Image Credit: Netflix
It won’t be long now before we’re finally heading back to Hawkins! After months of teasers, festival reveals, and early casting announcements, Netflix has officially lifted the embargo and dropped the full trailer, key art, and full voice cast for the highly anticipated animated spin-off. Stranger Things: Stories from ’85.
Grab your walkie-talkie and your winter gear. Here’s everything we learned from today’s massive information drop, and how it compares to what we already knew about the upcoming series.
when is it Stranger Things: Stories from ’85 Coming to Netflix?
As we reported in February, the series will premiere globally Thursday, April 23, 2026. Netflix has confirmed that there will be a lot more in the first season 10 half-hour episodes. Each episode runs about 27/28 minutes, meaning we’ll have about 5 hours of Stranger Things goodness this April.
If you’re in the United States and want to watch the first two episodes even before they premiere in late April, you can do so by booking tickets in theaters. However, be warned: tickets are becoming harder to find, as, based on our research, two showings on release day have sold out in major markets.
First Look: Official Trailer and Key Art
So far, our glimpses of the series have been limited to a few teaser images and incredible artwork inspired by fan artist Mebis Ruiz Cruz. As we covered in our Everything We Know guide, showrunner Eric Robles promised a visual blend of Saturday morning cartoons and high-end modern animation with CG recreations of iconic Hawks landmarks.
Today, we finally got to see Flying Bark Productions'(glitch tech, what if…?) Gorgeous animation in motion. “New monsters and adventures await!” In the first trailer, which you can watch below, along with several images, most of which were from early episodes, although several clips are from later seasons:
As we learned from last year’s Annecy Film Festival presentation, Stories of ’85 The Upside Down Pumpkin isn’t holding back on the scares, teasing terrifying new creatures like zombies and minotaurs. Today’s trailer gives us our first real glimpse of these monsters crawling through the winter snow!
Here’s the official synopsis provided by Netflix:
“Return with Hawkins Stranger Things: Stories from ’85An exciting new animated series from showrunner Eric Robles and executive producers the Duffer Brothers. In the winter of 1985, the city is covered in snow and the horrors of the Upside Down are finally subsiding. Our heroes Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas and Max are back to a normal life of D&D, snowball fights and quiet days. But beneath the snow, something terrible has awakened. Can this happen in reverse? From the depths of Hawking Lab? Or from somewhere else entirely? In this new story based in the Stranger Things universe, our heroes must race to solve this mystery and save Hawkins.
Voice Cast Update: Mystery Roles Finally Revealed!
Because our beloved live-action cast has long since left their 1985 counterparts behind, a new roster of voice actors has emerged. We already knew the main party-Brooklyn Dewey Norstad (Eleven), Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (maximum), luca diaz (Mike), Elisha “EJ” Williams (Lucas), braxton quinney (Dustin), ben placela (will), and Brett Gipson (Hopper) -Also big news from the Broadway star jeremy jordan Taking over as Steve Harrington.
But in February, we saw that many big names-odessa azion, jaanne garofaloAnd lou diamond phillips-She was cast in “undisclosed roles”. While Aezion’s role was quietly revealed earlier this month, the curtain has been fully lifted:
- odessa azion officially raising voice nikki baxter. We previously reported on Nikki after seeing her in Annecy – she’s the “tinkerer” with the pink mohawk who gets serious looks of difference Vibes and will be a major asset for the Hawkins Crew this season.
- jaanne garofalo is calling out Anna Baxter, Nikki’s mother and new teacher at Hawkins School, and more [redacted].
- lou diamond phillips is calling out Daniel FischerOne of the new artists.
Today we also got a big surprise with several new castings:
- robert englund returning to stranger things Universe! The horror legend who terrified audiences as Victor Creel in Season 4 is voicing a new character named Cosmo.
- alessandra antonelli Stepping into the shoes of Nancy Wheeler.
- alicia rainer (15-20Karen Wheeler is providing the voice.
- valeria rodriguez Rosario will play.
- jack griffo (thunderman) will play the role of Jeff.
The animated spin-off is directed by showrunner and executive produced by Eric Robles. as expected, Matt and Ross Duffer He is heavily involved, also serving as executive producer. Hilary Levitt Through their Upside Down Pictures banner. veterans of the franchise shawn levy And dan cohen Also executive production through 21 laps.
premiere of Stories of ’85 Coming just in time to kick off a big year for the franchise, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in the summer of 2026.
We are planning additional coverage for Stranger Things: Stories from ’85 In the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. We’ll be rolling out the full cast as soon as we can, and we’ll have lots of other exciting things to say in the coming weeks.
Finally, we should say that if you want to go without any major story spoilers then stay away from certain social media pages – they’re definitely floating around for this release.
Are you excited for it? Stranger Things: Stories from ’85? Let us know in the comments below.