Following the epic finale of Netflix’s global phenomenon Stranger Things, creators Matt and Ross Duffer are far from done with the streaming giant. Through their production banner, Upside Down Pictures, the brothers are set to release three new projects on Netflix this year — though this time, they’re stepping back from the director’s chair.
The upcoming slate includes Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, The Boroughs, and the animated Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. Rather than running the shows themselves, the Duffers are focusing on mentorship and creative guidance.
“We’re finding talent and creatives that we deeply respect and helping them get the show off the ground,” Matt Duffer previously told Entertainment Weekly. “Mentoring them, teaching them what we’ve learned — and the mistakes we’ve made — so hopefully they don’t make the same mistakes.”
A Wedding, a Family, and Something Very Wrong
The first project to debut is Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, an eight-episode limited series created by first-time showrunner Haley Z. Boston, arriving on Netflix this March. The ominous title isn’t misleading.
“It would be false advertising if not,” Boston joked. “Something bad happens in every show. The difference here is that we keep you guessing about what that very bad thing actually is.”
The series stars Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & the Six) as Rachel Harkin, a woman heading into what should be one of the happiest weeks of her life — and instead becomes a slow descent into dread. Rachel travels in the dead of winter with her fiancé, Nicky Cunningham (played by The White Lotus breakout Adam DiMarco), to his family’s lavish, isolated estate for their wedding, just five days away.
A Cast That Raises the Tension
Things quickly become unsettling as Rachel meets her future in-laws, played by an accomplished ensemble cast. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Nicky’s formidable mother, Victoria Cunningham, alongside Jeff Wilbusch, Karla Crome, Gus Birney, Ted Levine, and Sawyer Fraser as members of the extended Cunningham family.
Each episode unfolds over the course of a single day leading up to the wedding. With every passing day, Rachel’s anxiety intensifies as strange events pile up, blurring the line between superstition, paranoia, and something far more sinister.
Psychological Horror With a Feminine Lens
Boston describes the series as a spiritual cousin to horror classics like Carrie and Rosemary’s Baby. While those films explored girlhood and motherhood, she posed a chilling question of her own:
“What’s the horror version of a woman becoming a wife?”
That idea fuels both the narrative and the show’s visual language. Directed by Weronika Tofilska, the series uses disorienting camera work and claustrophobic framing to keep viewers off balance. The Cunningham estate itself is designed like a maze, heightening the sense of entrapment and unease.
Influences range from the creeping dread of The Vanishing to the family tensions of The Celebration, blended with the satirical discomfort of The White Lotus and the intimate psychological style of filmmaker Jonathan Demme.
“We wanted the audience to feel the paranoia and fear Rachel is experiencing,” Boston explained. “Even when she’s not in the scene, everything is constructed around her discomfort.”
A Personal Touch
Interestingly, Rachel’s character bears a strong resemblance to Boston herself — from physical appearance to personal style. That was no accident. According to Boston, it was Camila Morrone’s idea to model the character after her creator, adding another intimate layer to the story.
With Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, Netflix and the Duffer Brothers appear ready to deliver a slow-burn psychological horror that trades monsters for menace — and proves that sometimes, the scariest thing of all is meeting the family.
