The Forgotten Netflix Shows That Are Just as Good as ‘Stranger Things’

Netflix has run the streaming world for over a decade now. We all know Stranger Things, Wednesday and Squid Game, but what about some of the more underrated Netflix originals that are just as good or better for fans of these shows? Read on for three of our favorites.

Dark

Dark is secretly the best show ever made by Netflix. If you love hard, existential science fiction with lots to say, stop reading this right now and go turn on this hidden gem. Need a little more info? Dark takes place in the German town of Winden, where children are mysteriously disappearing. Four families living there investigate the disappearances and find a sinister conspiracy involving a wormhole in the cave beneath their town, which transports people to the year 1953 or 1986. Along the way, the families begin to learn the consequences of time travel while discovering baffling secrets about their ancestors and the history of their town. Somehow, this show makes “I’m my own grandpa” an actual, plausible concept.

Alice in Borderland

It’s hard to believe Squid Game took off, but this show with a similar concept and much more pizzazz is still underseen. Alice in Borderland stars a bunch of Japanese teens who are mysteriously transported to an alternate, desolate version of Tokyo, where they must play a deadly game every few days to extend their lives. If they refuse, they are immediately executed by mysterious lasers from the sky. Of course, the teens form their own alliances to eliminate each other while desperately searching for a way out. Add up Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, Lost, and Saw, and you’d have this killer little science-fiction gem. Hurry and catch up before season 3 drops later this year.

Sense8

It almost seems like a cruel joke that the creators of The Matrix would partner up with the team behind sci-fi classic Babylon 5 for a daringly original, Emmy-nominated, much loved series that Netflix would inexplicably cancel after two seasons. But that’s exactly what happened with Sense8, which centers around eight strangers around the globe who are suddenly, inexplicably linked and can sense each others’ mental and emotional states. Soon, the eight “sensates” are hunted across the globe by an evil organization and a man called Whispers. One of the best looking shows on TV, filming took place almost entirely on location in nine cities: Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, Reykjavík, San Francisco, and Seoul. We’ll never get another show like Sense8. At least Netflix briefly uncanceled it so the creators could finish the story off with a two-hour movie.