Shows like Stranger Things: eight next watches, honestly picked

Stranger Things works because it stacks four things at once: an ensemble you would follow anywhere, a small town hiding a locked door, a mystery that opens one layer per episode, and real warmth under the fright. Almost nothing else stacks all four - but each of these eight gets close in its own way, and several get close enough to binge twice.

The eight

Dark (Netflix, 2017-2020)

A German town, a cave, and children who vanish - then time itself folds and the show becomes the most meticulously plotted puzzle on television. Three seasons, planned end to end, no loose threads. It also opens our supernatural list - it earns both spots.

Paper Girls (Prime Video, 2022)

Four 12-year-old newspaper deliverers in 1988 ride straight into a war between time travellers. The kids-on-bikes energy is the closest here to the real thing, plus a genuinely moving story about who you grow up to be. One perfect season; cancelled early, worth it anyway.

Tales from the Loop (Prime Video, 2020)

A town lives above a machine that makes the impossible possible - and each episode asks what a person would actually do with it. Slow, melancholy, beautiful. Watch it when you want the wonder without the monsters.

The OA (Netflix, 2016-2019)

A blind woman returns after seven years missing, sight restored, and gathers five strangers to hear her story. The most committed mystery-box ever aired; the fandom that exploded when it was cancelled tells you how deeply it lands. Two seasons, one of television's great baton-pass finales.

Locke & Key (Netflix, 2020-2022)

Three kids move into a house full of keys that do impossible things - and something in the well wants them. Family adventure first, horror second. Three seasons, properly finished, endlessly rewatchable.

The Society (Netflix, 2019)

Teens return from a failed trip to find their town copied, empty of adults, and cut off from everything. Lord of the Flies with a mall. Cancelled after one season for pandemic budget reasons - the cliffhanger still stings, the season still earns its place.

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix, 2017-2024)

Seven adopted siblings with powers, a dead father, and an apocalypse to argue about. It has the ensemble chemistry and the needle-drop soundtracks, and unlike most on this list it got a real ending: four seasons.

Twin Peaks (1990-1991, revived 2017)

The granddaddy of them all - the small town with a supernatural wound, the ensemble of oddballs, the red room. Stranger Things is a love letter to it. Watch the original two seasons and let the 2017 return be dessert.

Where to go next

Want the fright turned up? The supernatural starters list is the horror-forward cousin of this page. Animated deep cuts live on evergreen anime. The full catalogue, with verified trailers, is on the browse desk, and if you cannot decide between these, the sixty-second picking method works on shows too.