Amid discussions of who should be in the next season of The White Lotus or the next Knives Out movie, anthology series, whether based around one character or one place, seem to have caught people's excitement. Amid this, it's worth revisiting shows that have the potential or had the potential at the time to make their series focused on different lives in the environments created.
These are shows where the world-building was so strong that even as storylines got old and characters got boring, it still felt like there was more to be told. These are the shows where their worlds hold far more stories worth exploring.
10 'Community' (2009 - 2015)
Greendale Community College might seem empty without the initial cast, but with a different cast of quirky characters, it might have the makings of a modern hit. Greendale was an incredibly well-developed environment, notorious for its cheap building and cutting costs in the classes while going all out for multiple dances a year.
The environment cultivated in the series allows newer characters to fill the shoes of the older characters and take a different set of abnormal classes with crazy teachers. Community has so many multitudes that make it great to this day, from the place to the episode themes to the absurd background characters. It wouldn't be the same, but a continuation with different students or a prequel series with an origin story could be a lot of fun.
9 'Parks and Recreation' (2009-2015, 2020)
Pawnee, Indiana is a town full of insanity and a rich, albeit awful, history. While Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and the rest of the Parks and Recreation department certainly kept people entertained, the stories that others hold in the town could be just as interesting, like the library or the hospital.
Pawnee was built as a broken and run-down town, and even though it was repaired, it's still got its quirks, or a series could even revisit that era and have a new perspective on the town in a different place. The world built in the show has so many more stories that could be examined without the principal cast.
8 'Stranger Things' (2016-)
Whether it's in the air or underground, Hawkins, Indiana, seems to have taken on the curse of being home to a portal to the Upside Down, the mysterious alternate universe that Will Byers. (Noah Schnapp) got pulled into at the beginning of the show. The town's history or how this came into existence is relatively unknown, given that Hawkins seems like another innocuous Midwest town.
Hawkins is bound to have a fascinating history with different stories of encounters with the upside down that are worth exploring and explaining to give background to the town. There could be stories of people who navigate the demons without the help of someone like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and how they fight back, or if they can even survive, or even a look back at previous decades where something unexplained may have happened.
7 'Riverdale' (2017-2023)
Riverdale is notorious for its wild storyline around the former comic book characters, but the world of Riverdale still feels vast in its nature, with family ties and stories that date far back. Even without tying anything to the original cast, the town of Riverdale contains plenty of stories worth exploring.
The show is notorious for its campy aesthetic and monstrous dialogue, making it a hate-watching staple since the day it premiered; going even more absurd or exploring all of its inanity could provide many hilarious storylines across many genres. The ability of Riverdale to go all in on its more ludicrous elements makes it an oddly fascinating world.
6 'Pretty Little Liars' (2010-2017)
Despite the many spin-offs to Pretty Little Liars, most seem to move away from the central town, Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The wealthy and secretive town has more to it than it looks, as the tale of solving who "A" seems to involve many members of Rosewood.
An anthology could follow other potential victims or the other sinister parts of town that led to the full story. Regardless, the town must be full of terrifying, gripping stories: Rosewood holds a great environment for many more stories that could be carried with a whole new cast.
5 'Gilmore Girls' (2000-2007)
Stars Hollow is the center of the TV show Gilmore Girls. It's notorious for its quaint small-town beauty and quirky characters who constantly need a town hall meeting on every decision; meanwhile, it's so close to wealth that it clashes with that folksy feeling, with Rory (Alexis Bledel) being the one standout in town.
Even with its focus on Rory, Stars Hollow pops out in every episode with distinct side characters and fun history; there are bigger stories for it to tell that haven't come to be yet, but the world created around the Gilmore girls is one still worth exploring.
4 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (1997-2003)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer might be lost without the titular vampire slayer (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), but the town of Sunnydale offers a lot of promise in terms of alternative stories in the area. Sunnydale sits on top of Hellmouth, a gateway to demon realms, leaving the town full of supernatural beings running loose.
With all the other potential supernatural elements in the town to fill out story arcs, the show could focus on the perspective of one of the beings from Hellmouth or normal people in Sunnydale who learn to navigate what's happening. The town's history could easily be revisited and explored from many different angles or time periods.
3 'Once Upon A Time' (2011-2018)
Once Upon a Time's plot was about fairy tale characters living in a town called Storybrooke with no memory of their past lives as these characters, which was the result of a curse brought on by an evil queen who now lives as the mayor. While navigating the story without a core set of characters may seem challenging, it could explore more niche fairy tales or different folk tales to incorporate into the town.
The central premise of the show is incredibly entertaining, but the environment created around it and the world that exists in the town still has so much potential left, including the possibility of non-fairytale characters entering or having characters who get lost in the real world.
2 'Scream Queens' (2015-2016)
Ryan Murphy's wildly campy show, Scream Queens, centers on an uppity college campus being terrorized by its past. Many shows attempt to play with a similar premise; their characters and environment make Scream Queens stand out. The characters were almost dictated by their wealth, and the identities they created around trying to fit in with the wealthy showed strongly by how the sorority culture worked.
Bringing back Wallace University wouldn't necessarily have to focus on the same characters but a different perspective on the wealthy students there. Whether they're a part of the Greek life or part of a different generation, the old money that runs rampant alongside the secrets of Wallace gives a strong promise of more to learn about the college.
1 'Derry Girls' (2018-2022)
Derry Girls takes place in Derry, Ireland amid The Troubles, and its depiction of girlhood in turbulent political times was perfectly captured. The attitudes and politics of Derry don't just set a backdrop but exist as its own character.
An anthology on this series would be more about focusing on other people in this environment, maybe at a different time in Ireland's history; nonetheless it's another slice of life in Derry worth exploring.