Stranger Things has wrapped things up after five seasons, but the animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 will take viewers back to Hawkins.
In a new interview, showrunner Eric Robles revealed that the spinoff series will feel familiar despite its animated format, which takes place between Season 2 and 3 of the live-action series.
“You could easily take this and make it the live-action version,” Robles said in an interview with Empire. “We wanted to go back to Hawkins and feel like a lost season.”
Robles noted that the series goes back to “when the kids weren’t trying to save the world — they were just trying to save the town.”
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The showrunner said he is a “huge fan of Jaws,” which inspired the series’ storyline: it takes place in winter, with the whole town of Hawkins “covered in this ocean of snow,” which “brings new dangers.”
The cast of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Luca Diaz as Mike, Ej (Elisha) Williams as Lucas, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Ben Plessala as Will, and Brett Gipson as Hopper. Additional voice cast includes Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Set between Seasons 2 and 3 of Stranger Things, Tales from ’85 returns viewers to Hawkins in the stark winter of 1985, where the original characters must confront new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery that is terrorizing their town.
Eric Robles serves as showrunner and executive producer. Executive producers include Matt and Ross Duffer, along with Hilary Leavitt, via Upside Down Pictures; Shawn Levy via 21 Laps; and Dan Cohen.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 premieres on Netflix April 23.