Stranger Things to Return in 2028 With New Series

Netflix announced Friday that Stranger Things will return in 2028 with a new live-action series, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure. The series will take the sci-fi franchise to a new place and time, with a new cast of characters facing supernatural terrors.

Netflix made the announcement on Stranger Things Day, Nov. 6, the fictional date in 1983 when Will Byers went missing in the original series.

A teaser trailer released Friday offers hints about the setting and story. The series takes place in the 1950s in the fictional town of Marion, Nevada. The teaser shows a bicycle abandoned at night outside a restricted area, with what appears to be a town or military base in the distance. A clap of thunder interrupts the quiet scene, and a mysterious opening appears in the sky.

The Chords’ doo-wop classic “Sh-Boom” (“Life Could Be a Dream”) plays on a radio attached to the bike. The song also plays in the Stranger Things season 5 episode “Sorcerer,” when Max visits Henry Creel’s memory of Hawkins High. Henry is also known as Vecna.

Kate Trefry co-created Other Worlds with the Duffer Brothers, the creators of the original series. Trefry was an executive producer on Stranger Things and wrote the prequel stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Joe Wright (Atonement, Pan) is directing the series.

Ross and Matt Duffer told Polygon last year that they would “be heavily involved” with a live-action spinoff, which has been in development since at least 2022.

The creators on the new series

“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. “It’s 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. Now, on to casting. In the meantime — watch the skies, nerds!”

“The Duffer Brothers gave me my first paying job in Hollywood, and it has been a joy and a fever dream ever since,” Trefry said in a statement. “Now, it is my insane honor and privilege to be bringing this new chapter of Stranger Things to life alongside them and our incredible director, Joe Wright. With the support of Netflix and 21 Laps, we have had the time of our lives returning 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. There are so many more mysteries to explore. Welcome to Other Worlds.”

Producer Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine, Stranger Things) said the show will feature “a new ensemble and adventure that is imbued with the DNA of our flagship series while exploring a new era, setting, and all-new characters, themes, and mythology — the seeds of which may have been planted in Hawkins, but now venture into other worlds of spectacle, action, and emotion.”

The original Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in 2016 and ran for five seasons through 2025. Netflix says seasons 1 through 4 drew more than 1.2 billion views.

Two major Stranger Things spinoffs have been released: the animated series Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 and the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Other Worlds will be set before the events of the play and will premiere on Netflix in 2028.

Source: Polygon