Even though Netflix’s Stranger Things is set to end on New Years Eve, that doesn’t mean we’re done spending time in Hawkins, Indiana. That’s because next year, Netflix will release a new animated series, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. While details on this new series have been kept under wraps, during Netflix’s presentation at the Annecy Animation Festival in France today, the streamer finally pulled back the curtain on what fans can expect.
Now before you get too excited, Netflix only showed about two minutes of footage along with a pre-recorded video message from the Duffer Brothers, and they were very guarded about saying too much. It’s clear today’s presentation was just a taste of what’s to come. Before getting into what we learned, Netflix also released the first logline for the series:
Welcome back to Hawkins in the stark winter of 1985, where the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, an epic new animated series.
What Exactly Is ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’?
While Netflix is being very guarded about revealing too much about the series, between the footage shown in the room and what the Duffer Brothers said, I learned a lot. In their message, the Duffer Brothers discussed how they grew up watching — and loving — Saturday morning cartoons. One of their first ideas for expanding the Stranger Things universe was to create a cartoon. They expressed that they hope the series will evoke the same feeling as watching an old ’80s cartoon. In their video they showed clips from other 80s cartoons like Beetlejuice, which ran from 1989 to 1991, and a few others.
Here’s a breakdown of the key details we now know about the series:
- The series takes place in the winter of 1985 and between Stranger Things Seasons 2 and 3. If you don’t remember, Season 2 takes place in October 1984, and Season 3 in the days leading up to July 4, 1985.
- No information was provided about how many episodes were being made.
- No one talked about if Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is considered canon, like the live-action show. We’ll have to wait and see.
- Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Eleven, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, and Jim Hopper were all in the footage.
- Netflix didn’t provide any details on who was voicing the characters.
- The fast-moving footage shown at Annecy took place at their school in a lab, while riding their bikes, at Hopper’s house, the arcade, and outside Hawkins National Laboratory. It’s possible another location was shown, and I missed it while taking notes.
- The series will introduce a new character named Nikki Baxter who is “a tinker.” She has pinkish hair that’s short on the sides.
- The series promises “new mysteries” and “new monsters.” In the footage we saw some of the upside-down vines in the real world with a pumpkin head on top of them that was alive.
- Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer are executive producing the new project along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen via 21 Laps.
- Eric Robles is the showrunner.
- The studio Flying Bark is doing the animation.
- The series features CG animation. It’s not hand drawn like ’80s cartoons.
- The series will premiere in 2026.
As a huge Stranger Things fan, I’m looking forward to the series, but I will say the material shown looked like it was aiming at a younger audience. And I get it. By placing the series between Season 2 and 3, the characters were younger, so you can aim at that age group. But it’ll be interesting to see how many older fans will tune in to watch a CG cartoon.
I’ll wager if the Duffer brothers announce that the cartoon is canon, a lot more will care. Either way, it makes a lot of sense for Netflix to find ways to keep Stranger Things alive by producing new content for fans— especially with its young cast aging out of their characters’ ages.
via Collider