Copyright Polygon
Stranger Things will conclude its fifth and final season with a two-hour season finale on Dec. 31, but fans will be able to return to Hawkins, Indiana and the Upside Down soon after. Next year, Netflix is releasing Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, an animated show set between Stranger Things season 2 and 3. The Duffer Brothers first teased the spinoff in 2023 as a way to continue their celebration of ‘80s culture with a tribute to the decade’s Saturday morning cartoons. Flying Bark Productions, which worked on What If…? and Nickelodeon’s Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is handling the animation. Eric Robles (Fanboy & Chum Chum, Glitch Techs) serves as showrunner. Plot details are scarce, but the first images and a new featurette show the Hawkins kids entangled in a very carnivorous-looking plant and hiding from a zombie-like creature that’s wandering the streets. While an animated series would be a good way to allow Stranger Things’ young stars to continue playing roles they’ve aged out of after nine years, none of them are part of the voice cast for Tales from ‘85. Instead the roles will be played by new young actors without major previous roles. The spinoff news was announced on Nov. 6, which Netflix has designated as Stranger Things Day since the series kicked off with Will Byers going missing on Nov. 6, 1983. Stranger Things season 5 makes its world premiere in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET Nov. 6, accompanied by a livestream with cast interviews and a broadcast of the first five minutes of the final season. The first four episodes of Stranger Things season 5 will premiere on Netflix on Nov. 26, with three more episodes dropping on Christmas and the finale airing on New Year’s Eve. Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 will launch in 2026.
