What to Watch After Stranger Things Season 5 - Reactor

Much like a Netflix executive, you just finished Stranger Things and have no idea what to do next. Hey, it happens. Watching the end of a beloved long-running show is always a bittersweet moment that leaves you asking if it’s truly possible to fall in love with another series quite so soon.

And while you may eventually be able to move on to something entirely different in the next chapter of your life, the best thing to do right now may be to find some rebound shows and movies that remind you of your beloved in some way. Because you’ve already watched Stranger Things, so may we recommend some better things? I kid. I kid because I love.

Explorers (1985)

The biggest influences on Stranger Things are undoubtedly the movies that have come to be known as “Kids on Bicycles” adventure films. It’s the genre tag used to identify works like E.T., Stand by Me, and The Monster Squad that helped define ‘80s pop culture thanks to their portrayals of latchkey kids getting into adult and supernatural adventures with the help of their preferred mode of transportation. Well, Joe Dante’s 1985 movie Explorers may just be the most underrated example of that genre.

Explorers opens with a teen dreaming of an advanced schematic they can’t quite understand. With help from his friends, he reconstructs that schematic and uses it to slowly construct what turns out to be a spaceship. I won’t spoil what happens next, though I will admit that the film’s finale falls short of its incredible set-up (despite its plethora of Stranger Things-appropriate pop culture references). But it’s that brilliant premise that both invokes some of the best parts of Stranger Things and those irreplaceable moments we spent when we were young knowing that imagination and friendship could make anything possible.

Paper Girls (2022)

Amazon Prime Video’s Paper Girls has proven to be one of the most fascinating series to emerge from the post-Stranger Things boom. Set in 1988 (at least initially) and based on the Brian K. Vaughan comic series of the same name, Paper Girls stars a group of paper deliverers who find themselves caught in the middle of a conflict between various factions of time travelers. 

It’s an ambitious idea that gradually grows into something far more interesting as the girls are forced to confront their own futures (or at least some version of them) during their travels. The series has done an exceptional job of expanding upon its already ambitious premise without compromising the playful charms at the heart of its story. It is perhaps your best post-Stranger Things option, even if the show’s second season is in limbo.

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Traces of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise can be found throughout Stranger Things. The villainous Vecna is partially a Freddy Krueger tribute, Robert Englund joined the show’s cast in season four, and the series is packed with small visual and audio callbacks to the foundational horror movie franchise. While it’s generally a good idea to watch as much Nightmare on Elm Street as possible, it’s Dream Warriors that should shoot to the top of any Stranger Things fan’s watchlist.

One of the greatest horror movie sequels ever made, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 focuses on a group of teenagers at a psychiatric hospital who are soon targeted by Freddy Krueger. However, the teens (aided by Nightmare on Elm Street protagonist Nancy Thompson) gradually begin to realize that they too can utilize powers in their dreams that allow them to fight Freddy. The camaraderie that revelation sparks recalls the “friends battle evil” story at the heart of Stranger Things, while also making Dream Warriors the best X-Men movie ever made that isn’t technically part of the X-Men universe.

Travelers (2016)

Though its connections to Stranger Things are, admittedly, loose, Travelers is quite simply among the best sci-fi shows on Netflix that many haven’t seen. 

This series’ unique set-up revolves around a group of time travelers from the future who are tasked with returning to the past to prevent a series of apocalyptic events. The twist (at least one of them) is that they are forced to take over the bodies of people who are close to death in order to follow a series of directives, which largely prevent them from making unnecessary alterations to the past that could unintentionally compromise the mission. It’s a brilliant and engaging concept that sets up what proves to be a thrilling adventure that often draws from the best elements of Person of Interest and other modern sci-fi masterpieces across three wonderful seasons. 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Dungeons & Dragons has proven to be a surprisingly substantial part of the Stranger Things experience. While there are many swords and sorcery movies that capture the D&D spirit (as well as movies featuring people playing D&D), there are two recommendations in that realm that rise above the pack. 

