationships—bickering, loyalty, inside jokes, and the understanding that nobody else gets what you’ve been through. Five (the time-traveling assassin stuck in a teenager’s body) gives off serious Eleven energy: powerful, traumatized, and fiercely protective of his family.
Where to watch: Netflix (4 seasons, complete)
3. The Last of Us (Max)
While The Last of Us isn’t set in the 80s and doesn’t involve government labs, it absolutely nails the core emotional relationship that made Stranger Things work: a gruff protector bonding with a powerful kid against impossible odds. Joel and Ellie’s relationship mirrors Hopper and Eleven’s journey—two damaged people finding family in each other while the world falls apart around them.
The show features genuinely terrifying creatures (the Cordyceps-infected humans rival Demogorgons in nightmare fuel), explores survival in a broken world, and delivers gut-wrenching emotional moments that will leave you devastated. If you loved how Stranger Things balanced monster horror with human connection, The Last of Us perfects that formula.
Where to watch: Max (2 seasons, Season 3 in production)
4. Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix)
This 2024 Netflix series is criminally underrated and delivers everything Stranger Things fans crave: supernatural mysteries, kids (well, ghosts) solving cases, found family dynamics, and genuinely creepy monsters. Edwin and Charles are two teenage ghosts who skip their appointment with Death to stay on Earth solving paranormal crimes.
The show nails that balance between horror and humor, features LGBTQ+ representation (Edwin’s coming-out arc is beautifully handled), and embraces the “kids against monsters” formula with a darker, British twist. The cases range from possessed high schools to demon dimension portals, giving you that same weekly monster-of-the-week structure mixed with season-long mythology. If you loved Dustin and Steve’s unlikely friendship, Edwin and Charles’ partnership will fill that void.
Where to watch: Netflix (1 season)
5. Paper Girls (Prime Video)
Paper Girls is essentially “Stranger Things meets time travel” with an all-girl cast. Set in 1988 Cleveland, four teenage newspaper delivery girls encounter mysterious figures on the morning after Halloween and get swept up in a war between time travelers from different eras.
The 80s aesthetic is impeccable, the young cast (particularly Camryn Jones and Riley Lai Nelet) delivers performances rivaling the Stranger Things kids, and the sci-fi elements are genuinely creative. The show explores themes of identity, growing up, and discovering your future self—literally, as the girls meet their adult versions. Sadly, Amazon canceled it after one season, but those eight episodes provide the perfect binge for anyone missing Hawkins’ retro vibes.
Where to watch: Prime Video (1 season)
6. It: Welcome to Derry (Max)
If the Demogorgon wasn’t scary enough for you, Pennywise the Dancing Clown would like a word. This 2025 prequel to the It films takes place in Derry, Maine in 1962, exploring the origins of the creature that terrorizes the town every 27 years.
The show captures that same small-town-hiding-dark-secrets atmosphere that made Hawkins feel so lived-in. It blends period piece aesthetics with supernatural horror, features kids facing unimaginable evil, and isn’t afraid to go dark. The monster design and practical effects rival Stranger Things‘ best creature work, and the sense of dread permeating every episode will keep you watching through your fingers.
Where to watch: Max (1 season, renewed)
7. Sweet Tooth (Netflix)
For a gentler but no less engaging alternative, Sweet Tooth offers post-apocalyptic fairy tale vibes. A decade after “The Great Crumble” destroyed civilization and caused hybrid human-animal babies to be born, young Gus (a deer-boy hybrid) ventures beyond his forest home to find his mother and discover the truth about his origins.
The show mixes survival horror with heartwarming found family dynamics, features a protector-and-powerful-kid relationship (Gus and Tommy), and explores government conspiracies involving experimental children—all Stranger Things territory. It’s more hopeful than Hawkins ever was, but delivers genuine emotional stakes and explores similar themes about what makes someone a monster.
Where to watch: Netflix (3 seasons, complete)
8. The OA (Netflix)
If you loved Stranger Things‘ weirder moments—Eleven’s sensory deprivation tank sequences, the psychic dimension-hopping, the experimental government programs—The OA goes full weird and never apologizes. Prairie Johnson returns after seven years missing, now calling herself “The OA” and claiming to have been held captive by a scientist conducting near-death experiments.
The show features interdimensional travel, captive children with abilities, and an ensemble of misfits banding together to save reality. It’s more surreal and philosophical than Stranger Things, with interpretive dance sequences that sound ridiculous but become strangely moving. Netflix canceled it after two seasons on a brutal cliffhanger, but those two seasons offer one of the most inventive sci-fi mysteries ever made.
Where to watch: Netflix (2 seasons, canceled)
9. Yellowjackets (Paramount+)
Yellowjackets asks: what if the kids in Stranger Things didn’t have adults to save them? A high school girls’ soccer team’s plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness, and they descend into Lord of the Flies-style savagery to survive. The show toggles between 1996 (the crash and its aftermath) and present day (the adult survivors dealing with the trauma).
It blends survival horror, psychological thriller, and supernatural mystery elements. There’s a creeping dread that something evil was in those woods with them, beyond just starvation and desperation. The ensemble cast is extraordinary, and the show isn’t afraid to get dark—really dark. If you loved Stranger Things‘ willingness to traumatize its characters, Yellowjackets takes that impulse and runs.
