What To Watch
14 Shows Like Stranger Things to Fulfill Your Nostalgic Sci-Fi Needs
Since moving to Hawkins isn’t an option.
Jan. 29, 2026
14 Best Shows Like Stranger Things to Fulfill Your Nostalgic Sci-Fi Needs - Netflix Tudum
Our favorite monster-fighting 1980s teenagers have faced their final foe, bringing a beloved sci-fi series to an end. All five seasons of Stranger Things are now available to stream on Netflix. Repeat viewings are certainly recommended, but it’s a sad fact that there are more hours in the days (and years) than there are hours of the series, so you may find yourself needing something to fill the Demogorgon-shaped hole in your viewing schedule.
These suggested shows all share elements with the series, be it teen sleuthing, creature fighting, mind-bending mystery, or supernatural elements. You know, all the good stuff. So grab your dice, roll for initiative, and get ready for new adventures with these shows like Stranger Things.
Alice in Borderland
The Dungeons & Dragons Hellfire Club has nothing on the Japanese teens of Alice in Borderland, who find themselves in a parallel Tokyo where they have to compete in a series of games to survive. Season 3 of the survival drama, adapted from Haro Aso’s manga, is streaming now.
The A List
Dustin’s time at Camp Know Where was a walk in the park compared to the teens visiting Peregrin Island. A seemingly normal summer camp with cabins, games, and teenage antics turns sinister when Mia (Lisa Ambalavanar), who is used to being the queen bee of any clique, meets her match in Amber (Ellie Duckles), an intense and odd girl who seems to have an unnatural sway over the minds of their fellow campers.
All of Us Are Dead
What is it about teenage life and zombies that goes so well together? Here’s another story about students fighting for their lives amid a virus outbreak — like the Hawkins teens constantly fighting multiple different creatures (not to mention the government conspiracy against them). The South Korean sci-fi series has been renewed for Season 2, so brace yourself for even more bloodthirsty action.
Archive 81
When a young archivist takes a job restoring damaged videotapes, he gets pulled into the vortex of a mystery involving a missing director and a demonic cult. Or “Sunday,” as they call it in Hawkins.
Dark
We know what you’re thinking. “Another missing child tale?” Not quite. This time-twisting German story is even more of a mind trip than the Upside Down. The official description: “A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations.” Yes, that means time travel, a mysterious conspiracy, and a whole bunch of people who suddenly learn about a supernatural phenomenon plaguing their town. Sound familiar?
Dead Boy Detectives
These supernatural, mystery-solving teens have a lot more fun than our Hawkins crew, despite the fact that they are, as promised in the title, dead. Set in the world of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, our titular sleuths track down the forces hindering some of their ghost brethren from moving on — all with the help of a few corporeal friends.
Locke & Key
If you’re willing to go along with the concept of the Upside Down, you’re definitely willing to invest in a story about a family living in a house with magical keys that unlock both powers and secrets. Like The Umbrella Academy, Locke & Key is also based on a comic book.
I Am Not Okay With This
Eleven has often enhanced her powers with strong emotions, but for 17-year-old Sydney (Sophia Lillis), it’s the intense emotions that bring out her own strange powers. Living in small-town Pennsylvania with her younger brother and a mother she can’t seem to get along with, Sydney is trying to process her father’s death the previous year. When her best friend starts dating a jock and the neighbor boy starts pursuing her romantically despite her dawning revelations about her own sexuality, her frustrations literally burst out of her in telekinetic ways she can hardly believe and that she doesn’t know how to control.
The Midnight Club
Mike’s elaborate D&D campaigns for his friends usually end with some colossal confrontation with a scary monster. So he might appreciate the devotion to scary stories the teens at Brightcliffe Hospice Care have as they meet every midnight. Set in 1994, a decade after Stranger Things, the dying teens at Brightcliffe have a pact to reach out to each other from beyond the grave and prove there is something after death. And when they start seeing ghosts and other supernatural things, they realize someone who passed away may be reaching out, but they may not be friendly.
Mortel
The Hawkins gang didn’t have much choice when it came time to fight the Demogorgon (or the Mind Flayer, or any other of the Upside Down’s monsters). But the group of French teens in Mortel who make a deal with a voodoo god in order to attain superpowers? They had it coming.
Raising Dion
The plot of this two-season series also involves a young child’s emerging superpowers, though this show centers around a widowed mother attempting to solve the mystery around her son’s abilities (while keeping them hidden from people who would want to take advantage of them). This multigenerational story is perfect for those who love how Stranger Things splits its time between the adult storylines and the kids of Hawkins.
Safe
Harlan Coben’s first Netflix series is about a desperate father searching for his oldest daughter, who has disappeared. Joyce Byers can commiserate.
The Society
If your favorite aspect of Stranger Things is the way you ask yourself, “What is even going on here?” once an episode, then you’ll probably love the mind-bending mystery at the heart of this teen series. A group of teens take off in a bus for a school trip, but are forced to return the same evening when bad weather prevents them from reaching their destination. Once back in town, they find it completely empty with no sign of where their parents and the entire population could have gone, leaving them on their own to both survive and investigate what happened.
The Umbrella Academy
Is there any theme more universal than a dysfunctional family trying to band together in support of a common goal? Because that’s definitely what Stranger Things is about (and, you know, fighting monsters), and it’s also what the Hargreeves kids do in The Umbrella Academy. Plus, there’s a ton of snarky dialogue, impressive effects, and a kick-ass soundtrack, all of which Stranger Things has in spades.
Additional reporting by Ananda Dillon.
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