The Duffer Brothers are back for another foray into sci-fi with a horror twist. Hot off the final season of their culturally defining series, Stranger Things, they’re back for more, this time producing a series that focuses on the opposite end of the spectrum than Stranger Things did—age-wise, that is. Written and created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, this series has a wildly stacked cast behind it, sure to make it just as successful as the predecessor from its producers.
The Boroughs, a Netflix original, is set in a seemingly perfect retirement community, where a group of unlikely heroes discovers a harrowing threat, and realizes that they have no choice but to come together in hopes of stopping an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don’t have—time. And with names like Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, and Jena Malone attached, you know that this story has some serious magic behind it. Now the creators are talking about some of their inspirations, especially what prompted them to focus on an older demographic as their group of unlikely heroes. According to them, they wanted to know “What’s it like to be 70 and to be a hero?”
Speaking with Empire about the inspiration behind bringing The Boroughs to life, Matthews said, “Films like Ron Howard’s Cocoon and TV hits like The Golden Girls were touchstones. But the Golden Girls were like, what, 55? So we wanted to ask, ‘What’s it like to be 70 and to be a hero?’” Addiss went on to add, “It’s an adventure show. There’s a mystery. It’s not gory, but there are real scares and real danger, with a dangerous puzzle at its heart that these characters are going to unlock.”
It’s a risky move, especially when so much of modern media is obsessed with youth culture and shows a distinct fear of aging. But that’s partly the reason behind their choice, the showrunners say. “There were some parts when we were filming that I couldn’t watch,” says Matthews, saying that the show leans heavily into fears surrounding “what time we have left.” But there’s more to it, according to both showrunners: it also focuses on a demographic often dismissed. And while most horror chooses to place that lens on young people and teenagers, the elderly are also written off when it comes to fears and anxieties—it’s a fascinating social commentary that hasn’t yet been made in modern television, and sci-fi is the perfect genre to showcase it.
Will you be catching The Boroughs when it premieres on Netflix on May 21st? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to keep the conversation going.
