Stranger Things: Tales From '85 — Hawkins Is Back, Now Animated

When word got out that Stranger Things was getting an animated series, my first reaction was scepticism. The original show is famous precisely for that heavy atmosphere, for scares that work because you're watching flesh-and-blood people genuinely suffering. How was an animated version supposed to capture that?

Then the trailer dropped. And I got it.

What Stranger Things: Tales From '85 Actually Is

Tales From '85 is an animated spin-off that premieres today, 23 April, on Netflix — with all 10 episodes available at once, the way the platform likes it. Produced by the Duffer Brothers themselves (the creators of Stranger Things) alongside Flying Bark Productions, the series makes a bold choice: instead of copying the live-action show's heavy visual tone, it dives headfirst into the aesthetic of 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons.

Think He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Think The Real Ghostbusters. Think Scooby-Doo. That's the visual territory Tales From '85 occupies — and no, that's not a criticism. It's a deliberate choice that makes sense the moment you understand what the series is trying to be.

Where It Fits in the Timeline

The series is set in the winter of 1985, between the events of the live-action show's second and third seasons. If you remember correctly, that's the window where the threat of the Mind Flayer is still fresh, but the gang still has a certain innocence about them — at least compared to what comes later at Starcourt Mall.

Episode 1, titled "Welcome to Hawkins, New Kid," opens with a mysterious figure in a yellow hazmat suit chasing a creature that looks like it crawled straight out of the Upside Down, beneath the ice. Typical Hawkins: the town never seems to get a single peaceful week.

The Whole Gang Is Back

Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Max are all back. The series also introduces a new character called Nikki Baxter, described as "an inventor," with pink hair and shaved sides — a classic 1985 look, from an era when every cartoon character needed one strong visual trait so you could spot them on the toy-shop shelf.

The showrunner is Eric Robles, who you might know from Glitch Techs (Netflix's gaming-themed animated series) and the influential The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He's someone who understands kids caught up in supernatural situations — which is, quite literally, the elevator pitch for Stranger Things.

Can Animation Actually Be Scary?

The question everyone's asking. The honest answer is: it depends what you're expecting.

Tales From '85 clearly wasn't made to be the most terrifying version of Stranger Things. It aims for something more accessible — that sense of adventure you had watching Saturday-morning cartoons, back when you didn't quite know what fear was yet. Netflix has confirmed the tone is more family-friendly than the live-action show, and that's by design.

But scary animation isn't a contradiction in terms. Anyone who grew up with certain '80s and '90s cartoons knows the format is capable of going to heavy places — Berserk, Evangelion, even the original Ghostbusters cartoon had moments that froze younger kids solid. The cartoon aesthetic can make the Upside Down feel simultaneously familiar and alien in a way live-action sometimes can't quite pull off.

Worth Bingeing Today?

If you're a Stranger Things fan, you're probably already on the second episode while reading this. If you don't know the show yet — don't start here. Go back to season one, build up your relationship with the characters. Tales From '85 works in direct proportion to how much you care about the Hawkins gang.

10 episodes. All available today. The Upside Down isn't going to wait.

So, have you started yet? Did the animation win you over, or would you rather keep live-action as the only canon? Let us know in the comments — I'm curious how people are receiving this experiment.

Enjoy shows that reinvent their own format? Check out our list of nostalgic TV shows worth revisiting — a few of them do exactly that.