Stranger Things animated spinoff ordered on Netflix

‘Stranger Things’ is heading to its finale, but ‘Stranger Things’ continues. As fans wait for the fifth and final season of the sci-fi series to premiere in 2024 (or 2025, or 2026, or…), the first spinoff has been announced: an animated series on Netflix.

Netflix has revealed very little information — no title, logline, or premiere date — about the upcoming project. The series is described as taking place within the “Stranger Things” universe, so presumably it’s not just an animated adaptation of the OG, but tells its own story.

The series will be animated by Flying Bark Productions, the Australian studio behind Marvel cartoons such as What If? and “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur”. Eric Robles is developing the show and will serve as an executive producer for Flying Bark Productions. Matt and Ross Duffer, the brothers who created and presented “Stranger Things,” will executive produce for their Upside Down Pictures banner, which was created last year. “Stranger Things” executive producers Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen executive produce 21 Circle.

In a statement, the Duffers hinted that the series, like the live-action show, will be heavily inspired by ’80s media; showed “Saturday morning cartoons” from their childhood as inspiration for the upcoming show. The statement also says “the adventure continues,” possibly hinting that the animated show will take place after the events of “Stranger Things 5.”

“We’ve always dreamed of an animated ‘Stranger Things’ in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons we grew up on, and it was absolutely thrilling to realize that dream,” the Duffers said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with what Eric Robles and his team have come up with – the scripts and graphics are incredible and we can’t wait to share more with you! The adventure continues.”

The animated program is the first “Stranger Things” spinoff to be greenlit by Netflix, but it’s not the first announcement. While promoting the show’s Season 4 last year, the Duffers confirmed that they were working on a live-action spinoff series. Both have revealed very little about the project, which hails from the Upside Down and 21 Laps, other than that it will be “1,000 percent different” from the original show and will likely follow a completely different set of characters. We haven’t received an update on that, but the animated series is definitely a separate project, a person familiar with the plans told IndieWire.

News of the animated series comes two weeks after Netflix officially ordered an animated adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim” graphic novel series, which will feature the entire cast of the 2010 film version reprising their roles, including Michael Cera. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick, Kieran Culkin and Brie Larson. Casting for the animated series “Stranger Things” has yet to be announced, so it’s unclear if the series will follow suit and feature the voices of Winona Ryder, Joyce or Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven.

The animated series and other future “Stranger Things” spinoffs will fill big shoes on Netflix. The series, which premiered in 2016, is one of the streamer’s most popular shows, and season 4 is the most-watched English-language TV season in the streamer’s history.

“Stranger Things” focuses on the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana as they battle supernatural monsters from an alternate dimension. Starring Ryder, Brown, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson and Brett Gelman. The Duffers are executive produced alongside Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Iain Paterson and Curtis Gwinn. Filming for the fifth and final season is expected to begin sometime this year.

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