Stranger Things returned for its final season on November 26. The Stranger Things Season 5 release schedule has new episodes planned for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. If you’re looking for shows similar to Stranger Things to keep the horror vibes going in the time between, consider these options.
1. Goosebumps
With its mix of clever, relatable teens, laughs, and legit scares, the two-season anthology adaptation of R.L. Stine‘s works is the perfect companion to the Hellfire Club kids.
“One of the fun things about writing teenagers,” noted showrunner Hilary Winston of the series, which wrapped in 2025, “[is] that the world could be totally burning down around them and they would still be like, ‘Are you mad at me?’ And that’s where a lot of our comedy came from.”
As for the scares? They came from classic Stine stories like The Haunted Mask, Night of the Living Dummy, Monster Blood, and Stay Out of the Basement, which inspired much of Season 2’s storyline featuring David Schwimmer as a botanist in big trouble.
Stream on Disney+
2. The Institute
MGM+
This adaptation of Stephen King‘s 2019 novel of the same name has also received his stamp of approval — and for good reason. With shades of Carrie, Firestarter, and The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, the series centers on a teen with special powers (Joe Freeman) who wakes up in a mysterious facility where he is surrounded by equally gifted kids (think: an entire school of Elevens).
It masterfully blends King’s knack for slow-burn reveals and sprawling world-building. We dare you not to become obsessed with the mythology behind The Institute‘s experimentations, which grows more ominous with every episode. A second season was ordered in August 2025, so there’s time to catch up!
Stream on MGM+
3. Fear Street
Netflix
Think Hawkins is scary? Then visit Shadyside! In another Stine-based treat, a cursed town takes center stage. This 2021 film trilogy is set in three different eras: Fear Street Part One: 1994 finds a group of teens realizing that their neighborhood’s history of unsolved slayings may be tied to an evil entity.
Part Two: 1978 jumps back a few decades, where another batch of youths (including Max Mayfield herself, Sadie Sink) is terrorized by a seemingly unstoppable summer camp slasher. And finally, Shadyside’s grisly origin story is revealed in Part Three: 1666. Netflix also went back to Shadyside in 2024 for Fear Street: Prom Queen, about the 1988 case of an outcast who winds up in the crosshairs of a killer.
Stream on Netflix
4. From
MGM+
An isolated rural village that somehow traps anyone who enters its borders, and brutal creatures that prey by night? Those creepy details alone should be enough to hook Stranger Things fans into a binge of the first three seasons of this sinister sci-fi drama. (Season 4 is coming in 2026.)
Lost‘s Harold Perrineau stars as the small town’s sheriff, who struggles to keep the peace among his captive community while piecing together how time, space, and supernatural forces seem to be conspiring against them all. Oh, and pro tip: Don’t grow too attached to anyone, because this one does not play favorites when it comes to killing off beloved characters.
Stream on MGM+
5. Freakish
Hulu
It starts off like The Breakfast Club and winds up as The Walking Dead! In this underrated outing from 2016, a group of teens who have landed in Saturday detention find themselves barricaded inside their high school after a nearby chemical plant blows up. But it’s not just the toxic fallout they need to avoid. It’s also the fact that anyone who has been exposed to the biological effects of the explosion has been turned into a zombie.
Over the course of two seasons, the students must deal with dangerous alliances, dwindling resources, and unexpected arrivals from the outside.
Stream on Hulu
6. The Society
Netflix
More teenagers endure the unthinkable in this woefully short-lived favorite that played like Lord of the Flies meets The Leftovers. Featuring an impressive cast of up-and-comers, including Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies) and Gideon Adlon (Blockers), this unsettling mystery kicks off when the students of a cozy Connecticut town return from an aborted field trip to find that everyone has vanished.
Cut off from the rest of the world by a forest that has suddenly developed around the area, the kids must find a way to function without technology, law enforcement, or parents before they become the biggest threat to one another.
Stream on Netflix
For an extended celebration of Stranger Things, from a Season 5 preview to must-see photos and more, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Stranger Things: The Final Chapter special issue, available for pre-order online now and on newsstands now.
Stranger Things, Season 5 Volume 1, Premiere, November 26, 2025, Netflix
Stranger Things, Season 5 Volume 2, Premiere, December 25, 2025, Netflix
Stranger Things, Season 5 Finale, Premiere, December 31, 2025, Netflix and Select Theaters