The first trailer for The Boroughs is here. Netflix dropped a new look at the series, with Alfred Molina‘s Sam Cooper going to The Boroughs, a retirement community in the desert of New Mexico, to move in and on with his life. The show hits the streamer on May 21.
The Boroughs is a supernatural mystery series executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers. It’s created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, the team behind The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. The eight-episode drama is set in a seemingly picturesque retirement community. Focusing on a group of unlikely heroes who must band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don’t have: time.
Molina plays Sam Cooper, who is experiencing something of an existential crisis after recently losing his wife. His view of his new home is upended when he gets a terrifying glimpse of a tentacle-like alien hand. From there, things clearly get worse.
The main cast also includes Geena Davis as Renee, Alfre Woodard as Judy, Denis O’Hare as Wally, Clarke Peters as Art, Bill Pullman as Jack, Carlos Miranda as Paz, Jena Malone as Claire, Seth Numrich as Blaine, and Alice Kremelberg as Anneliese.
The Creators of The Boroughs
Addiss and Matthews previously created The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program. It currently holds an 89% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. This time around, they’re working squarely in supernatural horror territory.
The creators spoke to Netflix’s Tudum about the tone they were going for. They wanted The Boroughs to feel “equal parts scary, mysterious, exciting, and emotional,” describing the challenge as creating “a world that could hold all of these different tones at once.”
The Duffer Brothers were equally enthusiastic. They told Tudum they had long wondered why no one made something like Ron Howard‘s Cocoon again, and when Addiss and Matthews pitched a story about retirees and monsters, they were adamant it “wouldn’t treat aging as a punchline” but instead treat its characters as real people facing real challenges, “along with a few supernatural ones.” The Duffers called it “exactly the show we’d been dreaming of.”
The brothers added that while the characters “ride golf carts instead of bikes,” the spirit mirrors Stranger Things, calling it at its core “a story about belonging and growing up — no matter your age — filled with adventure, wonder, comedy, scares, and tears.”
The Duffer Brothers and Hilary Leavitt executive produce under the Upside Down Pictures banner, with Ben Taylor directing multiple episodes. The Boroughs premieres on Netflix on May 21, 2026.
