Shows like Stranger Things: 12 shows and films to watch if you liked the show
Guide · Similar series · After the ending
Are you looking for a show like Stranger Things? The void after the last episode is real. Here are twelve series and films that share something with the show: kids on bikes, a small town, a monster, the 80s, or simply the pleasure of being afraid together. Ranked by what you are looking for.
The essentials
- For the 80s and the kids: Super 8, It, Paper Girls
- For the small town and the mystery: Dark, Twin Peaks, Locke & Key
- For teenage horror: Fear Street, Goosebumps, Wednesday
- For the group of friends: The Umbrella Academy, Sweet Tooth, The Goonies
Contents
For the 80s and the kids' party
Super 8, by J.J. Abrams, is the closest film: 1979, kids shooting a movie with a camera, a train that derails, a creature and a government that lies. It, in two films, adapts the Stephen King novel that inspired the show most: kids from a small town facing a monster, on bikes, in 1989. Paper Girls, a one-season series, follows four 1988 paper girls caught in a time war, with the same taste for bikes and walkies.
| Title | Format | What it shares | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super 8 | Movie, 2011 | The children, the creature, 1979 | Everyone, from age 12 |
| It | Two films, 2017 and 2019 | Stephen King, the party, the monster | From 16 |
| Paper Girls | Series, 1 season | 1988, the bikes, the girls | From 12 |
| Dark | Show, 3 seasons | The small town, the cave, the mystery | Adults |
| Twin Peaks | Show, 3 seasons | The town, the hidden evil, the supernatural | Adults |
| Locke & Key | Show, 3 seasons | The house, the keys, the siblings | From 12 |
| Fear Street | Film trilogy | Teen horror, 1994, 1978, and 1666 | From 16 |
| Goosebumps | Series, 2023 | Teen horror, in a small town | From 10 |
| Wednesday | Series, 2 seasons | The teenager set apart, the mystery, the humor | From 12 |
| The Umbrella Academy | Series, 4 seasons | The group with powers, the family | From 14 |
| Sweet Tooth | Show, 3 seasons | The child set apart, the journey, the gentleness | From 10 |
| The Goonies | Movie, 1985 | The group, the treasure hunt, the reference | All |
The logo T-shirt, for the nostalgia.
In the shopWomen's Visit Hawkins Indiana T-shirt39,90 €See the product
For the small town and the mystery
Dark, a German series, is the most demanding: a small town, a cave, children who disappear in 2019 and in 1986, and a time plot you have to follow with a notebook. It is to the show what the novel is to the short story. Twin Peaks, the ancestor, invented the small town where everyone is hiding something and the evil that lives in the forest. Locke & Key, more family-friendly, follows siblings in a house full of magic keys and demons.
Dark, not to missIf you only watch one, it is Dark: the same starting point, a child missing in a small town, and an ambition few shows have had. Three seasons, a written ending, and 1986 as a key year, one year before this show's last season.
For teenage horror
Fear Street, a trilogy of films released in three weeks in 2021, adapts R.L. Stine for older teens: a cursed town, killers, in 1994, 1978, and 1666. Goosebumps, the 2023 series, does the same for the younger ones, with humor. Wednesday, finally, shares with the show a girl apart, a boarding school full of secrets and a monster, with the same taste for irony.
For the group of friends and the powers
The Umbrella Academy follows seven adopted children with powers, become broken adults, who have to prevent the end of the world: the idea of Eleven and her laboratory "brothers and sisters," pushed to the end. Sweet Tooth is gentler: a half-deer child crosses a collapsed world with a gruff giant, like Eleven with Hopper. And The Goonies, the 1985 film, remains the matrix: a party, a treasure, tunnels, and Sean Astin, the future Bob.
Where to start
Through Super 8 to get the tone back, through Dark to get the ambition back, through It to get King back, through Fear Street to get the fear back. And through The Goonies to understand where it all comes from.
The Bob figure, the Goonie.
In the shopLego Jonathan Byers mini figure14,90 €See the product
The recap table: what to watch, depending on what you liked
| If you liked | Watch | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The 1983 group on bikes | Super 8, It, Paper Girls | Children facing the inexplicable, in the 70s and 80s |
| The small town and its secrets | Twin Peaks, Dark | A disappearance, a forest, and a town that lies |
| The lab and the powers | Charlie, The New Mutants, The OA | Children or young people the state manufactured |
| The teen horror of 1986 | Fear Street, Goosebumps, Wednesday | High school, the monsters, and a tone that accepts fear |
| the Upside Down | Dark, The Twilight Zone | A double world, a dimension next door |
| Steve, Robin and the comedy | Goosebumps, Wednesday | Unlikely duos in the fantastic |
What no other show replaces
No show has done exactly what this one has done: follow the same children for ten years, from twelve to sixteen on screen and from twelve to twenty-two in life, and tell a story that grows with them. Super 8 is a movie; It, two; Paper Girls was canceled after one season; Dark finished in three. The length, and the loyalty of the cast, are what fans miss most since December 31, 2025.
That is why the best substitute is often the show itself, rewatched in order after the finale: the 1983 die roll, the Christmas slug, the shadow above the middle school take on another meaning when you know the briefcase. And for those who want to stay in Hawkins without rewatching, the animated series Tales From 1985, released in April 2026, is the only one to have the same group.
By age, for families
For the youngest, who loved the show but remain too little for season 4, Goosebumps and the animated series Tales From 1985 are the two gentlest doors, with monsters and tension without the images of the last seasons. For teenagers, Fear Street, more gory, and Wednesday, lighter, frame teen horror well. For adults, Dark asks for attention, and Twin Peaks, for patience.
And for the whole family, the films the show cites, E.T., The Goonies, Back to the Future, The NeverEnding Story, remain the best way to understand where Hawkins comes from, and to share the nostalgia the Duffers put in every shot.
The complete-series poster.
In the shopDark brick alphabet wall backdrop24,90 €See the product
TakeawaySuper 8 and It: the 80s and Stephen King. Dark: the small town and the ambition. Fear Street and Goosebumps: teen horror. The Goonies: the matrix of everything.
Frequently asked questions
What series is most like Stranger Things?
Dark, German series: a small town, a vanished child, a cave, and 1986 as a key year. More demanding, but of the same blood.
What film is like Stranger Things?
Super 8, by J.J. Abrams: children in 1979, a creature and a government that lies. And It, for Stephen King.
What series for kids who liked Stranger Things?
Goosebumps (2023), Sweet Tooth and Locke & Key, less frightening and just as adventurous.
Is there a French show like Stranger Things?
No true equivalent; the closest series are German (Dark) and American.
Which series has the same group of characters as Stranger Things?
Only the animated series Tales From 1985, released in April 2026, finds Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Eleven and Max again, in 1985, with the same characters.
What series is like the Upside Down?
Dark, with its double worlds and its forest, and The Twilight Zone, for the idea of a dimension next to ours.