Netflix will return to the town of Hawkins this spring with the debut of the animated series Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85. The new show is scheduled to premiere on the streaming platform on April 23.
Series creators Ross and Matt Duffer have been developing plans for spinoffs since the conclusion of the show's second season. The new project aims to recapture the early dynamic of the series by focusing on the core group of friends during their younger years.
Showrunner Eric Robles said the project originated from an impromptu brainstorming session with the Duffer brothers during the post-production of season 4. What was scheduled as a brief meeting turned into a 90-minute creative deep dive.
“We were kind of like a bunch of kids in a room saying, ‘Hey, wouldn’t this be cool?’” Robles told Polygon. “There’s this period between seasons 2 and 3 that we would love to just play with and make that our own sandbox.”
Building a new mythology
To ensure the animated series maintained its own identity without conflicting with the main show's complex canon, the writers opted to avoid existing antagonists like Vecna or the Mindflayer. Instead, the team developed a new threat involving a mutating plant monster capable of attacking in various forms.
Robles explained that sticking to the established Upside Down creatures would have muddied the narrative waters. By creating a new creature, the team established their own internal science while avoiding interference with the live-action timeline.
To flesh out these new monsters, the writing team looked beyond standard Dungeons & Dragons lore. They incorporated elements from the post-apocalyptic tabletop game Gamma World, which is better known for its focus on mutants.
Head writer Caitlin Schneiderhan, who also worked on the fourth and fifth seasons of the live-action series, provided the necessary bridge between the two formats. Robles noted that her involvement was essential for ensuring the animated series felt authentic to the established Stranger Things atmosphere.
“She brought a lot of that knowledge to the table and would be, ‘Hey, this is what we would do in the live action series,’” Robles said. “That's how we started putting the pieces together.”
Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 is the latest expansion of the franchise, following the Broadway production Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The main series concluded its run on December 31, 2025.
