Tales from ’85’ Ahead of Launch

It’s not long until we’re finally heading back to Hawkins! Following months of teasers, festival reveals, and early casting announcements, Netflix has officially lifted the embargo and dropped the full trailer, key art, and the complete voice cast for the highly anticipated animated spin-off, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.

Grab your walkie-talkies and your winter gear. Here is everything we learned from today’s massive info drop, and how it compares to what we already knew about the upcoming series.

When is Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 coming to Netflix?

As we reported back in February, the series will premiere globally on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026. Netflix has confirmed the first season will consist of a whopping 10 half-hour episodes. Each episode runs around 27/28 minutes, meaning we’ll have around 5 hours of Stranger Things goodness this April. 

If you’re in the United States and want to see the first two episodes even earlier than their late April premiere, you can do so by booking tickets in theaters. Be warned, though: tickets are becoming increasingly hard to find, as the two showings on the day of release have mostly sold out in key markets, based on our research. 

First Look: The Official Trailer & Key Art

Up until now, our glimpses of the series have been limited to a few teaser images and the incredible artwork inspired by fan artist Meybis 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, complete with CG recreations of iconic Hawkins landmarks.

Today, we finally get to see Flying Bark Productions’ (Glitch Techs, What If…?) gorgeous animation in motion. “New Monsters and Adventures Await!” in the debut trailer, which you can check out below alongside a bunch of stills that were released with the majority being from the early episodes although many of the clips are from later in the season: 

As we learned from the Annecy Film Festival presentation last year, Tales From ’85 isn’t holding back on the scares, teasing terrifying new creatures like Upside Down Pumpkin Zombies and Minotaurs. Today’s trailer gives us our first real look at these monsters creeping out of the winter ice!

Here is the official synopsis provided by Netflix:

“Return to Hawkins with Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, an exciting new animated series from showrunner Eric Robles and executive producers the Duffer Brothers. In the winter of 1985, snow blankets the town and the horrors of the Upside Down are finally fading. 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.”

Voice Cast Updates: Mystery Roles Finally Revealed!

Because our beloved live-action cast has long outgrown their 1985 counterparts, a fresh roster of voice actors has stepped in. We already knew the core party—Brooklyn Davey Norstedt (Eleven), Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Max), Luca Diaz (Mike), Elisha “EJ” Williams (Lucas), Braxton Quinney (Dustin), Ben Plessala (Will), and Brett Gipson (Hopper)—plus the massive news that Broadway star Jeremy Jordan is taking over as Steve Harrington.

But back in February, we noted that several huge names—Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips—were cast in “undisclosed roles.” While A’zion’s role was revealed quietly earlier this month, the curtain has been fully pulled back:

• Odessa A’zion is officially voicing Nikki Baxter. We previously reported on Nikki after seeing her at Annecy—she’s the pink-mohawked “tinkerer” who gives off serious Arcane vibes and will be a major asset to the Hawkins crew this season.
• Janeane Garofalo is voicing Anna Baxter, Nikki’s mother and new teacher at the Hawkins school, and also [redacted].
• Lou Diamond Phillips is voicing Daniel Fischer, one of the new cast additions.

We also got a massive surprise today with several brand-new casting additions:

• Robert Englund is returning to the Stranger Things universe! The horror legend, who terrified audiences as Victor Creel in Season 4, is voicing a new character named Cosmo.
• Alessandra Antonelli is stepping into the shoes of Nancy Wheeler.
• Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black) is voicing Karen Wheeler.
• Valeria Rodriguez will play Rosario.
• Jack Griffo (The Thundermans) will play Jeff.

The animated spin-off is helmed by showrunner and Executive Producer Eric Robles. As expected, Matt and Ross Duffer are heavily involved, serving as Executive Producers alongside Hilary Leavitt via their Upside Down Pictures banner. Franchise veterans Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen also executive produce via 21 Laps.

The premiere of Tales From ’85 arrives just in time to kick off a massive year for the franchise, which will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in the summer of 2026. 

We’re planning a bunch of additional coverage for Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 in the weeks to come, so keep your eyes peeled. We’ll have a full cast guide up as soon as possible and have plenty of other interesting things to say in the weeks to come.

Finally, we should say to keep off of certain social media pages if you want to go in without major story spoilers – they are definitely floating around for this release. 

Are you excited for Stranger Things: Tales from ’85? Let us know in the comments down below.