21 Shows Like 'Stranger Things' To Watch Right Now

Alice In Borderland premiered in December of 2020 and immediately had a cult-like following the release of the suspense manga released a few years before that. However, it got a massive boost in viewers when Squid Game came out last year, due to the similarities in concept. If what you love about Stranger Things is the eccentric personalities of the characters and watching how they interact in circumstances where no one is safe, then this is a great option. Dungeons & Dragons isn’t one of the high-stakes games played here, but the games that are played will give you the same level of tension as in many Stranger Things episodes.

American Horror Story is of course an anthology series, but if you’re looking for a little dose of Stranger Things-esque shows, then their ninth season is most definitely worth checking out. It’s called 1984, which is also when it’s set, so there’s one similarity to Stranger Things right off the bat. The show was actually praised for its 80s feel and the homage it pays to great slasher films like Halloween and Friday The 13^th. With that being said, the show does also feature supernatural things like a curse on a small town, which feels like Hawkins, Indiana. 

While there aren’t so many one-to-one comparisons between Black Mirror and Stranger Things, the overall dark tone that many of the episodes of the former have meant that fans of the letter could definitely get interested. Like the aforementioned American Horror Story, Black Mirror is also an anthology, meaning we get a new cast of characters and storyline in every episode. The show plays heavily on themes of technology, sci-fi, and dystopia.

If there’s one group that the Stranger Things crew might remind you of in flashes, then perhaps it’s the Scooby Gang. The Buffy The Vampire Slayer series started airing in the late 90s after the film in 1992 and it made a huge impact on viewers. It’s a supernatural teen drama that has been greatly influential in that genre and no doubt had some direct or indirect impact on Stranger Things. That dose of nostalgia you get for the 80s while watching Stranger Things might also be present here for the 90s.

You’ve likely heard of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but perhaps you’re unfamiliar with this series about the character based on the Archie comic book series of the same name. Like Stranger Things, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is also set in a small, fictional town. The town in question here is named Greendale and it’s hit with horror and witchcraft. Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina, like Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, is tasked with fighting evil at a very young age. How will she handle the weight on her shoulders?

On any list of shows like Stranger Things that you might find online, Dark is the one that’s going to pop up most frequently. It’s a German science fiction thriller that was especially like Stranger Things due to its premise early on but differed a little bit with the route it went. Just like in the Duffer brothers’ show, a child goes missing and the small town where he lives must find out what happened, with a bunch of surprises along the way. Part of the show is set in the 80s.

Apart from the fact that Eerie, Indiana took place in the early 90s as opposed to the 80s, if you got a very short pitch on it, you might mistake it for Stranger Things. The sci-fi elements and the cast of kids make it a great show to try out while you wait until the next part of Stranger Things.

A big part of the appeal of Stranger Things is seeing how big problems impact the small town of Hawkins. For another show with this dynamic, you should definitely check out Fargo, especially its first season. When a few murders happen in Fargo, North Dakota, the police force there must try to figure out why they all happened and chase around suspects, which is interesting in a small town.

In this show which is based on a series of comic books, we see Syd (played by Sophia Lillis) have to balance the trials of being a high school student along with a bunch of family drama.. oh, and having superheroes. Watching Syd deal with all of this on her plate will definitely give you flashbacks of Eleven trying to do the same, especially in some of the later seasons.

Like Stranger Things, Locke & Key features elements of horror, fantasy, and drama all in one great show. Like the previous show, this one is based on a prior comic book series. After the father of a nuclear family dies, the family movies into a house where they find some mysterious keys that can be used in many magical ways. Of course, that brings with it some trouble. There are many elements that’ll remind you of Stranger Things here and especially the concept of the Upside Down.

Outer Range is a show that is centered around a rancher in Wyoming and it blends all of the supernatural elements that you love about Stranger Things with all of the elements of a Western, which is a unique hybrid that’s executed well here. This is somewhat of a minor spoiler, but Royal Abbott finds a large hole near his ranch that is very much like a gateway to the Upside Down. It does feel like an adult version of the show, but maybe that’s something that would draw you to it even more.

