- Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space
- Dr. Zarkendorf says he found a flying saucer buried under the ice in Antarctica, but (falsely) claims it was destroyed when they tried melting it out with thermite.
- Gneelix, who is a man-husky hybrid, is writing a sci-fi story about a shapeshifting alien disguised as a man who stumbles into a camp of huskies in Antarctica and starts taking them over one by one. "I call it Who Grows Hair?"
- Reporter Buster Kincaid notes how everyone missed an Alien Invasion because they were Distracted by the Sexy and urges his readers: "Keep those flies zipped up! Keep watching the flies!"
- Friend of the World: A once human character gets on top of another, melting and fusing heads similar to Split-Face.
- Seeding of a Ghost: In the final scene, the demon baby, having assumed a physical form, turns into a tentacled monster resembling the Thing as it goes on a rampaging spree in a party, assimilating everyone in its way.
- It: Chapter Two references one of The Thing's most infamous scene, when Pennywise takes on the form of young!Stan's severed head, which then grows legs and attacks. Made explicit by Richie's line "You've gotta be fucking kidding!"
- As a bonus, this also references actor Richard Masur, who played adult Stan in the miniseries and Clark in The Thing (1982).
- The Faculty: The scene where the teens are going to snort drugs to see if any of them is possessed by the alien parasites references the blood test scene from The Thing. Also, another character possessed by said parasites gets decapitated, but their head is seen crawling around thanks to a set of tentacles, and then reattaches itself to their body.
- Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials has an entry on The Thing. The picture is taken from the original description (albeit half-changed into a husky) rather than the later film.
- In Language Arts, The Thing is one of Charles's favorite horror movies. He remembers how Donnie told him that the clicking noise that accompanies the RKO logo is Morse code for An RKO Radio Picture.
- Night Dragon has a reference towards the Norris-thing; after the titular dragon is slain, it's head detaches itself, grows spider-legs, and continues attacking the hero.
- Battlestar Galactica (2003): The Vanity Plate for the episode "Black Market". Ronald D. Moore suggests "Monsters", and David Eick becomes a monster that resembles the Norris-Thing.
- Better Call Saul: Kim is evidently a fan of classic horror movies, as she also asks Jimmy if he'd like to watch Kurt Russell in The Thing.
- The Deep Space Nine episode "The Adversary" was inspired by The Thing, particularly the group trapped in an isolated location (in this case a spaceship), the blood test to identify a shapeshifter disguised as one of their own, and the ruthless desire of the protagonists to hunt down and kill the shapeshifter (in contrast to the usual attempt to understand or negotiate with a Monster of the Week).
- Farscape. In "I, E.T.", John Crichton encounters a ufologist on another planet that hasn't made First Contact yet. When it's time for him to leave he urges her to "Keep watching the skies."
- The 2020 miniseries The Head has the winter-over crew of an Antarctic research station watching The Thing, as per tradition. As per the movie, fear and paranoia set in once an unknown killer is revealed to be in their midst, albeit of the human species.
- Stranger Things: The poster for The Thing (1982) hangs on Mike's wall and Mr. Clarke watches the Norris-monster scene at one point. Also acts as foreshadowing for the Kill It with Fire solution for the monster, like The Thing.
- The X-Files: The X-Files S01 E08 "Ice" is a Whole-Plot Reference to the movie.
Music
- In Slime Creatures from Outer Space, "Weird Al" Yankovic advises the listener regarding the slimy alien invaders to: "Hide the children, lock the doors, and always watch the skies!"
- The Coldlight Walker, a creature from the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden adventure for Dungeons & Dragons visually resembles the creature on the theatrical poster, being a shambling parka-clad humanoid with a massive spotlight in place of its face. The similarities end there, however, as Coldlight Walkers are a variety of undead that results from people freezing to death in the tundra, and as such they have An Ice Person powers to create more of their kind rather than Body Horror-type Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities.
- Codename: Tenka has a giant mutated Waddling Head monster on spider-legs, resembling the head-thing from the film. One of it's legs is coming from it's left eye, for starters.
