Welcome back, nerds. If you’re a Stranger Things fan who went down the “Conformity Gate” theory rabbit hole, you won’t have to wait much longer to go back in time and hang with the Hawkins, Ind., crew again.
While it’s not an extra episode of the original series, the new animated spinoff, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, is written by showrunner Eric Robles and executive produced by Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer.
“When we started talking about was there anything else we wanted to do with Stranger Things, this was one of our first ideas,” Ross Duffer told Tudum of the animated series.
Here’s what to know about the new series, which spans 10 episodes and dropped in full on Thursday, April 23, on Netflix.
In ‘Tales from ‘85,’ a new monster has escaped from the Upside Down
On Tuesday, Tudum dropped the first six minutes of the first episode, “Chapter One: Welcome to Hawkins, New Kid,” on its website. It shows the crew getting ready to meet up with each other on a regular day, after hinting at a creature that managed to escape the Upside Down before Eleven closed the gate with her powers. An unknown figure in a hazmat suit attempts to burn the creature with a flamethrower, and we learn that it can regenerate through iridescent green spores that spread.
You can also watch the official trailer for Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 below.
The showrunner said it’s ‘got the thrill of being young, being a kid’
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 follows Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, and Max Mayfield on an epic journey set in the snowy winter of January 1985 between seasons 2 and 3 of the original series.
“The original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85,” the logline reads.
Robles told Tudum, “It’s got the thrill of being young, being a kid, and going on these thrilling adventures. But then there’s this essence of real danger, real stakes.”
He added, “This is one of the rarest opportunities that we’re ever going to get to be with the main characters. We get to go back in time and really just hang out with these kids.”
The series fits right in the middle of the original series

“Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” premieres on April 23.
(Netflix)
If we’re including everything in the Stranger Things universe, the timeline starts with the stage play, set in 1959. Below, you’ll find that the animated series takes place in Hopper’s “Keep the door open 3 inches” era of the timeline.
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Stranger Things: The First Shadow is set in 1959. It follows a young Henry Creel (aka Vecna) in high school, with Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, and shows how he comes into contact with the Mind Flayer after he’s transported to the Abyss.
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Stranger Things Season 1 begins on Nov. 6, 1983, the same day Will Byers vanished. It’s also when Eleven unintentionally opened the main gate into the Upside Down.
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Stranger Things Season 2 takes place at the end of October 1984, when Max Mayfield joins the crew and Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer. Eleven eventually closes the main gate to the Upside Down.
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Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 takes place on Jan. 10, 1985, about four weeks after Hawkins Middle School’s winter formal in mid-December. The crew sets out to battle a new creature that escaped from the Upside Down.
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Stranger Things Season 3 takes place in June 1985. The Hawkins friends are trying to enjoy some teenage normalcy at the mall, where the Russians are trying to open the gate to the Upside Down. The Mind Flayer is back for revenge, but is eventually defeated after Max’s older brother sacrifices himself. Joyce makes the impossible choice to close the gate to the Upside Down, but Hopper appears to sacrifice himself in the process too.
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Stranger Things Season 4 is set in February 1986. We learn that Hopper has not been vaporized, but teleported to a brutal Soviet-era camp that experiments on creatures from the Upside Down. Vecna targets Max as his next victim and opens wide gates to the Upside Down throughout Hawkins.
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Stranger Things Season 5 is set in November 1987, when the Hawkins crew battles with Vecna one last time.
The voices behind the characters are entirely new

The voice cast for the new series includes Odessa A’zion as Nikki Baxter and Elisha Williams as Lucas Sinclair.
(Netflix)
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 features a new voice cast, not the original actors, to match the characters’ younger teen versions in 1985. Here’s who is voicing the original characters:
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Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven
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Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max Mayfield
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Luca Diaz as Mike Wheeler
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Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas Sinclair
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Braxton Quinney as Dustin Henderson
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Benjamin Plessala as Will Byers
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Brett Gipson as Jim Hopper
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Jeremy Jordan as Steve Harrington
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Alysia Reiner as Karen Wheeler
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Alessandra Antonelli as Nancy Wheeler
Newcomers to the cast of characters include the following:
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Odessa A’zion as Nikki Baxter
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Janeane Garofalo as Anna Baxter
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Lou Diamond Phillips as Daniel Fischer
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Valeria Rodriguez as Rosario