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It’s only a few more weeks before the beginning of the end when the first part of Stranger Things‘ fifth and final season drops. But in the meantime, Netflix is preparing you to not let go of Hawkins just yet… and proving that the way to get around those increasingly adult-looking kids is to make them immortal via animation.
This morning, to celebrate Stranger Things Day (marking the November 6, 1983 disappearance date of Will in the show’s first season), Netflix released the first behind-the-scenes look at Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, its new animated spinoff series developed by showrunner Eric Robles and Flying Bark Productions. The show will be executive produced by Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers, as well as Shawn Levy and Hilary Leavitt.
Although largely focused on concept art for the 3DCG animated series, the featurette does reveal a few final sequences from the series, which will, as the title implies, be set between the events of seasons two and three, with Robles teasing that “nothing is quite as they thought it was,” suggesting that Tales may make some intriguing expansions to the show’s past.
One major change is the cast. Yes, we’ve spent years acknowledging that Stranger Things has taken so long to come to its conclusion that its child stars are now fully grown adults, reminding all of us older folks of the ceaseless march of linear time, but Tales From ’85 isn’t just trapping their likenesses in the amber of animation to keep Will, Eleven, Max, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas forever young (alongside the rest of Hawkins’ citizenry); they’ll be voiced by a brand new cast of stars rather than their live-action counterparts. Here’s the breakdown of the new cast:
Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips have also joined the cast in currently undisclosed roles.
We’ll no doubt learn more about Tales of ’85 once Stranger Things season five is in our rearview mirror after the end of the year, ahead of its debut on Netflix some time in 2026. In the meantime, you can check out a few more first-look images below.
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