Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Unleashes a Horde of Monsters in Animated Series
First-look images crash in for Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, with the showrunner promising a creature-packed animated spinoff.
Even with the main show bowing out next year, Netflix is not done with Hawkins. While we wait for Stranger Things season 5 to do its three-part farewell, the franchise is spinning up an animated detour set right between seasons 2 and 3. Entertainment Weekly just dropped first-look images, and the showrunner is promising a creature feature vibe with actual stakes, not Saturday morning fluff.
Quick reality check on the timeline
Stranger Things season 5 is the last one and Netflix is stretching the goodbye across three drops: volume one hits November 26, 2025, volume two lands on Christmas Day 2025, and the finale arrives New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, the animated spin-off, 'Stranger Things: Tales from '85', takes place during the winter of 1985. Season 2 ended on December 15, 1984, so this slides right into the gap before season 3, which conveniently keeps all the core kids and grown-ups in play. There’s also a new face in the mix: Nikki, described as a tough, mohawk-wearing gal.
What the animated series is actually about
Big picture: the original Hawkins crew is back, dealing with fresh monsters and a paranormal mystery tearing through town in the dead of winter. Think the same world and stakes, just seen through animation. The art is handled by Flying Bark, the studio behind a lot of slick, kinetic animation work, which feels like the right call for all the Upside Down mayhem.
Voice cast
- Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven
- Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max
- Luca Diaz as Mike
- Elisha "EJ" Williams as Lucas
- Braxton Quinney as Dustin
- Benjamin Plessala as Will
- Brett Gipson as Hopper
- Plus: Odessa A'zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips in undisclosed roles
Who’s steering this thing
The Duffer Brothers are executive producing through Upside Down Pictures, joined by Upside Down’s Hilary Leavitt, and Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen over at 21 Laps. Showrunner Eric Robles is also on board as an EP via Flying Bark Productions. If you like knowing the machinery behind the curtain, that’s a lot of the core Stranger Things brain trust plus an animation shop that knows how to build monsters that move.
The hook (and the monsters)
Robles went spelunking in the Stranger Things mythos to find a clean way into an animated story that still feels canon. His angle ties together experiments from Hawkins Lab and the raw weirdness of Upside Down matter, creating a chain reaction that spills creatures into our world in new ways. He’s clear the monsters aren’t just freak-of-the-week distractions — they connect to a season-long mystery with real consequences for the kids.
'Hawkins Lab science meets Upside Down matter. There’s a chain reaction to the creatures that are in our world and the things that are popping up.'
Also, in his words, there are 'a lot of freaking cool monsters.' Not exactly a subtle promise, but I’m not mad at it.
How long could this slice of 1985 run?
This is the fun, slightly nerdy part: the first season plays out hour by hour, day by day, which gives the team room to expand without breaking continuity. Robles says they could keep going for multiple seasons inside this window if they need to, all the way up to the moment Dustin heads off to camp and Eleven and Mike are fully a thing — basically dovetailing right into the opening beats of season 3.
Bottom line: the main show ends in 2025, but Hawkins isn’t going quiet. 'Tales from '85' looks like a proper mid-quel with teeth, not a kiddie side quest — and if the images are any indication, the creature department is eating well.