The Other Town

The Other Town
Genre	Science fiction Horror Mystery Fantasy Drama
Created by	Freddie Goodwin
Showrunner	Freddie Goodwin
Starring	Alex Brow David Harbour Noah Jupe Jaeden Martell Isabella Sermon Mckenna Grace Caleb McLaughlin Sadie Sink Finn Wolfhard Julia Butters Jack Dylan Grazer Winona Ryder
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	24 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Mob Productions
Running time	42–142 minutes
Production company	Mob Productions
Budget	$270 million
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16) – present

The Other Town is an American television series created by Freddie Goodwin for Netflix. Produced by Mob Productions, the first season was released on Netflix on October 16, 2026. The show combines elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and coming-of-age drama.

Set in the late 1980s, The Other Town centers on the residents of the fictional small town of Northpoint, a fading community surrounded by forest and abandoned Cold War infrastructure. The series follows a group of local teenagers who uncover a mysterious radio frequency that briefly appears every few years, triggering shared visions, missing time, and the reemergence of people and places that should no longer exist. As the phenomenon intensifies, long-suppressed events from the town’s past resurface, revealing that Northpoint may be partially overlapping with an erased version of itself, known by residents only as “the other town.”

The Other Town was developed as a blend of supernatural mystery, coming-of-age drama, and psychological horror, emphasizing atmosphere and gradual revelation over overt spectacle. The series draws thematic inspiration from liminal spaces, collective memory, and identity, as well as from late Cold War paranoia and small-town denial. Creative influences include the works of Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Stephen King, and John Carpenter, alongside real-world conspiracy theories surrounding experimental broadcast technology and classified communications research during the 1980s.

Since its debut, The Other Town has received critical acclaim for its restrained storytelling, tone, performances, and world-building, with particular praise for its use of sound design and period detail. Critics have highlighted the series’ focus on emotional consequence and communal guilt as a departure from more conventional supernatural genre entries. The series has been positioned as a flagship genre title, achieving strong viewership and expanding into additional media, including tie-in novels, limited-run comics, and ancillary storytelling projects set within the same continuity.

Overview

The first season is set in the late 1980s in the fictional town of Northpoint, a quiet rural community surrounded by forest and decommissioned Cold War infrastructure. After a series of unexplained radio transmissions are detected across the town, several residents begin experiencing shared visions, missing time, and encounters with people and places that should no longer exist. As the phenomenon intensifies, it becomes clear that Northpoint is overlapping with a forgotten version of itself—referred to only as “the other town”—forcing its residents to confront buried events and unresolved disappearances from the town’s past.

Cast and characters

Main

• Caleb McLaughlin as Evan Carter: A quiet, observant 14-year-old with a fascination for radios and obsolete electronics. Evan is the first to intercept the mysterious broadcast, placing him at the center of the town’s unraveling and making him increasingly vulnerable to its effects.
• Sadie Sink as Mara Holloway: A guarded and sharp-witted teenager whose older brother vanished years earlier during a previous signal event. Mara becomes a driving force in uncovering the truth behind Northpoint’s suppressed history.
• Jack Dylan Grazer as Noah Pike: An impulsive and outspoken teen who masks fear with humor. After hearing the signal, Noah begins experiencing blackouts and episodes of sleepwalking that place him in escalating danger.
• Julia Butters as Claire Benton: A withdrawn and perceptive girl who begins drawing locations she has never visited, which later prove to exist within the “other town.” Claire’s connection to the phenomenon appears instinctive rather than technological.
• Finn Wolfhard as Lucas Reed: Evan’s best friend and an aspiring filmmaker who documents life in Northpoint. His recordings begin capturing events and figures that no one else remembers, challenging his skepticism.
• David Harbour as Sheriff Rowan Hale: Northpoint’s longtime sheriff who was a teenager during the first recorded signal incident. Haunted by guilt and secrecy, Hale quietly works to prevent history from repeating itself while concealing his knowledge of past events.
• Winona Ryder as Elaine Carter: Evan’s mother and a former radio technician who once worked on a classified Cold War-era communications project. As the signal returns, Elaine is forced to confront her indirect role in the town’s buried past.

