Stranger Things: Tales From '85 Premieres April 23 on Netflix

Netflix is expanding the Stranger Things universe with an animated series, and it arrives on April 23, 2026. Stranger Things: Tales From '85 is a 10-episode animated series set in Hawkins during the winter of 1985, executive produced by Matt and Ross Duffer alongside Shawn Levy and Hilary Leavitt. It is led by showrunner Eric Robles and produced by Flying Bark, an animation studio with a track record of technically precise work across the genre.

The series takes place in a quieter period of the original show's timeline, after the core group has weathered the major threats of the Upside Down and returned to something resembling normal life. Snow covers Hawkins. Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have fallen back into the rhythms of school, games of Dungeons and Dragons, and time spent together. That calm, per the official synopsis, will not last. A new mystery emerges whose origin connects to the Upside Down, Hawkins Lab, or something else entirely, and the group is pulled back into investigation before they were ready to be.

Why Animation, and Why Now

The choice to expand Stranger Things through animation rather than a live-action spinoff is a meaningful creative and commercial decision. Animation allows the franchise to explore the Hawkins world at lower cost and with more visual flexibility, while sidestepping the casting complications that would come with either recasting the original characters or creating entirely new ones in the same setting. A new live-action series would have invited immediate comparisons to the original ensemble. An animated series creates its own visual register.

The Duffer Brothers have been public about wanting to expand the Stranger Things universe across multiple formats while still bringing the original live-action series to its planned conclusion. Tales From '85 is the first animated installment of that strategy. The series does not use any of the original cast to voice their characters, which is a deliberate choice that separates the animated and live-action continuities while keeping them canonically connected.

Showrunner Eric Robles brings specific animation expertise to the project, while the Duffer Brothers, Levy, and the Upside Down Pictures production company maintain executive oversight of the story and its relationship to the broader canon. Flying Bark, the Australian-based production studio behind the animation, has worked across both film and television projects in the genre.

The New Voice Cast

None of the original live-action cast members return to voice their characters in the animated series. Instead, a new ensemble has been assembled specifically for this format. Brooklyn Davey Norstedt voices Eleven, with Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Luca Diaz as Mike, Elisha Williams as Lucas, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, and Ben Plessala as Will. Brett Gipson takes on Hopper.

The supporting cast adds recognizable names in new roles. Jeremy Jordan voices Steve Harrington, a character who has become one of the original series' most beloved figures through his transformation across four seasons. Odessa A'zion plays Nikki Baxter, a new character introduced in the animated continuity. Janeane Garofalo voices Anna Baxter, and Lou Diamond Phillips plays Daniel Fischer, another character created for the series.

The inclusion of Robert Englund as a character named Cosmo is worth noting. Englund, best known as Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, had a recurring role in the original Stranger Things as Victor Creel in Season 4. His presence in the animated series maintains a thread of connection to the main show while giving his role a new form.

Format and Production Details

The season runs 10 episodes, each approximately 30 minutes long. The shorter episode format is well suited to animation and positions the series as something closer to a Saturday morning adventure than the extended, film-length episodes the original series deployed in its later seasons. The visual style, based on available promotional material, uses a vibrant, stylized aesthetic that is clearly influenced by the period setting while not slavishly imitating the look of the original.

Flying Bark, the production studio, is based in Sydney and has built a reputation for technically accomplished animation that works across multiple styles. The studio's experience with narrative animation makes it a credible choice for a property where story fidelity to an established universe matters as much as visual execution.

The series will release all 10 episodes on April 23, consistent with Netflix's current approach to animated series and shorter-form content, which generally favors full-season drops over weekly releases.

How It Fits the Stranger Things Timeline

Tales From '85 is set between what would roughly correspond to Seasons 2 and 3 of the original series, during a period when Hawkins was dealing with the aftermath of earlier Upside Down incursions but before the events of the Starcourt Mall summer. It is one of the few genuinely quiet stretches in the original show's timeline, which makes it a sensible creative choice: a new story can emerge from that quiet without contradicting established events.

The decision not to set the series after the original show's timeline, or in a completely separate continuity, signals that the Duffer Brothers view it as a legitimate part of the main canon rather than a side project. For viewers who have followed the original series closely, that matters. The animated series has to play by the same rules as the live-action show.

"The saga of Stranger Things isn't quite over yet," as the animated series will tell a story set between the second and third seasons of the Netflix original.

Consequence, Netflix April 2026 guide

For viewers coming to the series without having watched the original, the winter 1985 setting and episodic structure are designed to be accessible as a standalone entry point. Whether it actually functions that way in practice depends on execution that audiences will be able to evaluate starting April 23.

Netflix's other major April offerings give the platform a strong month overall. Tales From '85 lands on the same date as Running Point Season 2, which gives that final week of April an unusual amount of new content dropping simultaneously. Subscribers will have the full season of 10 episodes available immediately, making it a viable binge across a single weekend for viewers who clear their schedules. For a full breakdown of Netflix's April catalog including Beef Season 2, our Netflix April guide covers every major release. For a platform-by-platform ranking of what is worth watching this month, our April streaming guide has the full picture.