docarray
diff --git a/docarray/array/abstract_array.py b/docarray/array/abstract_array.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     Type,
     TypeVar,
     Union,
+    cast,
 )
 
 from docarray.base_document import BaseDocument
@@ -34,7 +35,10 @@ def __repr__(self):
         return f'<{self.__class__.__name__} (length={len(self)})>'
 
     @classmethod
-    def __class_getitem__(cls, item: Type[BaseDocument]):
+    def __class_getitem__(cls, item: Union[Type[BaseDocument], TypeVar, str]):
+        if not isinstance(item, type):
+            return Generic.__class_getitem__.__func__(cls, item)  # type: ignore
+            # this do nothing that checking that item is valid type var or str
         if not issubclass(item, BaseDocument):
             raise ValueError(
                 f'{cls.__name__}[item] item should be a Document not a {item} '
@@ -48,7 +52,7 @@ def __class_getitem__(cls, item: Type[BaseDocument]):
             global _DocumentArrayTyped
 
             class _DocumentArrayTyped(cls):  # type: ignore
-                document_type: Type[BaseDocument] = item
+                document_type: Type[BaseDocument] = cast(Type[BaseDocument], item)
 
             for field in _DocumentArrayTyped.document_type.__fields__.keys():
 

diff --git a/docarray/array/array/array.py b/docarray/array/array/array.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
     TYPE_CHECKING,
     Any,
     Callable,
-    Generic,
     Iterable,
     List,
     Optional,
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ def _is_np_int(item: Any) -> bool:
     return False  # this is unreachable, but mypy wants it
 
 
-class DocumentArray(IOMixinArray, AnyDocumentArray, Generic[T_doc]):
+class DocumentArray(IOMixinArray, AnyDocumentArray[T_doc]):
     """
      DocumentArray is a container of Documents.
 

diff --git a/docarray/array/stacked/array_stacked.py b/docarray/array/stacked/array_stacked.py
@@ -42,11 +42,12 @@
 else:
     TensorFlowTensor = None  # type: ignore
 
+T_doc = TypeVar('T_doc', bound=BaseDocument)
 T = TypeVar('T', bound='DocumentArrayStacked')
 IndexIterType = Union[slice, Iterable[int], Iterable[bool], None]
 
 
-class DocumentArrayStacked(AnyDocumentArray):
+class DocumentArrayStacked(AnyDocumentArray[T_doc]):
     """
     DocumentArrayStacked is a container of Documents appropriates to perform
     computation that require batches of data (ex: matrix multiplication, distance
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ class DocumentArrayStacked(AnyDocumentArray):
 
     def __init__(
         self: T,
-        docs: Optional[Union[DocumentArray, Iterable[BaseDocument]]] = None,
+        docs: Optional[Union[DocumentArray, Iterable[T_doc]]] = None,
         tensor_type: Type['AbstractTensor'] = NdArray,
     ):
         self._doc_columns: Dict[str, 'DocumentArrayStacked'] = {}
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.from_iterable_document(docs)
 
     def from_iterable_document(
-        self: T, docs: Optional[Union[DocumentArray, Iterable[BaseDocument]]]
+        self: T, docs: Optional[Union[DocumentArray, Iterable[T_doc]]]
     ):
         self._docs = (
             docs
@@ -254,7 +255,7 @@ def _set_array_attribute(
             setattr(self._docs, field, values)
 
     @overload
-    def __getitem__(self: T, item: int) -> BaseDocument:
+    def __getitem__(self: T, item: int) -> T_doc:
         ...
 
     @overload
@@ -276,9 +277,7 @@ def __getitem__(self, item):
             setattr(doc, field, self._tensor_columns[field][item])
         return doc
 
-    def __setitem__(
-        self: T, key: Union[int, IndexIterType], value: Union[T, BaseDocument]
-    ):
+    def __setitem__(self: T, key: Union[int, IndexIterType], value: Union[T, T_doc]):
         # multiple docs case
         if isinstance(key, (slice, Iterable)):
             return self._set_data_and_columns(key, value)
@@ -476,7 +475,7 @@ def unstacked_mode(self):
     @classmethod
     def validate(
         cls: Type[T],
-        value: Union[T, Iterable[BaseDocument]],
+        value: Union[T, Iterable[T_doc]],
         field: 'ModelField',
         config: 'BaseConfig',
     ) -> T:

diff --git a/tests/units/array/test_array.py b/tests/units/array/test_array.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from typing import Optional, Union
+from typing import Optional, TypeVar, Union
 
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
@@ -294,3 +294,17 @@ def test_del_item(da):
         'hello 8',
         'hello 9',
     ]
+
+
+def test_generic_type_var():
+    T = TypeVar('T', bound=BaseDocument)
+
+    def f(a: DocumentArray[T]) -> DocumentArray[T]:
+        return a
+
+    def g(a: DocumentArray['BaseDocument']) -> DocumentArray['BaseDocument']:
+        return a
+
+    a = DocumentArray()
+    f(a)
+    g(a)