Recurring

• Paul Reiser as Dr. Howard Kessler: A retired physicist connected to a defunct federal communications program that operated near Northpoint. His fragmented recollections suggest deliberate erasures rather than failed experiments.
• Cara Buono as Margaret Holloway: Mara’s mother, who has publicly denied her son’s disappearance for years while privately preparing for his possible return.
• Joe Keery as Thomas “Tom” Beck: A local radio station employee whose late-night broadcasts occasionally pick up fragments of the signal, drawing unwanted attention from both the teens and the authorities.
• Matthew Modine as Colonel Richard Vance: A former military liaison tied to the original signal project, whose reappearance signals renewed federal interest in Northpoint.
• Maya Hawke as Irene Walsh: A journalist from a neighboring town investigating a pattern of disappearances linked to Northpoint’s past.

Guest

• Noah Schnapp as Daniel Holloway: Mara’s older brother, who vanished during an earlier signal cycle and whose fate becomes central to the season’s mystery.
• Brett Gelman as Arthur Bell: An eccentric electronics collector who claims to have heard the signal decades earlier.
• Priah Ferguson as Lena Brooks: A classmate of the main group who briefly experiences the phenomenon before refusing to speak about it.

Episodes

Season 1 (2026)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Chapter One: Signal Noise"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
In 1988, unexplained electrical disturbances strike the Midwestern town of Northpoint when a decommissioned radio tower briefly reactivates, emitting an unsettling hum. Fourteen-year-old Evan Carter begins receiving distorted broadcasts through a modified shortwave radio in his bedroom, prompting concern from his mother Elaine, whose reactions suggest prior knowledge of the phenomenon. At school, Evan and his friends—Lucas Reed, Mara Holloway, Noah Pike, and Claire Benton—sense something wrong as Evan encounters messages that appear and vanish without explanation. Investigating the nearby woods, the group witnesses the radio tower power on, unleashing violent static, overlapping voices, and a localized tremor before abruptly shutting down, as an unseen figure observes from the treeline. Elsewhere, Sheriff Rowan Hale recognizes the signal on a restricted frequency and suppresses it, while Mara privately reflects on her missing brother Ben. That night, Evan’s radio activates again, delivering a calm message insisting that those who disappeared were not lost, but forgotten.
2	2	"Chapter Two: Dead Air"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
In 1988, a man fleeing through the woods outside Northpoint disappears after encountering a familiar figure amid a rising electrical hum, triggering renewed disturbances across the town. Evan awakens from violent dreams linked to the hum as Elaine reveals she has long feared its return. At school, Evan, Lucas, Mara, Noah, and Claire realize they are all experiencing the same phenomenon, while Sheriff Hale investigates reports of voices and the disappearance of Ethan, uncovering evidence that Northpoint no longer aligns with itself geographically. Drawn to the radio tower, the group finds fences erased without trace and footprints that abruptly end, as a disembodied voice acknowledges their discovery. Elaine admits similar disappearances occurred years earlier during secret signal tests, while Mara confronts Hale about Ben. As radios activate across town and the hum intensifies, Ethan reappears in an unfamiliar version of Northpoint, welcomed by figures who insist he has come home.
3	3	"Chapter Three: The Relay"	Alex Garland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
In 1982, a technician at a covert radio relay station intercepts an unauthorized transmission that claims the system has opened a “door,” before the signal overwhelms the equipment and cuts out. In the present, Northpoint begins subtly destabilizing as radios activate on their own, machinery malfunctions, and residents experience memory gaps, while Evan and his friends notice physical changes around town, including the sudden appearance of Ethan’s name engraved into a school locker. Sheriff Hale is confronted by a federal official who insists the relay project was erased, forcing Hale to question the fate of those who vanished years earlier. Investigating the abandoned relay station, the group discovers surviving equipment and a tape documenting experimental broadcasts meant to stabilize the town by suppressing a “duplicate environment.” As Mara realizes Ben’s grave has vanished, the hum intensifies and familiar figures briefly reappear before disappearing again. Returning to the relay station, the group witnesses a map revealing two overlapping versions of Northpoint, as a disembodied voice claims one was erased so the other could survive, signaling that the town’s buried past is reasserting itself and can no longer be contained.
4	4	"Chapter Four: Static People"	Kari Skogland	Kari Skogland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
As residents of Northpoint begin disappearing without alarm, an elderly woman vanishes inside a supermarket when her body loses physical cohesion, an event the town immediately forgets. Subtle anomalies spread as school lessons repeat, records alter themselves, and Sheriff Hale realizes memories are being selectively erased. Evan and his friends learn the radio signal is forcing a choice between remembering the disturbances and remaining “stable,” with those who acknowledge the phenomenon slowly fading from collective memory. Public spaces descend into forced normalcy as residents consciously agree to forget moments of disruption. Confronting the signal, Hale admits his role in earlier erasures and is told the town survived because people chose not to remember. As Northpoint’s twin towers pulse in alternating rhythm, the town begins dividing into those who endure by forgetting and those who refuse to let the past disappear.
