Netflix has announced a new live-action Stranger Things prequel series, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, set in the 1950s and due in 2028. The streamer made the announcement on Stranger Things Day, November 6 — the date fans mark as the anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance in the first season — and released a teaser that takes viewers to Marion, Nevada, on April 19, 1955.
The series comes from Matt and Ross Duffer and longtime Stranger Things writer Kate Trefry, who will serve as writer and showrunner, according to GeekTyrant. Joe Wright, the BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning director behind Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, is set to direct the first three episodes, with production taking place in New Mexico. It is the franchise’s third spinoff overall, after the stage play and the animated Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.
Before Hawkins, there was Marion
The teaser’s tagline, “Before Hawkins, there was Marion,” tells viewers where the story is headed. The series is set decades before the original show, and before the stage production Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which explores Henry Creel’s earlier life. According to CBR, the prequel will explore the mysterious rock that a young Henry Creel finds in a scientist’s briefcase in the Nevada caves — a loose thread introduced in the play — and it will feature an all-new ensemble of heroes and villains.
Matt Duffer has said there are no common characters with the original series, according to the reporting, and casting has not started. Netflix has given 2028 as the only release timing, with no month, no episode count and no budget announced yet, according to FilmBunch. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both report a series order, according to the same source.
A franchise that keeps growing
The original series premiered on July 15, 2016, and ran five seasons through the two-hour finale on December 31, 2025, according to The Horror Feed. Season 5 drew 133.8 million views in its first 91 days, and its first volume took 59.6 million views in five days — reported as the biggest premiere week ever for an English-language Netflix show.
The animated Tales From ’85, set in the winter between seasons 2 and 3, premiered all 10 episodes on April 23, 2026, with a second season following in September. Other Worlds is the next step: a live-action return to the franchise’s mythology, set 30 years before Hawkins, in a Nevada town that has never appeared on screen. Netflix’s Tudum announcement describes it as taking viewers “to the 1950s with new heroes and all the heart, mystery, and spectacle of the original series.” The wait is two years. The teaser is 30 seconds. The speculation has already started.
