The Boroughs is the name of a 1950’s-looking retirement village – with the old-style televisions of the day – where Dee Wallace‘s character, Gracie, is living, while her husband, Edward (Ed Begley Jr – Strange Darling), has completely lost his mind.
But just when you think the place actually looks pretty decent – with every house having a Seraphim, which is like an Alexa for pensioners – and I wouldn’t mind it, myself, but suddenly, there’s some big, fucking creepy things out there, looking like E.T. gone VERY wrong!
Sam Cooper’s (Alfred Molina – Boogie Nights) gone to live there, only because it was his wife, Lilly’s (Jane Kaczmarek), choice… but she has now since passed away. While reminiscing about her, he wants out of there.
He also doesn’t like uninvited guests, and when neighbour Jack Willard (Bill Pullman – American Ultra) walked in, introduced himself, couldn’t find a beer bottle opener, and just whacked its lid on Sam’s cooker top, that boiled my pee! The entitlement! The damage! Egads!
Still, slowly, Sam’s drawn into the ways of the neighbourhood, and even though he’s all “I want out” at the start, you know he’ll stay, because otherwise it would be a short series!
In The Boroughs, it’s good to see all the big names chewing the scenery, also including Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, and Clarke Peters, but amongst the placid goings on for the residents, there’s liberal doses of freaky shit going on. There’s no other way to describe that; and overall, it’s good, but it does feel very drawn out, and needs to pick up the pace a bit. 6 episodes instead of 8 would’ve been better.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
The Boroughs is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-60 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: May 21st 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Augustine Frizzell, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Ben Taylor
Producers: Joe Lotito, Jamie Vega Wheeler
Creators: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews
Writers: Ceators: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Tom Hanada, Jose Molina, James Schamus, Julie Siege, Yona Speidel, Keith Sweet
Music: John Paesano
Cast:
Sam Cooper: Alfred Molina
Renee Joyce: Geena Davis
Claire Cooper: Jena Malone
Jack Willard: Bill Pullman
Judy Daniels: Alfre Woodard
Wally Baker: Denis O’Hare
Art Daniels: Clarke Peters
Anneliese Shaw: Alice Kremelberg
Hank Williams: Eric Edelstein
Lilly: Jane Kaczmarek
Grace: Dee Wallace
Edward: Ed Begley Jr
Blaine Shaw: Seth Numrich
Paz Navarro: Carlos Miranda
Neil Otero: Rafael Casal
Ernest Neeman: Alex Knight
Franklin Campbell: Juan Gabriel Pareja
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.