One of the most anticipated TV events of the year has arrived – well, at least the first part of it – and with it comes the return of our favorite monster-fighting '80s teens. It was a long three years of waiting, but Stranger Things the fifth season has begun. The only shame is that it comes out in three volumes. While we would all like to see the final season air immediately, we must be patient.
To ease the pain of sitting still through this intense seasonal storyline, here are 10 shows worth watching. Netflix while you're waiting for the next one Stranger Things batch to reset.
10
Alice in the Borderlands
Fans Stranger Things, Squid gameand you'll like the manga Alice in the Borderland. The series offers a gripping mystery with the same psychological depth, action and tension.
The Japanese sci-fi thriller follows an obsessive gamer and his two friends who find themselves trapped in a parallel version of Tokyo, only this one is strange and desolate. To survive, the teenagers will have to compete against each other in a series of dangerous, sadistic, high-stakes games. This action-packed survival drama is adapted from the manga of the same name by Haro Aso. The third and final season will be released in September 2025.
9
We're all dead
If you haven't seen this gem of a series yet, get ready to meet your next obsession. In this story about a group of children fighting for their lives, there is one creepy favorite story of mine: zombie. It doesn't matter if they're in a movie or a TV series. I'm looking.
We're all dead is a cataclysmic coming-of-age story about a group of students hell-bent on surviving a zombie outbreak at their school. The South Korean series, based on Joo Dong Geun's webtoon, is full of bloodthirsty action and is so popular that Netflix has renewed it for a second season.
Season 1 We're all dead was such an international success, it became one of Netflix's top ten most-watched non-English language series of all time after reaching the top ten in over 90 countries.
8
Archive 81
An intriguing story, atmospheric and psychological horror and a found-footage-style mystery? Yes, all eight episodes are waiting for me!
Based on the podcast of the same name. Archive 81 The story follows a young archivist who takes a job restoring damaged videotapes. When a mysterious company hires him to recover footage from a grad student's 1994 documentary project about a burned-out apartment building, our archivist finds himself embroiled in a maelstrom of mystery surrounding a missing filmmaker and a documented demonic cult. I believe in Hawkins they call that Sunday.
7
Dark
This is not just another missing child story. IN Darkthe missing child is the impetus for a sinister, mind-bending, time-twisting story rather than its center. The three-season thriller combines domestic family drama with time travel, creating a much larger journey than Upside Down.
After a child disappears, four German families frantically search for answers, uncovering a heartbreaking mystery that spans three generations. What I like about Dark is that we immediately find ourselves embroiled in a mysterious conspiracy, time travel, and a handful of people suddenly become aware of a supernatural phenomenon plaguing their town. It's really familiar, but keep in mind that this series is very different from the show. Stranger Things.
6
Dead Boys Detectives
Even though, you know, they're dead and all, supernatural teenagers solving mysteries in Dead Boys Detectives have a lot more fun and a lot less threat than our Hawkins crew.
The action takes place in the same universe as Neil Gaiman's. SandmanThe series follows two teenage ghosts who decide not to go to the afterlife, but instead stay on Earth and investigate supernatural crimes with a psychic. That's the plan—at least until a powerful witch sticks her nose where it doesn't belong and complicates their plan to stop the forces that are keeping their ghostly brothers from ascending.
5
Locke and Key
If you can get close Stranger Things with an open mind you are certainly capable of investing in Locke and Keythe story of a family living in a house filled with magical keys that distort reality.
Three-season horror series by Joe Hill (NOS4A2) and Gabriel Rodriguez are based on the comic book of the same name. It follows a mother and her three children as they move into their late patriarch's childhood home in Massachusetts. In the House of Keys, children find a variety of keys that can be used to open doors in a variety of ways. However, they soon learn that they are not the only ones possessed – a demonic entity is hunting them for evil purposes.
4
Mortal
While Hawkins' team didn't have much of a choice when it came to fighting upside-down monsters like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, things were different for the kids in the film. Mortalwhich means mortal in French.
In this two-season supernatural series, teenagers Sofiane and Victor make a pact with a voodoo god in exchange for extraordinary superpowers that will help them solve the murder of Sofiane's brother and take revenge. Victor is given the ability to read minds, and Sofian can manipulate people's actions. When they seek the help of a voodoo practitioner to free themselves from God's grip, they realize what they should have known all along—they saw it coming.
3
Raising Dion
If you like how Stranger Things splits its time between storylines across multiple generations of Hawkins adults and children, you'll love it Raising Dion.
This two season science fiction series revolves around the evolution and emergence of a young child's superpowers, but focuses on his mother and her efforts. As a widow, Dion's mother tries to harness her son's remarkable abilities while protecting him from those who would surely take advantage of him and his abilities if they knew. As she investigates the origins of her son's powers, as well as the mysterious circumstances surrounding her husband's death, dangers arise when a mysterious force stalks her son.
2
Safe
America's Favorite Serial Killer (Michael C. Hall, Dexter) stars in Safean eight-part mystery-drama miniseries that is also Harlan Coben's first film for Netflix.
Tom (Hall) is a widowed surgeon struggling to raise his two daughters in the year following the death of his wife – their mother. Although he is currently dating a police detective and his family lives in a gated community with family and friends nearby, that doesn't mean their lives are on the right track. When Tom's eldest daughter and her boyfriend go missing, he enlists his girlfriend's help. As their investigation intensifies, Tom uncovers dark secrets and learns more than he ever imagined about the people closest to him in his wealthy neighborhood.
1
Umbrella Academy
Heavy thematic element Stranger Things is the unification of a dysfunctional family to achieve a common goal. This is exactly what the unique Hargreeves clan does. Umbrella Academybased on the comic book series by Gerard Way.
While we're not hanging out in the '80s, we start there, with seven inexplicably born babies adopted by a billionaire industrialist and then transformed and groomed by him to save the world. A family falls apart after their differing personalities and abilities break their bond as teenagers, but after their father's death they reunite to find out what really happened to him. In four seasons, Umbrella Academy features witty dialogue, as well as extremely impressive visuals and a decent soundtrack. Sound familiar?
There's plenty more to help you stay connected. Stranger Things between volume releases. Stay in the weirdness of 1987 and see what movies and TV shows the characters will watch. If you want to go back to 2025, be sure to visit December Netflix releases.
