As ‘Stranger Things’ Ends, Streaming Giants Scramble for Their Next Tentpoles

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The final season of Stranger Things is more than a television conclusion—it marks the end of Netflix’s first era of ascension. Since its debut in 2016 (when its cast of kids still looked like actual children), Stranger Things has been the most popular TV series behind only Game of Thrones. Its ability to drive subscription growth, generate addiction-level hours of viewing, and mint money cemented Netflix’s rise as a programming powerhouse. 

Streaming is a hits-driven business, and every major player needs a tentpole series to anchor its results. As Stranger Things closes, let’s pinpoint the most important actively running flagship TV series of the streaming era. Using a mix of viewership, revenue, longevity and franchise potential, here are the shows doing their best Atlas impressions by holding up their respective streamers. 

Netflix: Stranger Things

In 2022, Stranger Things was the most-watched U.S. streaming original at 52 billion (!) minutes (No.2 was Ozark at 31.2 billion minutes), according to Nielsen. Even after three years without new episodes, it ranked as the 17th most-watched streaming original (5.4 billion minutes) over the first half of 2025. The four-episode Season 5 premiere in November drew the largest first-week global audience for an English-language Netflix series—second all-time only to Squid Game Season 2’s debut. 

After nine years atop the pop-culture hierarchy, whispers of spinoffs, prequels and other expansions persist. Yet creators Ross and Matt Duffer are departing Netflix for a lucrative deal at Paramount, leaving Netflix without a clear heir apparent.

Squid Game actually generated the most estimated global revenue for Netflix ($180 million from Q4 2024 to Q3 2025, including subscriber retention and new subscriber acquisition, per Parrot Analytics). It was also the second most-watched streaming original in 2021 (16.4 billion minutes) at its debut and the ninth most-watched show overall across the first half of 2025 (15 billion minutes). But it’s finished now. 

Wednesday’s second season became Netflix’s fourth most-watched English series ever, but dropped 50 percent compared to Season 1. Since The Adams Family IP belongs to Amazon MGM, Netflix can’t capture its full value.

In the absence of Stranger Things, the market-leading streamer faces a void on its release calendar with no obvious fill.  

Amazon Prime Video: The Boys

Like Netflix, Amazon is nearing the end of a flagship run. The hyper-violent superhero satire The Boys will conclude after its upcoming fifth season, having ranked in the Top 15 streaming originals twice (in 2022 and 2024). The question is how much higher this superpowered IP can fly. 

Amazon is planning a 1950s-set prequel series (Vought Rising) and a Spanish-language series (The Boys: Mexico). But earlier spin-offs—animated anthology Diabolical (one season) and live-action companion Gen V (two seasons)—didn’t quite break out despite being well-liked. 

Fortunately for Amazon, Reacher has emerged as Amazon’s next heavyweight over its first three seasons. In 2024, it ranked 10th among Nielsen’s U.S. streaming originals (10.6 billion minutes) and climbed to fifth overall in 2025, per Samba TV’s State of Streaming report (releasing new seasons yearly helps maintain audience momentum). This has made it Prime Video’s biggest TV windfall over the last year, with an estimated $132 million in revenue contribution. A spinoff was ordered for the series in October. 

Disney+: The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian helped Disney+’s launch outperform all reasonable expectations in the platform’s first year of existence. Since 2020, it has landed twice among Nielsen’s ten most-watched series while becoming the linchpin of the streamer’s small-screen Star Wars universe. 

This May, the show will make the leap to the big screen with The Mandalorian & Grogu, Star Wars’ first big-screen outing since 2019’s disappointing The Rise of Skywalker. Translating TV fandom into theatre ticket sales is far from guaranteed, but brand power ensures a high floor. 

The bigger question: Does this movie spell the end of the series? If so, Disney+—which has struggled to create live-action hits beyond the aging Marvel and Star Wars titles—needs a new flagship. Andor ($138 million in estimated revenue over the last year) was a critical marvel, but wrapped up its two-season run without approaching the same viewership highs. 

That said, with Hulu now fully integrated into Disney+, future seasons of FX’s Shogun could emerge as the streamer’s next tentpole. 

HBO Max: The White Lotus

HBO titles make up just 14 percent of HBO Max’s library, yet drive more than 18 percent of its audience demand, per Parrot. The premium cable network is television’s flagship brand. Of course, it continues to deliver streaming value. The White Lotus, in all of its original esoteric glory, may now be the service’s top title. 

Samba TV named it 2025’s most-streamed U.S. show overall with the year’s fourth-largest two-week viewership debut. From January to June, the upstairs-downstairs dynamic of the murder mystery anthology was Nielsen’s 16th most-watched series on streaming (11.5 billion minutes) and generated an estimated $124 million for HBO Max over the past year, per Parrot.

Production on Season 4 is set to start in 2026 in France.

Apple TV: Severance and Ted Lasso

This one’s a toss-up. 

Ted Lasso transformed the early identity of née Apple TV+, evolving from a feel-good sitcom to a prestige dramedy. It ranked as the 12th most-watched show of 2021 (8.1 billion minutes) and the top overall original of 2023 (16.9 billion), per Nielsen, despite the streamer’s small subscriber base. But Season 3 closed the original chapter, and while a continuation is in development—with some returning cast, but a new on-screen soccer team—it’s unclear if Ted Lasso will remain a juggernaut after another long wait.

In its place, the heady thriller Severance became a prestige breakout in its second season. Over the first half of this year, it was the fifth most-watched streaming original (9.2 billion minutes), per Nielsen, and led all Apple TV shows in estimated revenue contribution ($146 million), per Parrot. Apple calls it its top series ever based on unique viewers in the first month of its sophomore run. Yet after a nearly three-year gap, another long wait looms before Season 3.