Stranger Things: Tales From '85

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is an animated Netflix series set in Hawkins, Indiana, during the winter of 1985. The story sits between the events of Stranger Things Season 2 and Season 3, returning to the period after the Mind Flayer was driven from Will Byers and before the Starcourt Mall storyline. Netflix describes the premise as a new adventure for the original Hawkins kids, who confront fresh monsters and investigate a paranormal mystery threatening their town. The series therefore uses the established 1985 setting rather than moving forward from Stranger Things Season 4. Its release is scheduled for 2026. The project was publicly introduced under its final title at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2025. It had previously been announced by Netflix as a Stranger Things animated series. Eric Robles serves as creator and showrunner and is an executive producer alongside the Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Hilary Leavitt. Robles has said the creative aim was to evoke the animation he loved growing up, and Netflix’s early material presented the program with a 1980s Saturday-morning-cartoon sensibility. The production is made by Upside Down Pictures and 21 Laps, with animation from Flying Bark Productions. Although the series revisits familiar characters, it uses a new voice cast rather than the live-action ensemble. Brooklyn Davey Norstedt voices Eleven, while Luca Diaz plays Mike Wheeler and Elisha Williams plays Lucas Sinclair. Braxton Quinney voices Dustin Henderson, Benjamin Plessala voices Will Byers, and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport plays Max Mayfield. The adult and older-teen Hawkins roles include Brett Gipson as Jim Hopper, Janeane Garofalo as Joyce Byers, Jeremy Jordan as Steve Harrington, and Odessa A’zion as Nancy Wheeler. These casting choices identify Tales From ’85 as a separate performance of the franchise’s characters, rather than an adaptation using archival audio. The show belongs to Netflix’s continuing expansion of Stranger Things beyond the flagship live-action series. The franchise originated with the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things, which debuted on Netflix in July 2016. Tales From ’85 does not replace the fifth and final season of that live-action show; it is a distinct animated project positioned in the chronology of the earlier seasons. Its announced materials place Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max together in Hawkins during a snow-covered period of 1985. By choosing that interval, the series can use the characters’ established friendships while introducing the supernatural threat in its premise.