- - Will There Be a “Stranger Things” Spinoff?

Rachel Raposas, Breanne L. HeldmanJanuary 1, 2026 at 7:19 AM

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Courtesy of Netflix

Stranger Things season 5. -

Netflix has multiple Stranger Things spinoffs in the works, including some co-creator Matt Duffer referred to as a "clean slate"

An animated show, first announced in 2023, will feature the original characters and premiere later this year

The sci-fi show wrapped its fifth and final season on Dec. 31

After nearly a decade, Stranger Things has come to an end — but fans may get to revisit the world created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer again soon.

Netflix's nostalgia-filled sci-fi show wrapped its fifth and final season with the release of its series finale on Dec. 31, bringing to an end the characters' long fight against the terrors in the Upside Down. Though the Duffer brothers have assured that all possible loose ends have been tied up, spinoffs are already in the works.

Speaking to Variety in October ahead of the release of season 5's first wave of episodes in November, the Duffers stressed the importance of giving the story closure.

“We do every last remaining thing we wanted to do with the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer and Vecna and the Upside Down and Hawkins and these characters,” Matt said. “This is a complete story. It’s done.”

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Broadway's Stranger Things: The First Shadow

That being said, fans can still head to Broadway to see the prequel play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which first opened in London in December 2023 before making its Broadway bow in April 2025.

And in early November 2025, Netflix unveiled a first look at Stranger Things: Tales from '85, an animated series first announced in 2023, which is set in Hawkins in winter 1985. According to the official logline, "the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town."

Stranger Things: Tales from '85

“With animation, there’s really no limits,” Ross told Tudum.

"And it’s nice, because the kids can stay young forever,” Matt told Variety. The show will premiere later this year and feature an entirely new cast voicing the beloved characters.

But the Duffers have confirmed another spinoff in the works as well — only that will feature "a different decade and different characters, but of course, still connected to the Stranger Things universe," Ross told THR. "It’s an idea we’ve had for years and something we’re just really excited and passionate about."

As Matt told Variety, “You’re starting with new characters. It’s like clean slate. You’re not tied up into any knots."

"It's really its own entity," he added to ScreenRant.

As Ross noted to Variety, the spinoffs are "going to live in a bit of a different world. There’s going to be connective tissue, but you’re almost anthologizing in a way. Because we’re not Star Wars. We can’t be like, ‘Oh, now we’re on this planet.’”

Courtesy of Netflix

Stranger Things season 5.

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While the Duffer brothers are creating the new series and will be, as Ross told Variety, "heavily creatively involved" and "helping shepherd it along," they won't be its showrunners, as they have a new deal to develop projects for Paramount.

All five seasons of Stranger Things are available for streaming on Netflix. Stranger Things: Tales from '85 will premiere on Netflix later this year.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”