Netflix has built a massive piece of its identity around genre storytelling, and with a new series coming soon, the streaming platform is mixing young adult storytelling with the essence of shows like Wednesday and Stranger Things to build another new universe. With supernatural genre shows, especially those with a young adult slant, have become global phenomenons by combining their coming-of-age stories with richly imagined worlds, Netflix has been able to create an interesting sense of common appeal. Both Wednesday and Stranger Things place young protagonists at the center of dangerous mysteries, blurring the lines between reality and the unknown.
Their formula, with both shows and others that fit the same bill, have proven to be effective for Netflix’s large global audience. Thankfully, this formula appears to be what’s in the works for the streamer’s upcoming project from J.J. Abrams, who’s developing an interesting new series for the platform. Abrams appears to be taking many of the elements that worked for Wednesday and Stranger Things, focusing on a young adult story that features a hidden supernatural story under the surface. With gothic undertones and influences, the upcoming Sid and Zoey will follow a pair of outcasts who discover an underworld.
The premise of the new series appears to make it clear that the mixture of the supernatural genre and the tropes of a teen drama make for potential success. While the details of Sid and Zoey aren’t entirely clear, the new series could occupy an interesting TV spot for Netflix.
Netflix’s Sid And Zoey Is Combining The Platform’s Two Biggest Series
Although not much is known about the upcoming Netflix series, Sid and Zoey, the streamer has released some details of what viewers can expect from the Abrams project in the future. Following two teens, the titular Sid and Zoey, as they uncover a hidden realm beneath their quiet, unassuming town, the series will take ideas that made Stranger Things and Wednesday major successes. The Duffer Brothers’ series obviously used the idea of an ordinary community masking some of the worst the world has to offer, with the show’s Upside Down existing within the confines of the very ordinary Hawkins, Indiana.
The new series will also embrace a massive part of Wednesday, sharing some of the show’s DNA in the way it treats its main characters. Netflix’s series sees Sid, described as a “seductive, sophisticated, and amoral teenager from New York” is sent to live in an idyllic Mississippi town where his mother was raised. There, he meets the police chief’s “sharp-witted, punk-rock daughter, Zoey” and the pair develop a connection. With the show categorized as a young adult gothic fantasy, it takes from the young adult outcast pool in the same way Wednesday has over the course of its run.
Sid And Zoey Almost Feels Like JJ Abrams’ Spiritual Super 8 Sequel
Although the new Netflix series invokes similar themes to Wednesday and Stranger Things, Sid and Zoey feels like it has close ties to another Abrams project, Super 8. The 2011 sci-fi film, which Abrams wrote and directed, saw a group of young friends uncovering strange events in their small town after witnessing a train crash, and the supernatural slant of the film has a similar sensibility to the new project. In Super 8, the mystery unfolds as the characters discover the secrets hidden beneath their community. Sid and Zoey’s through line feels like it’s energetically similar to the film.
While Abrams isn’t the show’s driving force (that’s creator Jon Kasdan, who’s worked on both sci-fi projects and young adult material in theoast), the new series having strong ties to his past work isn’t a surprise. Whether the series ultimately lives up to the comparisons, becoming a TV version of Super 8 or a young adult classic in line with Wednesday, Netflix’s Sid and Zoey feels like a great next step for the streaming platform as it continues to produce thought-provoking TV. Revisiting themes similar to past successes with a whole new slant could be perfect for the platform.
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January 16, 2007
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Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph
