11 shows like Stranger Things: What to watch alongside season 4

Stranger Things season 4 continues to draw massive audiences at Netflix. In case you need something new to watch once you’re all caught up on the latest season (and waiting anxiously for Stranger Things 5), we’ve compiled a list of 11 shows like Stranger Things.

Stranger Things sees a group of kids in 1980s small-town Indiana facing off against supernatural forces as shadowy government agencies try (and often fail) to handle things quietly behind the scenes. Drawing on classic genre films like The Goonies, Firestarter, Poltergeist, Jaws, and more, Stranger Things is a nostalgic trip through film history, with plucky teens working together to save the day.

How well do you know Stranger Things? Take our quiz to find out!

Read on for our top picks of shows like Stranger Things. And if you haven’t seen the beloved series yet, you can check it out by hitting the link below.

Shows like Stranger Things

Dark

Probably the earliest title to earn a spot among shows like Stranger Things, Dark is another Netflix original series that drew almost immediate comparisons. While there are plenty of differences, it’s not hard to see why people spotted similarities. The show premiered just a year after Stranger Things, and like Stranger Things season 1, Dark follows the disappearance of kids in a supernatural setting. The German original sees two kids going missing at the same time in a small town. The search leads to tensions, reviving decades’ worth of rivalries, secrets, and mysteries.

The OA

Seven years after her mysterious disappearance, a young woman miraculously reappears. Not only has she regained her sight after years of Blindness, but she also now has mysterious powers. As she readjusts to her life, she starts recruiting strangers, convinced that they hold the key to helping her break barriers between different realities in this beautiful, haunting, and strange drama. A Netflix original series, The OA was sadly cancelled after two seasons, meaning it ends on a major, unresolved cliffhanger, but it’s absolutely worth watching nonetheless.

Loki

While it’s a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and thus not entirely like Stranger Things, Loki still shares some thematic and stylistic elements with the Netflix series. It sees the titular antihero held captive by the Time Variance Authority, a shadowy agency that polices multiversal timelines. Full of dark and strange supernatural elements, and more than a little bit of humor, Loki is one of the best MCU shows thus far, and a great choice for fans of Stranger Things.

Check out: What to expect from Loki season 2

The 100

The 100 puts kids in the drivers’ seat, echoing the Goonies-like qualities of Stranger Things in a few ways. In a dystopian future, almost 100 years after humanity has been banished from an inhospitable earth, the residents of a space station of surVivors send 100 youths to the surface to determine whether civilization can flourish once more. Once on the planet, though, the teens come to learn that they may not be alone, and what they thought they knew is all wrong.

The Society

Things take a turn for the weird in the wealthy town of West Ham when everyone but the local teens mysteriously vanishes at once. Now, the surVivors have to come up with new rules, forming their own new society in a modern spin on Lord of the Flies. This Netflix original series blends elements of HBO’s The Leftovers, the classic William Golding novel, and, of course, Stranger Things.

Marvel’s Runaways

A group of teens, some with superpowers, come together to fight a common foe in this Marvel teen drama. The problem is that their enemy happens to be their parents. Growing up as the children of supervillains, they’ve been sheltered from the truth. Now that they know where they come from, they have to choose whether they want to follow in their parents’ footsteps or fight on the side of good, as a team.

See also: A guide to Marvel shows on Hulu

American Horror Story

One of the great pleasures of Stranger Things is spotting the references to other science-fiction and horror movies. That’s also a fun feature of American Horror Story, from creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The anthology series offers up a different spooky story, often in a different genre, from season to season, bringing back recurring cast members in new roles. Fans of Stranger Things may be especially drawn to season 9, or AHS: 1984, set at a sleepaway camp in the 80s.

Parallels

Four childhood friends find themselves struggling to find their way back to each other when they are separated by a mysterious event. Now stuck in different parallel dimensions, they are each faced with unique challenges as they try to get home in this Disney Plus show like Stranger Things.

See also: Everything you can watch on Disney Plus

Riverdale

With hints of Twin Peaks and Stranger Things, Riverdale is the CW’s dark, bizarre, and often absurd reimagining of Archie comics, with its cast of teens getting into all kinds of trouble, sometimes with a supernatural flavor. If you like Riverdale, you may also want to check out Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, another show like Stranger Things, set in the Riverdale universe and focused on the supernatural and witchcraft.

I Am Not Okay with This

Another Netflix original series about a girl with mysterious powers? Sounds like match! I’m Not Okay with This didn’t quite drum up the same interest as Stranger Things on Netflix, but there’s a lot to love about the short-lived show, cancelled after one season. Syd is a regular teen, managing young love, high school hierarchies, and a general sense of angst. That’s all made much harder when she develops superpowers and needs to rein them in to protect herself and those around her.

The Fear Street trilogy

Okay, we’re cheating a little with this one. Fear Street isn’t technically a show. Having said that, it was released in three parts, weekly, a lot like a show. And in that way, we have some room to call it a show like Stranger Things. Not only does it feature performances by Stranger Things stars Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, and Randy Havens, but it also focuses on young people facing off against supernatural forces in the nostalgia-infused horror settings of decades past. Based on the novels of R.L. Stine, each of the three films, released in the summer of 2021, focuses on a different year in the town of Shadyside. Teens fight for their lives as they try to get to the bottom of mystery involving a curse that comes back periodically over hundreds of years.

Check out: The best scary movies on Netflix

Those are our picks of some of the best shows like Stranger Things to check out after season 4.

Are you watching the final season of Stranger Things? What do you think? Does it leave you wanting more? Do you think Netflix might greenlight a Stranger Things season 5? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.