The first is the 2023 movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (the duo behind the brilliant comedy Game Night), Honor Among Thieves is both genuinely funny and surprisingly genuine in its portrayal of various unlikely adventurers trying their best to come together and complete a quest. The movie does a fantastic job of capturing the unique attributes of its various character classes while accurately portraying the zany chaos that most D&D adventures ultimately result in. 

Critical Role (2015)

Your other, and most substantial, option for a Dungeons & Dragons fix is to start getting into Critical Role. 

What began as a group of voice actors and friends livestreaming their D&D game nights has grown into a phenomenon. Over dozens and dozens of hours of broadcasts, Critical Role shows some of the most engaging D&D players in the world participating in some of the wildest showcases of the tabletop role-playing game’s creative potential. Don’t have quite that much time to fall down this rabbit hole? The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein animated series do an excellent job of condensing and adapting some of these stories. 

Summer of ’84 (2018)

Yes, Summer of ’84 is a pretty on-the-nose recommendation for fans of Stranger Things. It too is a nostalgia-driven “Kids on a Bicycle” horror film that drapes itself in ‘80s references. To be entirely honest, the movie often gets a bit too cute with those references and sometimes comes across as a cheaper imitation of the movies it is paying tribute to rather than something that stands tall on its own. 

But aside from being tailor-made for some Stranger Things fans, there are qualities (both intentional and perhaps otherwise) that elevate this movie. It functions best as a tribute to the pulpy horror YA paperbacks that helped shape ‘80s and ‘90s culture. Even the movie’s posters feel like variants of a Fear Street or Goosebumps book cover. So if you allow yourself to treat this as an expanded, missing Are You Afraid of the Dark? segment, you may be ready to approach it on its terms. 

Tales From the Loop (2020)

Tales From the Loop is based on Simon Stålenhag’s art book of the same name. That wonderful book uses striking visuals and simple pieces of text to create a universe in which characters (largely children) wander through alternate universe landscapes populated by advanced machinery and prehistoric creatures as a result of experiments done at a facility known simply as The Loop. 

You may think that a series that expands on that concept would reveal too much and ruin some of the magic of the mysteries behind those images. You’d be wrong. Set in the fictional town of Mercer, Ohio, Amazon Prime Video’s Tales From the Loop does a remarkable job of showcasing the (relative) origins of that world via a time-bending narrative as smart and emotional as any recent sci-fi series. The adventures of its mostly young protagonists often resemble the Stephen King-esque dark adventuring at the heart of Stranger Things. 

The Vast of Night (2019)

One of the most surprising streaming releases in recent years, The Vast of Night debuted via Amazon Prime Video on May 29, 2020, to little fanfare and unfortunate timing. Set in New Mexico sometime during the 1950s, the movie follows two teens (one who works as a switchboard operator and one who works at a radio station) as they both become aware of a strange audio signal that turns out to be the harbinger of something much bigger. 

While it’s set in the ‘50s rather than the ‘80s, The Vast of Night is one of the best sci-fi love tributes to a particular time and place in recent memory. The atmosphere is compelling and the performances are believable, but the unlikely highlight of the movie is watching its leads utilize the very analog nature of their respective communication devices. It’s one of the greatest uses of the trappings of a period within the confines of a sci-fi story for reasons other than nostalgia. 

Lockwood & Co. (2023)

To get the bad news out of the way, Lockwood & Co. is one of those series that Netflix cancelled after one season despite seemingly respectable viewership numbers and widespread acclaim. The good news is that the show is very much worth watching despite the almost inevitable heartbreak you’ll feel when it ends. 

Lockwood & Co. is set in an alternate version of Britain where the reanimated spirits of the dead have been killing in droves and slowing societal progress to a halt. This incident (which is cheekily referred to as “The Problem”) is only kept in check by a group of teenagers who can see the ghosts and have organized various agencies that offer their invaluable services. The show focuses on the titular agency Lockwood & Co.: a rather low-profile group who get a sudden burst of talent when a young woman with exceptional abilities joins them. Based on the Jonathan Stroud book series, this show blends humor, horror, and character in ways that, yes, will leave you screaming “What is wrong with you Netflix? Why are you like this?”