Netflix Debuts First Look at ‘Stranger Things’ Cartoon

While Stranger Things is technically ending with its fifth season set to debut in the final months of 2025, let’s get real. Stranger Things is not ending. It will never end as long as there is money for Netflix to make from it.

And so even as the original Stranger Things TV series inches closer to its series finale, Netflix is already advertising a brand new show — this one an animated series called Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. The show is set between the second and third seasons of the O.G. Stranger Things, and filled in some of the details of what took place during that time period.

It may be worth noting that while the characters will be recognizable from the show, their voices may not; the show hired new actors to portray the Hawkins kids. (The cast includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Luca Diaz as Mike, Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Ben Plessala as Will and Brett Gipson as Hopper.)

Watch the first look at the show below:

The Duffers told Netflix’s Tudum that they hatched the idea for Tales From ’85 while brainstorming other ideas that they could use within the universe of Stranger Things. “When we started talking about was there anything else we wanted to do with Stranger Things, this was one of our first ideas,” said Ross Duffer.

Here is the series’ official synopsis:

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.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 will debut on Netflix in 2026.