Published Aug 21, 2026, 12:03 PM EDT
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Just when you think ***Stranger Things ***is over, you get more Stranger Things. Obviously, Netflix isn’t ready to close the gate to Hawkins just yet. The series seemed to have wrapped up neatly in December 2025 but for anyone already missing the gang, the show is continuing in a way that makes sure the sacrifices made to finally send Vecna packing aren’t undone.
Netflix has officially announced that Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 will return for Season 2 on September 17, 2026, less than five months after the animated series made its debut on April 23. Set between Seasons 2 and 3 of the original Stranger Things, the animated series reunites Eleven and the Hawkins gang during the winter of 1985, which allows Netflix to tell new stories involving the characters without extending the timeline beyond the flagship show’s conclusion.
Things aren’t getting any less weird in Hawkins. Season 2 picks up following the events of the first season’s finale, with the influence of the Upside Down once again beginning to infect the seemingly quiet Indiana town. Netflix’s official synopsis teases:
“The gang is back at it, and so are the strange creatures lurking about their seemingly quaint town. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, mysterious ‘ghostly’ apparitions and a swarm of hate sprites are wreaking havoc around Hawkins. The HIC must uncover the truth behind these paranormal events before a new gate to the Upside Down is ripped open.”
Creator and showrunner Eric Robles has also teased that Season 2 will explore parts of Hawkins that neither the animated series nor its live-action predecessor have visited before. “What’s really exciting is we’re going to go places that we haven’t been to before,” Robles told Netflix Tudum. “There’s a mine in Hawkins that we haven’t explored yet.”
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 stars Brooklyn Davey Norstedt (We Were Liars) as Eleven, Luca Diaz (The Terminal List) as Mike Wheeler, Benjamin Plessala (Shameless) as Will Byers, Braxton Quinney (The Really Loud House) as Dustin Henderson, Elisha “EJ” Williams (The Wonder Years) as Lucas Sinclair, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Just Add Magic: Mystery City) as Max Mayfield, Brett Gipson (Young Rock) as Jim Hopper, and Jeremy Jordan (Supergirl) as Steve Harrington.
Some of the more interesting supporting names include Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser) as Nikki Baxter, **Janeane Garofalo **(Ratatouille) as Anna Baxter, Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba) as Daniel Fischer, and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Cosmo.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 Season 2 premieres September 17, 2026, on Netflix.
Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 ](/tag/tv-show/stranger-things-tales-from-85/)
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Action & Adventure
Science Fiction
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Phil Allora, JJ Conway, Ben Choi
ChatGPT, Dan Milano, Ray Utarnachitt, Jennifer Muro, Chad Quandt, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Jen Bardekoff, Joshua Pruett
In upcoming animated series Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, the original Hawkins crew faces a harsh winter and a new wave of supernatural threats.