- Endless Nightmare: Prison have mutant dog enemies based directly on the dog-thing - appearing to be canine, they reveal themselves by splitting their heads open into a mess of tentacles to attack the players. It's possible to kill them before they transform, and their death animation is a digital recreation of the husky in the film.
- Unfortunate Spacemen, whose main multiplayer mode is a hybrid of Social Deduction Game and First-Person Shooter Asymmetric Multiplayer where one player is disguised as an alien monster whose goal is to eliminate all the other players and can disguise themselves as them, has a map called Outpost 13 set in an Eerie Arctic Research Station complete with a kennel.
- Among Us on top of having it's main premise be figuring out which of the players are secretly alien killers it also has the "Polus" map which is a snowy research base, complete with a separate storage hut in the centre, much like the one Blair is locked up in. In addition, its main menu theme
is a clear reference to the end credits theme of The Thing. - Metroid Fusion is practically a Whole-Plot Reference. After investigating a remote outpost, a research team discovers a lifeform which assimilates, infects, and transforms and/or replaces its victims. Armed with this knowledge, one of the last survivors destroys the facility rather than allow the creatures to live and spread beyond it. If the Metroid's are a Xenomorph Xerox, then Parasite X is a clear Expy of The Thing.
- Final Fantasy VII: the creature Jenova is notably similar to the Thing, and its backstory involves dropping on the Planet from space in a polar region, and infecting/assimilating members of the Cetra race in a manner likewise similar. The incarnation of Jenova fought by the main characters in the present, though, is much less proactive in spreading itself, perhaps as a result of the Cetra's last ditch effort to contain it somehow removing its will to procreate. The victims of a full Jenova infestation (as opposed to a controlled infestation, which produces SOLDIERs), known as "Helletics", look gory and chimeric, similar to the Thing's victims' attack forms.
- In the Remake continuity, Jenova even has blood that moves on its own, just like the Thing.
- Paranatural: In chapter 5, Ed compares the situation to The Thing and suggests using the teachers' blood to find out which one is possessed.
- SCP Foundation: SCP-5761 is an entity who took control of the ISS and forces its personnel to perform basic repair work on the interior of the station, some of them have been executed via bisection by an invisible force. The researchers theorized it is related to SCP-5167, a technological anomaly afflicting Among Us. Director Werner however states an alternative.Director Werner: It's coincidental — this, this whole matter could just as easily be modelled around The Thing, right? Or something else like that?
- Atop the Fourth Wall has reviewed all the comics, including a 1976 adaptation of Who Goes There? (whose narmy depiction of The Thing became memetic, down to a plushie of it being a part of the show's scenery). There was also a plotline doing a send-up to the movie during the October 2012 videos.
- Smosh did a spoof of the Thing, crossed over with Pokémon, called "The Ditto."
- Super-Villain-Bowl!: The Thing is one of the villains appearing in the video, where it assimilates The Joker and chewed off Agent Smith's hand.
- Gravity Falls: The Shapeshifter's transformations in "Into the Bunker" are basically a giant homage to The Thing (1982).
- One Martin Mystery episode is pretty much a Whole-Plot Reference to The Thing, where Martin and friends investigate an outpost in the Antartic and gets stalked by an alien monster that assimilates its victims. Being a cartoon, though, the "blood test" part is substituted by saliva instead.
- My Life as a Teenage Robot: There's a Shout-Out to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) of all ...things, in "Toying with Jenny." After Tuck tears the head off of one of the dolls, it produces four spider-like legs from its neck and walks away.
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: There's a scene in "Scarebear" where avocado fruit grow legs in a manner that recalls The Thing.
- The Simpsons. In "The Springfield Files", the Squeaky-Voiced Teen urges the audience to keep watching the skis...skies.
- South Park's season 11 episode "Lice Capades" has Cartman perform the blood test on the other boys. His outfit even matches MacReady's and he even says that his own negative test will confirm what he already knows.
