Stranger Things is easily one of Netflix's biggest hits. Combining the still strong sense of nostalgia for the '80s with the young adult and horror genres, the show has become an unquestionable pop cultural juggernaut. Needless to say, this has caused many of Netflix's competitors to attempt to create their own take on the series.
Amazon Prime may just have such a winning formula in the upcoming series The Promised Neverland. A live action adaptation of the manga and anime of the same name, the series presents a dark mystery full of creepy horror lurking around every corner. While the comparisons to Stranger Things might not make sense on the surface, the show has the potential to hit several of the same notes.
What is The Promised Neverland?
Written by Kaiu Shirai and drawn by Posuka Demizu, The Promised Neverland manga began publication in 2016 in Weekly Shonen Jump. The series takes place in a dystopian alternate reality, focusing on the seemingly perfect lives of a group of orphans. There are 38 orphans total on the premises, including Emma and her friends Ray and Norman. Despite not having families of their own anymore, the children's lives are rather idyllic, with their every whim and fancy taken care of by their motherly figure Isabella. The one caveat is that the children can not ever go beyond orphanage grounds or past the gate, which would lead them to the outside world.
However, a few of these kids discover the horrifying truth of their situation. A young girl in their group is finally adopted into a family, but leaves behind her beloved stuffed animal. Chasing after her to give her the item, Emma and Norman are shocked to find the young girl's dead corpse. They soon discover that they are being bred at the orphanage to become food for horrendous demons, a fate which sadly befell their friend. Now determined to escape their doomed situation, the protagonist trio aim to save themselves and the rest of their siblings from the secrets that could literally kill them.
Strangers in a Strange Neverland
Though its not as directly trying to compete with Stranger Things the way Amazon's Paper Girls series is, The Promised Neverland could fill a similar niche. For one, both franchises have chilling and disturbing horror vibes. In the case of Stranger Things, this is meant to evoke the horror and slasher flicks of the 1980s era which it symbolizes so much. Meanwhile, The Promised Neverland gives off the vibe of a demented fairy tale, bringing to mind a particularly twisted take on stories such as Hansel and Gretel.
Both series' also have their own "demons," with Promised Neverland having literal demons that eat people, and Stranger Things' demogorgons acting in much the same way. Likewise, this sense of horror and freakiness, while a bit too dark for children, is still tame enough to be enjoyed by teenagers and general audiences in contrast to hardcore horror. The world that the children of Promised Neverland are attempting to escape is in many ways similar to the Upside Down in Stranger Things, further bolstering the similar vibes.
The most obvious similarity between the two is the youthful cast, with the children of Promised Neverland being around the same age as the Mike and Eleven's group of friends in the first season of Stranger Things. This element was the latter's crowning achievement, with the child stars' performances receiving tremendous acclaim. Having a similar group of talented child actors could do wonders for the reception of The Promised Neverland, which will live or die based off of how well said actors can carry the material.
One area where the two definitely differ is in '80s nostalgia, or rather, the completely lack thereof in The Promised Neverland. This feature of Stranger Things' setting and resulting pop culture references was another one of its biggest selling points. Without these, Promised Neverland obviously lacks some of the "built-in" audience that the Netflix show had. Still, by combining a creepy atmosphere, disturbing monsters and a cast of talented young actors, The Promised Neverland might recapture the bottled lightning that Netflix has with Stranger Things.
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