5	5	"Chapter Five: The Long Loop"	Alex Garland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
As Northpoint continues to fracture, Mrs. Langley briefly reappears on Main Street before stepping into a distorted reflection and vanishing again, signaling that disappearances are no longer permanent or clean. Elaine reveals to Evan that the signal is trapped in an incomplete loop meant to smooth over instability by offering peace through forgetting, but that continued awareness threatens to break it entirely. Evidence of erasure mounts when Mrs. Langley’s house disappears from existence, prompting the group to realize the town is circling an unresolved decision. Sheriff Hale confronts federal oversight and learns Northpoint was duplicated to preserve order, with the process continuing only because most residents choose comfort over memory. At the relay station, the group discovers the cycle sorts people by their willingness to forget, trapping those who accept peace in The Other Town permanently. Mara is shown Ben alive and whole in that place, offered the chance to join him, but she refuses when she realizes staying would mean forgetting him. The interruption destabilizes the system, causing the loop to stutter as memories resurface across Northpoint, leaving the town unsettled and the signal openly hostile as the illusion of stability begins to collapse.
6	6	"Chapter Six: Overlap"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
As the barrier between Northpoint and the Other Town thins, residents begin glimpsing overlapping streets, houses, and people that appear and vanish mid-moment as the hum pulses through town. Elaine warns Evan that the system is no longer containing the split but compensating for it, while daily life fractures into quiet confusion as classrooms, sounds, and even memories exist differently depending on who is looking. Sheriff Hale learns the containment program has shifted toward offering relief rather than preservation, allowing grief to be rewritten instead of confronted. Mara realizes her mother’s memories of Ben are being gently altered, revealing that forgetting is being assisted, not chosen. At the relay station, the group discovers the signal has entered an unstable overlap phase, layering both towns and preparing to resolve the fracture by allowing only one version to persist. As the overlap peaks, Mara encounters Ben again and understands the Other Town is sustained by comfort rather than truth. With emergency broadcasts overtaken by the signal and forced resolution approaching, the group resolves to resist the cycle, knowing that when it completes, one Northpoint will cease to exist.
7	7	"Chapter Seven: Missing Frequency"	Alex Garland	Kari Skogland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
As disappearances escalate, patients vanish from Northpoint Hospital mid-treatment as names erase themselves from records, signaling that memory realignment has begun. The town visibly fractures, with buildings flickering in and out of existence and residents realizing—often too late—that they are being sorted by what they remember. Elaine prepares for collapse by recording the town’s history onto tapes, explaining to Evan that memory is not meant to last forever but to resist erasure. Sheriff Hale confronts the federal overseer and learns the system is designed to let the signal decide which version of Northpoint survives, trading grief for stability. At the relay station, the group discovers the frequency is weakening and that failure will not destroy either town but merge them, eliminating the Other Town and the ability to forget. As the signal drops, figures trapped in the Other Town destabilize, including Ben, who fears returning despite the pain it brings. With the system unable to re-lock, Elaine reveals that restoration requires a human anchor capable of holding every memory at once. When the frequency begins to surge again, Elaine takes responsibility for the experiment and binds herself to the system, anchoring the signal through memory rather than suppression as the town teeters between collapse and convergence.
8	8	"Chapter Eight: The Other Town"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	October 16, 2026 (2026-10-16)
After anchoring the signal, Elaine stabilizes the hum by absorbing Northpoint’s full memory, bringing the town back into a single, continuous reality that is scarred but intact. As morning breaks, buildings remain solid and residents experience uneven returns of memory, grief resurfacing without warning as the cost of forgetting is undone. Evan realizes Elaine now remembers everything, a permanence that frightens him as much as it reassures him. With school closed, the group recognizes the crisis has not ended but been exposed, while Mara accepts that remembering Ben also means living with his loss. Sheriff Hale watches erased records restore themselves as federal oversight retreats, its attempt to make grief optional quietly defeated. At the relay station, Elaine explains she is not stopping the signal but containing it, knowing its return is inevitable when memory fails. The Other Town lingers in diminished form, no longer a refuge but a remnant, as Ben chooses to remain apart. Beneath the tower’s steady pulse, Elaine asserts that erasure no longer has authority, leaving Northpoint whole, hurting, and alive in its choice to remember.

