We might be fairly unanimous in our view here at T3 that the best streaming service for sci-fi fans right now is Apple TV, but that doesn't mean that Netflix is giving up without a fight. It knows that sci-fi is a simply huge genre for streaming fans, and after the end of Stranger Things it's on the hunt for a new series that could scratch that same itch for viewers.
Right from its first teaser trailer I had a sense that could be the niche that The Boroughs is aiming for, and now it's got a longer trailer that makes the similarities between the two franchises all the more striking. The show starts on 21 May, and looks like it has a very similar tone, albeit with a totally different plot.
The show stars the excellent Alfred Molina as an ageing grandfather who begrudgingly agrees to move into a retirement community called The Boroughs. There, he very quickly starts to feel like there's something odd going on beneath the too-happy surface. People all seem to be having amazing times, but he's plagued by paranoia and glimpses of freaky things.
He's clearly to going to find at least a couple of like-minded residents played by Geena Davis and Denis O'Hare, and together they'll start to investigate odd occurrences that the authorities seem keen to ignore. The trailer makes it very clear that there's at least one monster or alien stalking the community, although its origins are surely a huge part of the plot.
Some of the creative team behind The Boroughs is straight from Stranger Things, which makes loads of sense when you watch the trailer. They're both charming and a little funny, but it's very clear that we'll get moments of real tensions and borderline horror, making the show fit right into the same category.
Of course, Stranger Things proved very ably that it's a category that can include tens of millions of fans, so Netflix will doubtless be hoping this could be the start of a new franchise. It'll be one with much older stars, of course, but in many other ways the similarities are impossible to ignore.
