It looks like things in Hawkins are about to get even stranger.
Netflix shared a new trailer for “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” on Thursday, showing a better look at the upcoming animated revival of their hit fantasy horror series. The series comes hot on the heels of the finale of “Stranger Things,” which came to an epic conclusion on New Year’s Eve after nearly a decade on the streamer.
“Things are finally back to normal, and we’ll finally get to show El some of our other hangout spots,” Mike says in the trailer. “El, you’re gonna love it.”
“All he talks about is El this, El that,” Lucas responds. “OK, we get it.”
In the animated series, set between the second and third seasons of The Duffer Brothers’ iconic show, Luca Diaz takes over the role of Mike, while Elisha “EJ” Williams plays Lucas. Other new cast members include Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Ben Plessala as Will, Brett Gipson as Hopper and Jeremy Jordan as Steve.
It’s arguably the easiest place for new adventures to slot into. The Party doesn’t think Eleven or Hopper is dead, like after Seasons 1 and 3, respectively. El still has her powers and the Byers still live in Hawkins before that all changes in the Season 3 finale. Vecna has yet to open massive rifts between Hawkins and the Upside Down at the end of Season 4. Everything is, for lack of a better word, normal.
The animated show also introduces a new character, Nikki Baxer, voiced by “I Love LA” and “Marty Supreme” star Odessa A’zion. The trailer sees Nikki meeting Eleven and the Party as she comes face-to-face with the latest supernatural threat plaguing Hawkins.
“In the winter of 1985, snow blankets the town and the horrors of the Upside Down are finally fading,” a synopsis reads. “Our heroes Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have settled back into a normal life of D&D, snowball fights, and quiet days. But beneath the ice, something terrifying has awakened. Could it be from the Upside Down? From the depths of Hawkins Lab? Or from somewhere else entirely? Our heroes must race to solve this mystery and save Hawkins in this new story set in the ‘Stranger Things’ universe.”
Eric Robles serves as showrunner and executive producer of the animated interstitial, produced by Flying Bark. Other EPs include Matt and Ross Duffer, along with Hilary Leavitt via Upside Down Pictures; Shawn Levy via 21 Laps and Dan Cohen. The series will consist of 10 half-hour episodes.
“Tales From ’85” isn’t the only “Stranger Things” spinoff coming audiences’ way. The Duffers are set to produce a new live-action series for Netflix set in the world of their sci-fi series. Though few details are known, the “Stranger Things” creators did share that a mysterious rock related to Vecna seen in the show’s finale gives a clue to what the upcoming show will follow.
“The spinoff will connect and it will answer some of these lingering questions that were not actually answered fully in the finale, but it is very much its own story and its own mythology. So it’s not about the Mind Flayer per se. We’ve explored that about as much as we want to,” Matt Duffer told TheWrap in January, though he declined to offer a timeline for when the spinoff takes place.
“Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” drops April 23 on Netflix.
