Already binged the first seven episodes of Stranger Things' season four? Can't wait for the final two episodes? Well, we can help ease the pain.
Unlike in previous seasons of Stranger Things, this time Netflix executives decided to drop the show’s fourth run in two parts. The season’s first seven episodes arrived on May 27, with the final two episodes appearing on July 1.
Explaining this, showrunners the Duffer brothers told fans: "With nine scripts, over eight-hundred pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots, and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, Stranger Things season 4 was the most challenging yet. But it was also the most rewarding... Given the unprecedented length, and to get it to you as soon as possible, season 4 will be released in two volumes."
July 1 is still a few weeks away, an eternity when, in all likelihood, most of us will smashed the first seven episodes of the fourth season in a single day.
For a full breakdown of everything we know thus far about the second part of the show's fourth season, you can head here. But, to help you count down the days until those final two episodes, we’ve picked out five shows that share something with Stranger Things to help tide you over until it returns. Here we go...
The X-Files
An obvious choice perhaps, but the sci-fi behemoth is an absolute touchstone, and, if you’ve not seen it thus far, you need to correct that at the first opportunity.
It took The X-Files a while to settle on its first release, but it soon became a giant hit, eventually running for 11 seasons and spawning two movies.
Set amidst the hubbub of the FBI, the show followed special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who are tasked with investigating X-Files: which is any unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.
It’s the classic set-up, Scully, a graduate of medical school, is a skeptic on the paranormal, while Mulder is a true believer. Most of the episodes involved a ‘monster of the week’ the pair are sent to investigate, with a few overarching story arcs in each season. As well as this, the pair’s relationship, which began as platonic, but then goes through more than one transition, was a source of constant drama.
At a whopping 218 episodes and two spin-off movies, there’s a lot to get into here, but if you start now, you might be finished in time for the return of Stranger Things.
Where to stream it: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (UK, AU)
Station Eleven
Released at the tail end of 2021, Station Eleven slipped a little under the radar amid the festive period, but it’s well worth a watch.
A 10-episode mini-series based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel, the show is a fresh twist on the post-apocalyptic dystopian doomsday scenario.
Set 20 years after a flu pandemic results in the collapse of civilization (yikes), we follow a group of survivors who make their living as a traveling theater troupe, who go around trying to entertain the few fellow survivors they come across. Making a life for themselves, things deteriorate when they encounter a violent cult, a cult led by a man whose past is unknowingly linked to a member of the troupe…
A starry production, with Black Mirror’s Mackenzie Davis, Tenet’s Himesh Patel and Gael Garcia Benal among the cast, this is a bleak stylish offering with the same flights of fancy as Stranger Things.
Where to stream it: HBO Max (US), Starz Play on Prime Video (UK), Stan (AU)
The Shannara Chronicles
A pure unashamed fantasy drama, The Shannara Chronicles share Stranger Things’ youthful feel, but they’re set in a world that’s a long way away from this one.
An adaptation of Terry Brooks' bestselling book series The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, the show is set in a post apocalyptic world where an Elvin princess, human-elf hybrid and Eretria, a human who raised by a band of thieves, are forced together to defend Earth from demonic forces.
These demons have begun to force their way back after being banished from this world to a place known as the Forbidding as a result of a spell performed on an ancient tree called the Ellcrys.
To stop their return, Wil, Amberle and Eretria, guided by Allanon, the last druid, must go on a quest to protect the Ellcrys from dying and releasing all the banished demons back into the world.
Austin Butler, who will headline Baz Luhrmann’s lavish new biopic of Elvis Presley this summer, plays Wil, with British actress Poppy Drayon and Ivana Baquero, who you may remember from her performance as a child in Guillermo Del Toro’s breathtaking fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, playing Amberle and Eretria.
This is pure escapist fantasy, with all the spells and sorcery, but if that’s your bag, it’s a good investment.
Where to stream it: Tubi (US, AU), Netflix (UK, AU)
Hemlock Grove
There was outcry when Netflix closed the book on Hemlock Grove back in 2015 after three seasons, but it means there are still three seasons of the spooky drama on the platform to enjoy forever and ever.
Based on Brian McGreevy's 2012 novel of the same name and featuring a cast that includes Famke Janssen, Landon Liboiron, Bill Skarsgård, Dougray Scott and Madeline Brewer, the show chronicled the strange happenings in Hemlock Grove, a fictional town in Pennsylvania.
Once a prosperous milling town, the steel mill is long closed, leaving Hemlock Grove's citizens with one main source of employment, the Godfrey Institute for Biomedical Technologies, a firm with a reputation for conducting shadowy experiments.
When a teenage girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods, two teenagers, Skarsgård's wealthy Roman Godfrey and Liboiron's Peter Rumancek, a 17-year-old Romani boy who is new in town, set out to find who, or what, committed the murder…
It has a Twin Peaksy feel to it, but also has plenty in common with long-running sagas like Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. It shares Stranger Things’ spooky feel and the narrative is well-trodden, but still rather gripping.
Where to stream it: Netflix (Worldwide)
Marvel's Runaways
If you’re looking for a show that shares the driving force of a teenage gang of friends against the world with Stranger Things, then Marvel's Runaways is perfect for you.
The show is based on Brian K. Vaughan's series of Marvel comics, it follows six teenagers who come together to fight The Pride, a secret criminal organization that controls the Los Angeles area of the Marvel Universe. How did the teenagers come to discover The Pride’s criminality? They’re the teenagers’ parents, and now they’ve got to take them down…
The show ran for three seasons and it’s a fun thrill ride with a madcap spirit. It’s lighter than Stranger Things in its feel and tone, but then, it’s difficult to find anything darker…
Where to stream it: Disney Plus (US, UK, AU), Hulu (US)
