'Stranger Things' animated series coming to Netflix

Stranger Things is ending after its upcoming fifth season, but Netflix just announced that their upside down universe is expanding to an animated series. Eric Robles (Glitch Techs, Fanboy & Chum Chum) is developing the colorful spinoff of the Duffer Brothers‘ sci-fi hit.

“We’ve always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realized has been absolutely thrilling,” Matt and Ross Duffer said in a statement to Deadline. “We couldn’t be more blown away by what Eric Robles and his team have come up with — the scripts and artwork are incredible, and we can’t wait to share more with you! The adventure continues.”

Meanwhile, there’s also upcoming live stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow that will premiere in late 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End. It’s based on a story by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne and Kate Trefry, written by Kate Trefry and co-directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. Here’s the synopsis:

Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.

Check out the First Shadow poster below.

The Duffer Brothers have a couple non-Stranger Things projects in the hopper: after paying homage to Stephen King on Stranger Things, they’re adapting the author’s The Talisman as a series, alongside another live action adaptation of Japanese manga series Death Note…not to mention a new Stranger Things universe live action series. As with everything else written about here, stay tuned for more details.