Netflix Announces Stranger Things Animated Spinoff for 2026

Netflix is set to expand its Stranger Things universe with the premiere of an animated spinoff series, Stranger Things: Tales From 85, on April 23, 2026. The show, which fills a narrative gap between the second and third seasons of the original live-action series, will stream exclusively on the platform and marks the franchise's first foray into animation.

The original Stranger Things concluded its five-season run last December, wrapping up the story of Eleven and her friends in Hawkins, Indiana, after a decade on air. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the series began in 2016 as a supernatural thriller centered on a young girl's disappearance and evolved into a sprawling tale of interdimensional threats from the Upside Down. While the finale drew mixed reactions from fans over unresolved plot elements, such as the fate of certain creatures, the Duffers have signaled ongoing plans to explore the world they built. An untitled live-action spinoff is in development, focusing on a mysterious rock discovered by a young Henry Creel, but Tales From 85 arrives first as a self-contained story.

Set in the winter of 1985, shortly after the events of Season 2, the series follows Eleven,...