Stranger Things is going back to the 1950s — Netflix’s live-action prequel finally has a release year

Well, here we go again—Netflix aren’t anywhere near finished with Stranger Things. The platform’s just unveiled plans for a major new spin-off: Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure. This one’s live-action (not animated), aiming to dig deeper into the lore in a way that’s genuinely ambitious even by Stranger Things standards. The showrunners are going for a period piece set decades before the bikes, bowl cuts and demogorgons most of us associate with the series. And yes, there’s a familiar creative line-up at the helm, with one or two fresh additions that might surprise you.

Back to the 1950s

This new outing is set in the 1950s—so, we’re talking a full generation before Hawkins, Indiana ever lost its first child to the Upside Down. The action starts specifically on 19 April 1955, with small-town Marion, Nevada cast as the mysterious backdrop. Stripped of the synths and mulleted teens, the series promises a completely new cast, setting and vibe, though they’re fiddling about in the same general mythology. If you caught the stage play, The First Shadow, or heard the Duffer Brothers tease various unanswered questions around those Nevada caves... well, that’s the rabbit hole they’re sending us down.

Other Worlds arrives in 2028 as the second TV spinoff for Stranger Things, alongside an animated and a stage prequel.

Fittingly, the announcement turned up on 6 November—which any fan could tell you is Stranger Things Day, the date Will Byers first went missing. Netflix are leaning into that fanbase nostalgia at every turn.

The Creative Team and Mythology

The big names attached are exactly who you’d expect. Matt and Ross Duffer are back, plus Kate Trefry—if that name rings a bell, she’s been writing for Stranger Things since season two and penned The First Shadow. Trefry’s actually running the show this time round: she’s showrunner, co-creator, and executive producer. Joe Wright—yes, the BAFTA- and Globe-winning director behind Pride & Prejudice and Darkest Hour—is directing the first three episodes, which is a real curveball if you’re used to seeing him tackle period romance rather than monsters and alternate dimensions. Filming is supposed to kick off in New Mexico (so, budget desert, not budget Hawkins).

Matt and Ross Duffer, Trefry, and Wright will be joined by the usual suspects behind the scenes—Shawn Levy (with his 21 Laps banner), Paul Dichter, Shelley Meals, Andrea Sperling, and Pavlina Hatoupis—most of them responsible in varying degrees for the original series’ global explosion. No casting news yet, so expect that to be a whole saga in itself when they get there.

What’s It Actually About?

Netflix are keeping the plot mostly under wraps, but what’s been shown in the teaser and hinted at by Deadline suggests we’ll be getting answers to questions raised in the original final season and the stage play. There’s a ‘mysterious rock’ in a scientist’s briefcase lurking in the Nevada caves—a storyline apparently set up to be resolved here. The Duffer Brothers have previously suggested they wanted another spin-off to finally tackle these unsolved bits of Stranger Things mythology.

The Quotes: Why Now, and Why This?

On Stranger Things Day, Jinny Howe, Netflix’s Head of Scripted in the US and Canada, tried to sum up the vision behind all this:

Stranger Things has always belonged to the fans, and their passion made it a worldwide phenomenon. Today, on Stranger Things Day, we’re honored to partner again with Matt and Ross Duffer and Kate Trefry to give fans a new dimension of this universe to step into. Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure takes us to the 1950s with new heroes and all the heart, mystery, and spectacle of the original series.

The Duffers themselves are, predictably, thrilled, calling it both ‘surreal and exhilarating’ to finally get to make this prequel. They’re backing Trefry as the person to bring it together, and—true to their form—they’re playing coy about any specifics, except to promise a fresh setting with new heroes and villains. Trefry, for her part, described the process as both an ‘honour’ and a ‘fever dream’, and went on about wanting the prequel to break hearts in the same way as the flagship series.

The Bigger Picture

If you’re keeping score, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure is the third expansion of the franchise: so there’s the original series (launched in 2016 and sitting on 1.2 billion views), the stage prequel, now this live-action prequel, and an animated series (Tales From '85), which slips between the events of the second and third seasons. Netflix apparently thinks there’s plenty of juice left in the world of Stranger Things; I’m not entirely convinced, but they’re certainly putting serious energy and budget behind these side projects.

The new prequel is officially slated for release in 2028, which gives us all plenty of time to grow nostalgic for telekenetic nosebleeds and string-light Ouija boards all over again.