Where to watch: Paramount+ (3 seasons, renewed)
10. Locke & Key (Netflix)
After their father’s murder, the Locke siblings move to their ancestral home and discover magical keys that unlock impossible powers—and a demonic entity hunting those keys. Locke & Key nails the family-fighting-supernatural-evil dynamic, features incredible production design (those keys are gorgeous), and balances teen drama with genuine horror.
The show explores grief, trauma, and how families survive tragedy together, just like the Byers family’s journey. The mythology deepens each season, the demon antagonist is genuinely menacing, and the rules governing the keys create satisfying puzzle-box storytelling. It’s lighter than Stranger Things but hits many of the same emotional beats.
Where to watch: Netflix (3 seasons, complete)
11. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who worked on Riverdale) reimagines Sabrina the Teenage Witch as dark supernatural horror, and it’s glorious. Sabrina Spellman navigates her dual nature as half-witch, half-mortal while fighting demons, dark gods, and cosmic threats.
The show features strong ensemble friendships (Sabrina’s “Fright Club” mirrors the Party), battles against authoritarian institutions (the Church of Night vs. Hawkins Lab), and isn’t afraid to kill beloved characters. Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina channels Eleven’s fierce protectiveness, and the show’s gothic aesthetic provides a darker alternative to Stranger Things‘ neon-soaked 80s.
Where to watch: Netflix (4 seasons, complete)
12. The Society (Netflix)
Imagine Stranger Things but all the adults disappear and the kids have to build society from scratch. The Society follows a group of teenagers who return from a canceled field trip to find their entire town empty—no adults, no younger kids, just them.
The show explores power dynamics, morality, survival, and the question of what happens when there are no rules. It blends mystery (where did everyone go?) with social commentary and teen drama. Netflix cruelly canceled it after one season on a massive cliffhanger, but that season provides compelling “kids facing impossible circumstances” storytelling.
Where to watch: Netflix (1 season, canceled)
13. Archive 81 (Netflix)
For fans who loved Stranger Things‘ creeping dread and slow-burn mysteries, Archive 81 delivers pure atmospheric horror. Dan Turner is hired to restore damaged videotapes from 1994, gradually uncovering a supernatural mystery involving a missing filmmaker, a demonic cult, and a cursed apartment building.
The show toggles between past and present as Dan becomes obsessed with solving the mystery and potentially saving the vanished woman. It features found footage elements, occult rituals, and genuinely unsettling imagery. Netflix canceled it after one season (sensing a pattern?), but those eight episodes provide incredibly tense horror-mystery storytelling.
Where to watch: Netflix (1 season, canceled)
14. Station Eleven (Max)
Twenty years after a flu pandemic wipes out most of humanity, a traveling theater troupe performs Shakespeare for the scattered survivors. Station Eleven explores how art, memory, and human connection survive even after civilization collapses.
While tonally different from Stranger Things—more meditative and hopeful—it shares that core belief in the power of found family and storytelling. The ensemble cast is phenomenal, the non-linear narrative is beautifully structured, and the emotional moments hit as hard as anything in Hawkins. If you appreciated Stranger Things‘ heart beneath the horror, Station Eleven provides that in spades.
Where to watch: Max (1 season, limited series)
15. Twin Peaks (Paramount+)
The original small-town-with-dark-secrets mystery that influenced Stranger Things, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks remains essential viewing. When teenager Laura Palmer is found murdered wrapped in plastic, FBI agent Dale Cooper investigates and discovers the town harbors supernatural evil.
The show pioneered the blend of quirky small-town characters, soap opera drama, and genuine horror that Stranger Things perfected decades later. It’s weirder, more surreal, and absolutely haunting. The original two seasons and 2017 revival offer some of television’s most unforgettable moments. If you want to understand where Stranger Things came from, start here.
Where to watch: Paramount+ (3 seasons)
16. The Boroughs (Netflix – 2026)
Coming in 2026 from the Duffer Brothers themselves (the Stranger Things creators), The Boroughs is being described as “the next best thing to Stranger Things.” While details remain scarce, early reports suggest it will feature that signature blend of small-town mystery, supernatural elements, and ensemble storytelling that made Hawkins iconic.
If you trust the Duffers to recapture lightning in a bottle, The Boroughs should be at the top of your 2026 watchlist. It won’t replace Stranger Things, but having the same creative minds behind it suggests it’ll scratch that very specific itch.
Where to watch: Netflix (2026 release)
Finding Your Next Hawkins
No show will perfectly replace Stranger Things—it was lightning in a bottle, arriving at exactly the right cultural moment with perfect casting, iconic music, and a story that balanced horror and heart. But each of these recommendations captures pieces of what made Hawkins special.
Want intricate mysteries? Watch Dark. Craving dysfunctional families saving the world? Try The Umbrella Academy. Need more kids fighting monsters? Dead Boy Detectives has you covered. Missing that 80s aesthetic? Paper Girls delivers.
The beauty of Stranger Things ending is that it ended on its own terms, telling the complete story the Duffers always envisioned. And while we’ll miss Eleven, Mike, and the Party, their legacy lives on in every show that dares to blend supernatural horror with genuine human connection, proving that sometimes the scariest monsters are no match for friendship, family, and a group of brave kids who refuse to give up.
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