Stranger Things is not done with us yet.
Netflix has ordered a live-action prequel series, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, from creators the Duffer Brothers and longtime series writer Kate Trefry, with the show set to debut in 2028.
The announcement landed on Friday (US time) as part of Stranger Things Day, the annual fan celebration held on November 6, the date Will Byers vanished in the very first episode.
The series is set in the 1950s, before the events of the original show and before the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which Trefry also wrote.
BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Darkest Hour) will direct the first three episodes and executive produce, with production to take place in New Mexico.
Trefry is co-creator, showrunner, writer and executive producer, with Matt and Ross Duffer co-creating through their Upside Down Pictures banner and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment also producing.
“We’ve been dreaming of Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure for many years now, and to see it become a reality is surreal and exhilarating,” Matt and Ross Duffer said in a statement.
The brothers said the show would be “Stranger Things, but also thrillingly fresh, with a new setting, new heroes and villains, and new… actually, we’re not allowed to say any more”.
They signed off with a message for fans: “Now, on to casting. In the meantime, watch the skies, nerds!”
Trefry said the Duffers gave her “my first paying job in Hollywood”, and that the new series returns to “all the horror, wonder and mystery of the flagship, while also telling a wholly new story, one we hope will blow your minds and break your hearts all over again”.
Netflix’s head of scripted series for the US and Canada, Jinny Howe, said Other Worlds “takes us to the 1950s with new heroes and all the heart, mystery, and spectacle of the original series”.
No cast has been announced.
What is Stranger Things: The First Shadow about?
If you want a taste of what a 1950s-set Stranger Things looks like, the stage play is the place to start.
I caught The First Shadow at London’s Phoenix Theatre last month and it is one of the most jaw-dropping pieces of stagecraft I have ever seen.
The play is set in Hawkins in 1959, 24 years before Will Byers disappears, and opens as the Creel family arrives in town hoping for a fresh start.
Their teenage son Henry, the boy who will one day become Vecna, makes friends, joins the school play and grows close to a girl named Patty, all while being tormented by visions of a monster and the attentions of a certain Dr Brenner.
Running alongside Henry’s story are teenage versions of Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado (later Byers) and Bob Newby, going about regular small-town lives as something starts to go very wrong in Hawkins.
The play opened in London’s West End in December 2023, won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, then transferred to Broadway in April 2025, where it picked up four Tony Awards.
Netflix filmed the Broadway production with its original cast, including Louis McCartney as Henry, in February for a future streaming release.
No release date has been given, but when it lands it will be the first chance for Australian fans to see it without a long-haul flight.
Every corner of the Stranger Things universe
Other Worlds is the second series spinoff, and the franchise now stretches well beyond Hawkins. Here’s where it all stands.
Stranger Things (2016 to 2025): The flagship ran five seasons and clocked more than 1.2 billion views across Seasons 1 to 4. The final season delivered Netflix’s biggest English-language premiere week, and the series has won more than 70 awards, including Emmys and a SAG Award for Drama Ensemble.
Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85: The animated series premiered on April 23 with all 10 episodes, set in the winter of 1985 between Seasons 2 and 3. It has an all-new voice cast and showrunner Eric Robles. Streaming on Netflix now.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow: The Olivier and Tony-winning stage play, still running for a few more weeks in in London’s West End and Broadway, with a filmed version on the way to Netflix.
Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow: The making-of documentary about the play, released on Netflix in April 2025.
Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure: The new live-action 1950s prequel, due in 2028.
Beyond the screen: A series of books, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, Stranger Things: The Diner, and immersive experiences at Netflix House.
Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure is set to premiere on Netflix in 2028. All five seasons of Stranger Things and Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 are streaming on Netflix now.
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