The Boroughs

Netflix

In the wake of the end of Stranger Things, the creators of that series, Matt and Ross Duffer, are heading to Paramount for a four-year deal across TV and movies. But before they go, they have a few last projects they’re involved with, and one of them has nothing to do with Stranger Things at all. That would be The Boroughs, a new series they are executive producing that hits Netflix today.

With the backing of the Duffers, The Boroughs was created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and does, in fact, have a science fiction element to it. Here’s the synopsis:

"In a seemingly picturesque retirement community, a group of unlikely heroes must band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don't have… time."

Those retirees include a number of familiar faces from Alfred Molina to Geena Davis to Alfre Woodard to Bill Pullman. And from early reviews, it appears to be quite good. At the time of this writing, The Boroughs has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, though it could drop with future additions. If it makes it to the top 10 list, that would put it above the 92% of the current No. 1, Nemesis, though that show has a far worse 52% audience score, a significant disagreement.

The Boroughs is an original feature and is not based on a book. It arrives with eight episodes dropped as a binge, and all range from 40 to 50 minutes each. The show does not appear to be pitched as a limited series, so if it performs well, it may be looking for further renewal. It’s just day one, so we do not know how it will land on Netflix, but there are relatively few big/good scripted series out right now, and certainly none with this kind of vibe to it. It’s certainly no action series like Nemesis or Man on Fire.

As for the Duffers, the only thing we know for sure is that they are producers on an upcoming, untitled, Stranger Things spinoff series that has very few details attached to it. All we know for sure is that it’s a new time period, a new cast and no Upside Down. Though it does exist in the same world as the original show. We also do not know any of their future plans at Paramount yet, and it seems it could be something film-related, given that it was one of the reasons they moved over there, for a better shot at full theatrical releases for future projects, something Netflix is not known for outside of very limited runs.

So, The Boroughs seems worth watching. Check it out today, or over the weekend.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.