The 8 best supernatural thriller shows to watch now that 'Stranger Things' is finished

While Stranger Things had huge success, quickly becoming one of the world’s most popular TV series (and rightly so), some criticism of the series is that its tone (particularly in the later series) becomes too childlike and Marvel-esque. German-language whodunnit Dark has often been touted as a more adult version of Stranger Things, and it’s clear to see similarities between the two; both set in the '80s, both focusing on a disappearance, and both exploring the role of a secretive government facility in a small town. However, Dark is very secure in taking a more adult tone; in its opening few scenes, viewers witness a suicide and a teenager rootling around for drugs before it confidently plunges into its supernatural themes. It’s a slow burn, but one with a deeply satisfying conclusion.

Arguably the blueprint for Stranger Things, David Lynch’s small-screen outing faced renewed interest and adoration following the tragic passing of the director last year. The death of homecoming queen Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks (the Hawkins of its day) sees FBI Agent Dale Cooper (the much-loved Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the sleepy and idyllic town. However, the case gets increasingly surreal the more Cooper uncovers. In typical Lynchian style, Palmer’s death is an infinitely deep mystery that only gets stranger as the series progresses, with the grief of this small town spiderwebbing beyond its picket-fence borders.

Described by The Guardian as “Stranger Things meets The Missing meets Twin Peaks meets Glee meets Westworld”, this genre-bending series was a hit for Netflix upon its 2016 release. Brit Marling plays Prarie Johnson, a blind young woman who returns after missing for seven years with scars on her back and her sight restored. Now calling herself ‘the OA’ (which stands of ‘Original Angel’, Prarie tells four high school students and a teacher that she was actually captured by a scientist and subjected to study near death experiences as a bid to study other dimensions (though, thankfully, none as terrifying as The Upside Down).

While some of the lines of dialogue are cringe-inducing, The OA is a hugely ambitious and deeply fascinating premise exploring ethics, consciousness and alternative realties. Initially intended to have a seven series run, The OA was cancelled after season two – leaving a cliffhanger ending. That doesn’t mean it should be disregarded; the series has a cult following (some of which who are still desperately campaigning for the show to be revived).

Dual narratives are at the heart of this horror series that deserved far more fanfare when it was first released on Netflix in 2022. In the present-day, film archivist Dan Turner has been hired by unsettling businessman Virgil Davenport to restore some fire-damaged videotapes from 1994. The tapes tell the story of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras, who was investigating a supposed cult at the Visser apartment building. Melody’s story is told to the audience through Blair Witch Project-style found footage, giving Archive 81 a distinctly creepy tone. Dan, who must work from an isolated compound in order to earn his substantial fee, quickly sees parallels between himself and Melody – and quickly descends into obsession with her story.

The pacy eight-part series offers viewers lashings of supernatural intrigue, complex conspiracies and plenty of jump-scares that will leave even the hardiest of hearts racing – the Mind Flayer has nothing on what lurks within Archive 81.

Receiving critical praise upon its release in 2021, those who are yet to sink their teeth into Yellowjackets are set to be enthralled. The series follows the headstrong teenagers of Wiskayok High School female football team, who find themselves stranded following a plane crash in 1996. The opening scenes set Yellowjacket’s brazen and ferocious tone; viewers see a wintry landscape stained with blood, a body impaled and the primal screams of girls adorning animal skins. A typical coming-of-age drama this is not.

Yellowjackets straddles the gory events of that time with the modern day, where the survivors, now middle-aged women, are still processing the trauma that they have kept under wraps for all these years, hiding the true extent of their ordeal from loved ones, the press and even themselves.

While it’s more Lord of the Flies than Stranger Things, Yellowjackets is a fascinating exploration into the taboo. Never mind the supernatural; the series suggests that there is nothing more terrifying or horrific than humanity itself when pushed to the limits of survival. The much-anticipated fourth and final season is set to hit screens later this year.

With echoes of Stranger Things in its teenage cast and a period setting (the series is set in the 1990s and wants you to be aware of this), The Midnight Club is based in a hospice of terminally ill young people who come together at night to tell each other horror stories. The group also make a pact to try and communicate with one another from beyond the grave when their time comes. It’s an unusual (but perfectly watchable) combination of a Black Mirror-style anthology, and bleak teen drama.

The premise hardly makes The Midnight Club seem laugh-a-minute, but it is the unusual patchwork of characters and the dynamics between them that makes the show work. Viewers are initially lured into thinking the line-up of characters belong to the tired or cliched stereotypes of teen dramas (the idealist, the wise-cracker and the brain-box all feature), but as the series progresses, The Midnight Club asserts itself away from tired, schlocky tropes. Ruth Codd (who recently appeared in The Celebrity Traitor) is the series standout, as misanthropist, rebel-without-a-cause Anya.