Just like Stranger Things, Riverdale is set in a fictional town where we follow a group of teenagers who are trying to wrap their heads around a mystery murder. There’s even a concept in the show that will remind you of the group’s love of Dungeons & Dragons and the Demogorgon specifically, with Gryphons & Gargoyles and the Gargoyle King. With that being said, this show doesn’t dive into the supernatural the same way as the Duffer brothers’ show.

Silverpoint is one of the shows that takes direct inspiration from Stranger Things directly and makes no apologies for it, to a point where it feels like a direct copy. While that might get frowned upon by some, if you’re looking for a show like Stranger Things, maybe that’s exactly what you want. This show features a secret facility, a paranormal phenomenon, a portal, and a group of teenagers with big personalities. The main difference here is that the show doesn’t have the same edge as Stranger Things, but some of the wholesome moments and the overall tone are similar.

This is another anthology series, so the main season you want to focus on is the first one. Each season is centered around a killer whose motive is completely unknown. In the first season which is called The Executioner, Sarah Bennett moves back to her childhood home, where her parents were murdered on Halloween. Unfortunately, the haunting comes full circle and more murders occur when she is home. Sarah Bennett might remind you of Joyce Byers, who is of course played by Winona Ryder.

After disappearing for seven years, a girl returns back to her hometown and the locals are dumbfounded. Not only that, but she’s no longer blind now. The show is about the town finding out what led to her disappearance and along the way, some mysteries unfold. The show went on for two seasons and even got an early appearance for Zendaya, but to the dismay of fans (especially one who went on hunger strike outside Netflix’s LA HQ), it was canceled after that.

In a town where all of the adults have disappeared, a group of adolescents is now in charge of figuring out what has happened and taking care of themselves and each other. Does that ring any bells? Not only that, but now a forest surrounds the entire town, and connection with the outside world is lost. It’s a show with an interesting concept with kids at the forefront, which should give you Stranger Things vibes alone.

As much as you might not realize it, many science fiction shows that are out today would not be able to exist as they do if The Twilight Zone had not come long before them. The series originally aired from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. Since then though, there have been multiple seasons of the show in multiple iterations, the most recent being the fourth season in 2019-2020. The show boasts episodes that are science fiction, horror, fantasy, psychological thriller, and more, which is something that Stranger Things also likes to do.

If you’re looking for something which has the suspense and supernatural themes of Stranger Things with a bit more of a comedic edge, then The Umbrella Academy might just be perfect for you. In 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth despite not being pregnant before that. Some of them are adopted by a billionaire and end up becoming superheroes. If Eleven’s interactions with her ‘siblings’ in her lab and when she meets Eight/Kali are some of your favorite moments from the show, then this is an especially great pick for you.

Like Hawkins, Twin Peaks is a town that has been greatly affected by a sort of rift in dimensions. The small town atmosphere, eerie feeling of the woods and the tone of the show definitely influenced Stranger Things to some extent, so naturally, if you’re a fan of that, you should give this a shot. Some of the characters like James Hurley even feel like older versions of characters like Jonathan Byers.

Westworld is a show that makes you consider how you feel about some uncomfortable topics. It’s 2053 and a theme park for wealthy clients exists. The hosts of the theme park are robots that are incredibly human-like. That isn’t enough of a reason to stop the wealthy clients from murdering and raping them though, which of course brings about a moral dilemma. Things turn up a notch when one robot gains consciousness.

This show is only a few months old but in a very short time, it has gained a cult-like following and fans are very excited to see where things go next. The concept of the show is that a plane carrying high school soccer players crashes and the survivors must fend for themselves. Uniquely though, this is in the past and the show also flashes forward to the present day when we see how things turned out for them all.