It might not be the Upside Down, but a new dimension is opening up in the "Stranger Things" universe.
Nearly a year after viewers said goodbye to Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven and her intrepid friends, Netflix shared new details on the Emmy-winning show's upcoming prequel series in a statement Friday, Nov. 6. The announcement coincides with Stranger Things Day, an annual fan celebration that pays tribute to the date that character Will Byers disappeared in the show's first season.
"Stranger Things Day has arrived, bringing with it a new cause for celebration: A live-action spinoff from the Duffer Brothers and longtime 'Stranger Things' writer Kate Trefry," Netflix said in a statement.
The new show, titled "Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure,"
will be set in the 1950s. While plot details are scant, the series' timeline takes place "decades before the 'Stranger Things' gang uncovered a supernatural conspiracy in their small town of Hawkins, Indiana."
Additionally, "Other Worlds" will not intersect with the storyline of "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," a stage play centered on villain Henry Creel’s troubled past in the late 1950s.
"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," "Stranger Things" creators 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!”
"Stranger Things" follows the paranormal adventures of Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) and his middle school friends, who find themselves in an unlikely alliance with a superpowered fugitive named Eleven (Brown) after their pal Will (Noah Schnapp) mysteriously disappears. The coming-of-age sci-fi series debuted in 2016, and the show's breakout success quickly established Netflix as a powerhouse in streaming television.
The show ran for five seasons, picking up 13 Primetime Emmy Awards during its nine-year run, and concluded last December with a much-anticipated series finale. To date, "Stranger Things" has racked up more than 1.2 billion views across Seasons 1 through 4, according to Netflix.
Despite the show's remarkable tenure, USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler said the series finale ended "with more of a whimper than a bang," describing the conclusion as "an episode full of logical fallacies, unearned emotions, frustrating plot holes and twists meant to be scary that end up being straight-up silly."
"The problem is that 'Stranger' possibly can't end with any sort of satisfaction," Lawler wrote. "It's become far bigger than its humble origins. At one point, this was a small sci-fi show that paid homage to 1980s movies like 'ET.' Now, it's a money-making machine that's more CGI than human, that keeps flashing to a kid wearing an 'ET' shirt."
'Stranger Things' spinoff 'Other Worlds' release date
An exact release date has not been announced for "Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure."
But Netflix confirmed in its Nov. 6 announcement that the show will be coming out in 2028.
Duffer Brothers tease 'Stranger Things' spinoff
In 2022, Matt and Ross Duffer told Variety that they hadn't "told anyone" about their idea for the "Stranger Things" spinoff, though one of their stars managed to figure it out on his own.
"We think everyone – including Netflix – will be surprised when they hear the concept because it's very, very different," the Duffer Brothers said at the time. "But somehow Finn Wolfhard – who is one crazy-smart kid – correctly guessed what it was going to be about. But aside from Finn, no one else knows!"
In a 2025 conversation with Variety, Wolfhard suggested that the prequel series was an "anthology" similar to "Twin Peaks" and that the show would be "set in different places and all tied together through this mythology of the Upside Down." The Duffers, though, clarified to Deadline that this isn't their idea, and they suggested Wolfhard may no longer remember his original guess.
Last October, Matt Duffer told Variety in a follow-up interview that the spinoff will fit with its predecessor's "brand" and "style of storytelling," as opposed to trying to "increasingly expand what could become an insanely convoluted mythology."
Ross Duffer added, "There's going to be connective tissue, but you're almost anthologizing in a way."
Contributing: Kelly Lawler and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Stranger Things' goes back to the 1950s in new spinoff. What to know
