Netflix Reveals Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Animated Spinoff With Teaser Video, First Look Images, and Voice Cast Announcement

Netflix has announced Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, an animated spinoff due out in 2026.

In the teaser video, which shows snippets of footage, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer reveal that the idea with Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 is to evoke the feeling of an ’80s cartoon. The story takes place between Seasons 2 and 3 and features the main characters from Stranger Things itself.

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1986463588634997115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

“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,” reads the official blurb. First look images are below:

Matt and Ross Duffer are down as executive producers, with Eric Robles in place as showrunner. Flying Bark Productions is the animation studio. The announced voice cast is below:

Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 voice cast:

• Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven
• Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max
• Luca Diaz as Mike
• Ej (Elisha) Williams as Lucas
• Braxton Quinney as Dustin
• Ben Plessala as Will
• Brett Gipson as Hopper
• Additional voice cast includes Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips

The announcement was made on ‘Stranger Things Day.’ For the uninitiated, November 6, 1983 is the date Will Byers went missing in Hawkins, Indiana, kicking off the Stranger Things story the fifth and final season will soon wrap up.

Here’s the official blurb on Stranger Things Season 5:

The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.

Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix in three parts, with the first four episodes arriving for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26. The next three episodes premiere on Christmas, and the series finale will debut on the streamer and in over 350 theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve.

Stranger Things Season 5 release dates:

• VOL 1 – November 26, 5pm PT
• VOL 2 – Christmas, 5pm PT
• THE FINALE – New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT

Season 5 arrives over three years after the finale of Season 4. For more, check out the burning questions we still have from Stranger Things Season 4.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.