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All the way back in the halcyon days of 2025, there was a show on Netflix called Stranger Things. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, better known as The Duffer Brothers, the show was an enormous hit for the streamer, and ended with a great final episode that everyone loved. Just kidding! Anyway, the point here is that hot on the heels of the finale of the blockbuster series, Netflix has been engaging in a little game every other streamer and network has been playing for the past decade, to try and recreate the sensation with a new series… And that includes the Duffer Brothers, who may just have done the impossible with the new show The Boroughs.
In fact, in the wake of the end of Stranger Things, rather than sitting on their hands, the Duffers have released a non-stop barrage of shows hoping to fill the gap left by saying goodbye to Hawkins, Indiana. In March, they launched Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, a show created by Haley Z. Boston and executive-produced by the Duffers that goes far more surreal than Stranger Things but at least in terms of set dressing and style evokes some of the ‘80s flair, and certainly delves into horror. Call it Stranger Things adjacent, rather than a replacement.
Far more overt was April’s offering, the animated spin-off Stranger Things: Tales From '85, created by Eric Robles and EP-ed, again, by the Duffers. Set between Seasons 2 and 3 of the main series, Tales From '85 depicts a previously unseen adventure from the kids in the main show, and has already been renewed for a second season. Even with the near-identical DNA, it’s hard to say Tales From '85 is the next Stranger Things, as it's an extension of the brand, rather than something that feels fresh and/or new.
Keeping it old school
Well, now we're in May, and it's time to see if Netflix and the Duffer Brothers will get strike three, or hit it out of the park with The Boroughs. Once again, the Duffers are Executive Producers of the show, not the creators – that would be Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. Starring a bevy of name actors, including Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Jena Malone, Clarke Peters, and more, the casting flips the script from, "Hey, that's '80s icon Winona Ryder with a bunch of kids" to "Oops! All icons!"
In the series, Molina stars as Sam, a new widower who moves to the expansive retirement community of the title. It's already weird as Sam's daughter, Claire (Jena Malone), drives the former engineer to a remote spot in the middle of the desert against his will, though he quickly warms to his quirky neighbors; from the overly friendly Jack (Pullman) to the energetic art teacher Renee (Davis) and former investigative journalist Judy (Woodard). Oh, and also, there's a horrific monster that's stalking the grounds, killing the residents.
It's hard not to explicitly think of Stranger Things while watching The Boroughs, from an opening shot of someone riding a bicycle to a final scene that evokes one of the more memorable moments in the original season of the series. In between, the monster itself, while not an exact copy of the Demogorgon, has stretched limbs and a disturbing mouth that indicates if they don’t have the exact same genesis, they at least might be in the same phylum.
Stranger danger
Far more evocative of Stranger Things, though, is the scrappy, breezy nature of the dialogue and how Addiss and Matthews approach the series. Unlike the purposefully off-putting intensity of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, The Boroughs has its older actors talk like the gang from Hawkins, and often act more like kids than older adults pushing 80. They run around the community getting into trouble, come up with goofy inventions, and Sam is outfitted like a large child rather than a man getting on in years. That's also very much the point of the show: even when you're older, you still have plenty of life left, and don’t just need to be shoved out of the way. But seeing everyone jam into a van that might as well be driven by Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) makes it hard not to label this show Older Things and call it a day.
The bigger question is whether the formula to get the next Stranger Things is to do Stranger Things But Old. And the answer to that question will very much be determined over the next few weeks after the show debuts. Will it capture the national imagination with its bubbling mysteries and clear nod to a bigger mythology? Or will it merely pop to the top of the Netflix charts for a week before fading away into the algorithm like so many other series before it? Netflix, it should be noted, doesn't have the best track record with quirky sci-fi ideas (see The Society, Archive 81, 1899… The list goes on and on), though perhaps the Duffers are the secret sauce that will make it work.
Ultimately, though, if The Boroughs does become a hit and continue, it can't coast on the Stranger Things association forever, and neither can The Duffers. Sure, they've got an in-development live-action spin-off, as well as the second season of Tales From '85. But extracting some of the DNA from the series and handing it to other creators (including themselves) will only go so far. Because the real trick to creating the next Stranger Things isn't to remake the show with old folks… It's to craft something that feels as fresh and new and exciting as ST did way back in 2016, when it debuted. You know: by remixing ideas from the '80s.
The Boroughs is streaming now on Netflix. For more, check out our list of the new TV shows still to come this year, or fill out your watchlist with the Best shows on Netflix.
