You Just Beat Vecna—What’s Next? Dive Into the Best Sci-Fi, Horror, and ’80s Nostalgia TV Has to Offer.
Since its debut in 2016, Stranger Things has been a cultural lightning bolt, igniting a global love affair with ’80s nostalgia, government conspiracies, and supernatural thrills. The Duffer Brothers revitalized genre storytelling by taking familiar sci-fi tropes—alternate dimensions, telekinetic children, coded experiments—and presenting them with youthful charm and Spielbergian wonder.
But as beloved as Hawkins remains, the sci-fi television landscape has evolved dramatically over the past decade. While Stranger Things is wrapping up its epic saga, there are other shows that have not only matched its popularity but have experimented even further with genre form, pushing philosophical boundaries, challenging audience perception, and raising the emotional stakes of sci-fi storytelling.
If you’re a fan looking for your next all-consuming binge, here are 10 essential shows to watch once you’ve recovered from the Stranger Things finale.
10. Dark
Dark is arguably the most intricately constructed sci-fi series in television history. This German masterpiece is a puzzle-box narrative where the disappearance of children in a small town reveals the interconnected and bleak pasts of four families across multiple generations through a complex, supernatural-infused mystery.
While Stranger Things takes inspiration from ’80s genre classics, Dark uses time travel not as spectacle but as a profound metaphysical instrument. It explores determinism, free will, moral responsibility, and the cyclical nature of human suffering, all while maintaining a story that demands meticulous attention. What sets Dark apart is its emotional gravity; it is a family tragedy stretched across generations. The constant revelation of identities—characters discovering they are their own paradoxes—pushes the story into mind-bending territory rarely seen on TV.
Stream on Netflix
9. The Umbrella Academy
For fans who love the dynamic of a dysfunctional group of super-powered young people navigating apocalyptic threats, The Umbrella Academy is your next obsession. The series follows seven adopted siblings who reunite after the death of their eccentric billionaire father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves.
While the kids of Hawkins are bound by friendship and circumstance, the Hargreeves siblings are united by shared trauma, fame, and a deeply strange upbringing. They must overcome their fractured relationships to solve the mystery of their father’s death and, more urgently, to prevent a series of impending apocalypses threatening to end the world through complex timelines, time travel, and cosmic conspiracies.
Stream on Netflix
8. Arcane
Though it’s rooted in the world of League of Legends, Arcane transcends adaptation expectations and stands as one of the most compelling sci-fi/steampunk hybrids ever produced. Visually, the show is epoch-defining; its painterly 3D animation blends hand-drawn textures with unparalleled kinetic energy.
The story centers on the conflict between the wealthy, utopian city of Piltover and the oppressed undercity of Zaun, driven by arcane technology. We follow the lives of two sisters, Vi and Powder (Jinx), who become estranged due to escalating tension and trauma. The real power of Arcane lies in its layered narrative about class, technology, and family, merging science, magic, and political rebellion.
Stream on Netflix
7. 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! In Locke & Key, the three Locke siblings and their mother move into their ancestral home, Keyhouse, after their father is murdered. They discover the house is full of magical keys that unlock both incredible powers and deeply buried secrets connected to their father’s death. This series is perfect for fans who enjoy a supernatural mystery where family secrets and discovery are central to the plot.
Stream on Netflix
6. Love, Death & Robots
Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology series that thrives precisely because of its experimental range. Executive produced by Tim Miller and David Fincher, each self-contained episode explores a different corner of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy, all with diverse and stunning animation styles.
Anthology series rarely maintain consistent quality, but this one is an exception. The show’s structure allows creators to push far beyond what mainstream sci-fi typically attempts, exploring provocative, violent, erotic, or philosophical ideas about artificial intelligence, cosmic horror, and dystopian futures. Where Stranger Things stays rooted in a single aesthetic, Love, Death & Robots travels across infinite possible ones.
Stream on Netflix
5. Westworld
Westworld is a spectacular example of sci-fi ambition pushed to its philosophical limit. This series follows the conflict that arises in a futuristic, high-tech amusement park—themed as the Wild West—where wealthy guests interact with lifelike androids, or “hosts.” The conflict arises when some hosts gain consciousness, question their reality, and rebel against their creators.
Based on Michael Crichton’s original concept, Westworld transforms a simple “robot theme park gone wrong” premise into a towering meditation on consciousness, identity, and free will, all wrapped in a spectacular, labyrinthine narrative that explores the consequences of unchecked human desire.
Stream on Apple TV
4. Paper Girls
Like Stranger Things, Paper Girls features groups of young protagonists dealing with sci-fi mysteries in the 1980s and expertly taps into that era’s nostalgia. The series follows four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, who, after Halloween in 1988, become unwillingly transported through time after getting caught in a war between feuding factions of time travelers.
While both shows are rooted in the ’80s and feature young heroes, Paper Girls focuses more heavily on the complex female friendships and experiences of its diverse cast as they navigate meeting their adult selves and trying to find a way back home to 1988.
Stream on Prime Video
3. Freaks and Geeks
This may be the only non-sci-fi or fantasy pick on the list, but if you love the dynamic between the kids, teens, and parents of Stranger Things, Freaks and Geeks is essential. This beloved coming-of-age comedy-drama chronicles the lives of sister and brother Lindsay and Sam Weir as they navigate high school and the universal struggles of adolescence in suburban Michigan during the early 1980s.
Stranger Things creators have stated that Freaks and Geeks was a key inspiration for the show’s teen and high school scenes. Both shows feature parallel storylines for a younger “geeky” group and a rebellious older sibling group, and both perfectly capture the feeling of being an outsider in the 1980s.
Stream on Paramount+ and Prime Video
2. The X-Files
Before Stranger Things existed, The X-Files laid the essential groundwork for nearly all modern paranormal-conspiracy storytelling. FBI agents Fox Mulder (the believer) and Dana Scully (the skeptic) investigate unexplained cases—the “X-Files”—which range from “monster-of-the-week” stories to an overarching alien conspiracy mythology.
Many of the tropes that Stranger Things uses (secret labs, telekinetic experiments, shadowy government agents) are direct descendants of X-Files mythology. The core of the show is the dynamic between the two partners, which is central to its “believe vs. debunk” premise and shaping the blueprint for serialized sci-fi mystery.
Stream on Hulu
1. Severance
Severance is one of the most original sci-fi concepts of the century. This chilling psychological thriller asks what happens when workers voluntarily undergo a surgical procedure to separate their work memories from their personal lives. This creates two distinct versions of themselves: an “innie” who knows nothing of the outside world, and an “outie” who has no memory of their time at work.
While Stranger Things explores the horror of the unknown, Severance explores the horror of capitalism’s dehumanizing potential. Stylistically, the show’s sterile retro-futurist design creates an atmosphere of uncanny dread, and its narrative precision ensures that every detail deepens the mystery and every emotional beat lands with chilling accuracy.