Season 2 (2027)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
9	1	"Chapter One: Ash Still Warm"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	October 22, 2027 (2027-10-22)
Three months after the containment of the Other Town, Thomas Kerr is taunted by an animal-like humanoid figure and disappears on the outskirts of Northpoint. Elaine begins experiencing recurring visions of the Other Town, accompanied by physical distress. At school, Claire and Evan discover they are among the few students who still remember the events that occurred three months earlier. Ben Holloway, revealed to have escaped the Other Town, reunites with Mara, who introduces him to her boyfriend, Bob. Elsewhere, Noah Pike encounters a portal to the Other Town and briefly sees a figure within it before leaving. In the Other Town, the creature responsible for Kerr’s disappearance identifies itself as the Warewolf and kills a severely injured Kerr, accusing him of exploiting the period of erasure and declaring its intent to cross into the main dimension. Sheriff Hale later informs Evan of Kerr’s death, and Evan links the incident to the Other Town.
10	2	"Chapter Two: The Shape That Remembers"	Alex Garland	Alex Garland	October 22, 2027 (2027-10-22)
Warewolf orders its followers, referred to as “minions,” to locate Gary Whitlock, a former associate of Thomas Kerr. The minions appear outside Whitlock’s store, attack him, kill several bystanders, and abduct Whitlock into the Other Town, delivering him to Warewolf. At Rowan Hale’s request, Noah and Evan enlist Lucas to help investigate Kerr’s death. In the Other Town, Warewolf restrains Whitlock in a cage, claiming it wanted him to understand what he had helped conceal, and reveals that it was once human. Elsewhere, Linda Parks is attacked by a shadow entity resembling one of the beings defeated months earlier and is killed before Ben intervenes; it is revealed that Ben has been secretly experiencing visions of the disappearances, the deaths, and Warewolf itself. Warewolf later kills Whitlock and identifies itself as Jackson Miller, a boy who vanished during the first incursion in 1970. Ben confides in Evan about his visions and warns him that a wolf-like figure is responsible for the recent attacks. Warewolf opens a portal and crosses into the main dimension.
11	3	"Chapter Three: Warehouse of Teeth"	Kari Skogland	Kari Skogland	October 22, 2027 (2027-10-22)
As unexplained blood appears throughout Northpoint, Sheriff Hale orders residents to shelter in place and secure their homes. Evan and Elaine, along with Lucas, Claire, and Ben, determine that the entity Hale refers to as the “Wolfman” has crossed fully into their dimension from the Other Town. The Warewolf attacks an apartment building, inducing violent visions in the resident and reading his thoughts to locate police activity, declaring its intent to “cleanse” those it deems corrupt. Amid the escalating crisis, Evan meets Mady Porter, and the two share a brief moment of normalcy that ends in a kiss. Elaine is later ambushed by one of the Warewolf’s minions and dragged to a deserted area, where Evan and the others attempt a rescue but are confronted by the Warewolf itself. After overpowering the group, the Warewolf vows to kill them—but not yet—claiming he has plans for them before withdrawing. Police arrive shortly afterward, and Hale concludes the teens were not the intended targets. The Warewolf watches from a distance before opening a portal and returning to the Other Town. At the hospital, Lucas reveals that Ben has been concealing information about the recent events.
12	4	"Chapter Four: What We Let Happen"	Alex Garland	Alex Garland	November 29, 2027 (2027-11-29)
Evan recovers in hospital and meets signal analyst Alex Singh, who confirms he is aware of the Other Town and reveals he originated from the year 2077, though he refuses to explain future outcomes. Evan urges Alex to remain in Northpoint and help stop what is happening, but Alex avoids committing beyond observation. As the Warewolf escalates its actions, it begins using the blood of its victims to power a device capable of opening a larger, more stable portal to the Other Town. Ethan Mellis reappears and reveals that his best friend, Miles Porter—Mady’s brother—has returned, prompting Mady to confide in Evan and express her fear of losing him and her growing attachment to his family. Alex later discloses he was born in 2050 and constructed a machine that allowed him to travel back in time. Sheriff Hale responds to reports of a wolf-like figure and a strange machine, bringing him into direct contact with the teens, where Lucas confronts Ben, who admits he has been experiencing visions connected to the disappearances and apologizes for hiding them. Alex uncovers records indicating that Jackson Miller, a boy who vanished in 1970, was taken into the Other Town, though his survival remains uncertain. Elsewhere, the Warewolf gathers its minions and demands their loyalty as it works to “perfect” the world it now occupies.
