A highly acclaimed show on Prime Video, which boasted a Rotten Tomatoes score of 87%, had the potential to become a worthy replacement for Netflix’sStranger Things. Unfortunately, despite landing in critics' good books, the show failed to last longer than one season.
Given howStranger Thingsis one ofNetflix’s most valuable TV sci-fi IPsand has only grown from strength to strength with each season in terms of viewership and cultural impact, not a lot of shows deserve to be labeled as its replacements. One Prime Video show, however, came close to capturing that mantle in more ways than one.
From a sense of wonder to nostalgic storytelling, the Prime Video show had all the right ingredients that audiences have grown to love about Netflix’sStranger Things. Unfortunately, before the series could deliver the massive highs its overarching story could achieve, it was abruptly canceled.
Prime Video’s Paper Girls Could Have Been The New Stranger Things, But It Was Canceled
Despite Earning Acclaim, The Show Did Not Return After Season 1
Stranger ThingsandPaper Girlshave distinct identities because of how they approach sci-fi. WhileStranger Thingsis more about parallel dimensions and government experimentation,Paper Girlsprimarily dabbles with time travel. However, despite this difference, the two shows seem quite similar because of how they approach their character beats.
AlthoughPaper Girlseventually jumps ahead in time, it initially, likeStranger Things, unfolds in the 1980s, giving it a nostalgic retro vibe.
Just likeStranger Things,Paper Girlsprimarily revolves around a young set of characters who find themselves in the middle of a massive supernatural conflict they struggle to understand. AlthoughPaper Girlseventually jumps ahead in time, it initially, likeStranger Things, unfolds in the 1980s, giving it a nostalgic retro vibe.
Paper Girlsalso seems to feature its own version of the Hawkins Lab. Just like the Lab’s agents in the Netflix show try to cover up their ethically skewed experiments, a group, Old Watch, tries to preserve a single timeline inPaper Girlsby all possible means. With so many glaring similarities between the two, it would be fair to say thatPaper Girlscould have been Prime Video’sStranger Thingsreplacement.
Paper Girls Deserved More Time To Find Its Footing
The Show Was Only Starting To Build Its Sci-Fi Foundation In Season 1
Soon afterPaper Girlslanded on Prime Video, many critics praised it for its ambitious storytelling. Many also acknowledged that even though it riffs on many familiar sci-fi tropes, it manages to feel fresh because of the heavy focus on its young roster and the emotional weight their time-traveling endeavors carry.
However, likeStranger Things,Paper Girlsonly seems to scratch the surface of all the intriguing sci-fi ideas it could have explored if it had lasted long. If Prime Video had not canceled it after one season, it would also have been exciting to see its young cast members grow into their roles as reluctant time travelers.
Paper Girls
Based on the sci-fi comic series, Paper Girls follows four girls with a paper route who find themselves one fateful Halloween smack dab in the middle of an interdimensional conflict that sends them through time and space. The girls discover their future selves and encounter various future-altering events that they must decide to either attempt to intervene or let the scenarios play out as they were intended.
Stranger Things
Cast
Stranger Things is a Netflix series set in the 1980s, where the mysterious disappearance of a young boy leads a small town to uncover secret experiments and supernatural forces. A significant focus is on a peculiar girl who may hold the key to the unfolding mystery.
