Sci-fi horror series and sitcoms usually don’t have much in common, but a new video has given Stranger Things a bit of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia flair. YouTube user Juan Carlos Pelayo has created a short clip called Always Sunny in Hawkins Indiana that gives the Netflix series an intro reminiscent of the comedy show.
The 55-second video takes a scene from Stranger Things and gives it an Always Sunny twist. It opens with a black screen with the time and audio from the scene — then the sitcom’s theme music begins. The intro follows the Always Sunny format, establishing the time, day, and location for viewers. In this case, it is 11:30 a.m. on a Monday in Hawkins, Indiana.
Stranger Things centers on the mysterious disappearance of Will, a 12-year-old Hawkins boy. In the video, we see a scene from the series in which Will’s three best friends meet with the police and offer to help with search efforts. They are told not to go looking for their missing friend, and then we get the Always Sunny spoof episode title: The Gang Goes Investigating. As in the sitcom, the theme music kicks back in when the episode title is shown on a black screen.
As perfectly as the clip from Stranger Things works with the Always Sunny intro format, the sitcom’s opening theme is all wrong for it — the jolly music is at odds with the supernatural series’ grave premise.
Stranger Things premiered on Netflix with eight episodes on July 15 and seems likely to be renewed for a second season after receiving a positive critical response. The series stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine.