13	5	"Chapter Five: The Warewolf"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	November 29, 2027 (2027-11-29)
In 1966, Jackson Miller encounters a spiritual entity that foretells his role in triggering an incursion that will give rise to an alternate dimension later known as the Other Town. In 1970, after sharing a quiet moment with his girlfriend Holly, she is killed in a freak accident, sending Jackson into a spiral of grief and substance abuse. After overcoming his addiction, Jackson is violently attacked by a group of bullies who blame him for Holly’s death; he retaliates by killing them and flees toward a mysterious portal. Crossing through it, Jackson finds himself trapped in a distorted version of Northpoint where time does not function normally. There, a shadowy presence attacks him and reshapes him into a wolf-like entity, naming him the Warewolf. In the present, Alex, Lucas, Evan, Mady, and Miles investigate a barn and discover the machine connected to the Other Town, only for the Warewolf to return, attack them, and demand they leave him alone before escaping with the device. Elsewhere, Sheriff Hale confronts Elaine and demands to know how she managed to contain the Other Town, realizing the current threat is rooted in choices made decades earlier.
14	6	"Chapter Six: Blood Without a Body"	Alex Garland	Kari Skogland	November 29, 2027 (2027-11-29)
Warewolf declares his intent to strike Northpoint and carries out an attack on the Northpoint Police Department, killing most of the officers while Sheriff Hale narrowly escapes. In the aftermath, Mady urges Evan to leave Northpoint once Warewolf is dealt with and attempt to live a normal life, though Evan struggles with the idea of killing, a concern Alex counters by stating that entities from the Other Town are no longer human. Hale later informs the group of the attack, confirming that Warewolf has begun killing deliberately rather than selectively. Reclaiming the name Jackson, Warewolf uses the blood of the slain officers to power his machine, activating it and releasing multiple minions into Northpoint. Alex confronts Jackson and briefly reads his thoughts, sensing regret, before Jackson attacks and nearly kills him, forcing Alex to flee. Elsewhere, Mady and Evan attempt to convince Ben, Mara, and Ethan to leave Northpoint due to their lack of abilities, but they refuse. Jackson later appears in human form and approaches Ben, addressing him as an “old friend.”
15	7	"Chapter Seven: Confession Engine"	Kari Skogland	Alex Garland	December 19, 2027 (2027-12-19)
Northpoint begins warping in real time as Jackson activates his machine, allowing the Other Town’s influence to spread into the town. While walking home with Mady, Evan is stopped by a man who confesses to a murder committed the previous year, forcing Evan to insist he surrender to the authorities. As similar confessions escalate across Northpoint, Alex, Ethan, and Miles begin tracking the entities Jackson released, during which Alex reveals his telekinetic abilities and commits to remaining in the present. Jackson later attacks Evan and Mady, but is driven off when Alex intervenes. Sheriff Hale arrests the confessor and pressures Evan to assist in identifying others who admit to violent crimes, a role Mady openly opposes. In the Other Town, Jackson meets a shadowy entity calling itself Flayor, which orders him to kill Alex and Evan. As townspeople protest to keep the confession engine active, believing it delivers justice, Miles, Alex, Evan, Ben, and Ethan locate the machine, shut it down, and destroy its power source. Discovering the sabotage, Jackson vows to hunt them down one by one.
16	8	"Chapter Eight: The Town That Hunts"	Alex Garland	Alex Garland	December 19, 2027 (2027-12-19)
Jackson abducts Evan and Mady, forcing them to help him seize control of Northpoint as his influence spreads across a growing danger zone. Alex and Miles trace their location while Ben, Ethan, Elaine, Hale, and Mara coordinate evacuations, fearing Jackson has begun asserting territorial control. When Alex and Miles confront him, Jackson incapacitates Miles and engages Alex in a running fight through Northpoint that ultimately spills into the Other Town. There, Alex overwhelms Jackson by forcing him to experience the full emotional weight of his actions, causing Jackson to destabilize and die. Alex returns to Northpoint, frees Evan and Mady, and assures them the threat has ended, while tending to Miles, who survives with minor injuries. With the danger unresolved for those without protection, Evan and Mady depart Northpoint alongside Elaine and Mara, promising to return. As the town gathers for a subdued celebration, Alex senses a looming presence beyond the conflict, realizing something far greater is approaching.