Stranger Things fans will love The Institute adaptation, star promises

At the same time, Barnes’s Tim Jamieson arrives in the town as its newly appointed 'night knocker', discovering that his new home is grappling with strange goings-on.

And, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Barnes explained that comparisons to Stranger Things are certainly valid.

"The Institute has a similar kind of, like, gripping tension to it, that I think Stranger Things does," he revealed.

"But it also has that quiet, almost detective-like story to it as well. So it marries a few different things which might feel familiar, but then get sort of bent out of shape.

"I don't think it's derivative at all, but it definitely... there'll be things that people find familiar, hopefully."

Considering the success of the Netflix series, and the fact that Barnes himself enjoyed Stranger Things’ themes, he added that any connection between the two shows is a good thing.

"I did love that show – particularly the first season, which has the most parallels to this, I would say, in terms of having, like, special kids," he added.

"But I also love the way that things are handled within the genre. I think you can have those kinds of powers stand in for qualities in human beings, in terms of, like, telepathy being the way that we communicate, or telekinesis being… using powers that we don't know that we have to move or change a system or bend the rules, or whatever it might be.

"I think King explores those things really thoughtfully, which I love."

The comparisons with Stranger Things felt inevitable to director Jack Bender, who insisted that fans of the Duffer brothers’ work will "adore" what The Institute has in store.

However, he added that this show will still feel fresh and unique.

"If you adored Stranger Things, then there's no reason you won't adore our show," he told RadioTimes.com, "but the difference is, Stranger Things was very Spielbergian and ‘80s, right? And I always say it was more like a crayon drawing.

"And I don't mean crayon [as] demeaning at all. I thought Stranger Things... what I watched of it was very, very well done, and, needless to say, wildly successful.

"But I will say that Ben [Cavell, writer-producer]'s and my approach to this has always been, let's make this a little bit more of a dark ink version of that. Let's make this a little more edgy."

Cavell agreed, adding: "Everything Jack is saying is, of course, part of things that we talked about throughout.

"And I think it's also important that our show doesn't have monsters. I mean, except for human monsters.

"And that, I think, is a real difference between what we're doing and Stranger Things."

The Institute will premiere on MGM+ on 13th July.

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