STRANGER THINGS: TALES FROM '85 Trailer Brings Animated Mystery, New Monsters, and Serious Scooby-Doo Energy
The full trailer for Stranger Things: Tales from '85 has arrived, and it’s got a surprisingly fun vibe that leans into mystery-solving chaos with a supernatural twist. If you enjoyed Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, this animated spin-off is hitting a very similar nerve in the best way.
Set in the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 of Stranger Things, the story drops us back into Hawkins in 1985, right when things were starting to feel normal again… or at least as normal as Hawkins gets.
Eleven, now voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, reunites with the gang for what starts as a simple D&D campaign but quickly spirals into something much stranger. The crew finds themselves “unravelling a paranormal mystery.”
The timeline is an interesting one. Fans will remember this is the same year Starcourt Mall rises and falls in flames during the Mind Flayer chaos. Don’t expect that particular nightmare to show up here, though. Instead, the trailer teases a lineup of entirely new creatures, and they look like they’re bringing a different kind of terror to Hawkins.
Showrunner Eric Robles offered a hint at what’s coming, saying, "I grew up watching [Jaws], and we play with the same trope in the sense [that] underneath all that snow, there's something lurking. You just never know where that thing's going to come out and grab you.”
The story kicks off shortly after the Snow Ball, filling in what the kids were up to during those winter months. Familiar faces are all here, including Will, voiced by Benjamin Plessala, Mike, voiced by Luca Diaz, and Steve, voiced by Jeremy Jordan.
But the biggest wildcard is a new character named Nikki, played by Odessa A'zion, whose pink-haired look immediately makes her stand out.
Nikki wasn’t around in Season 3, which naturally raises some questions. Robles has said she’s just a transfer student with a family that moves around a lot, but let’s be real, this franchise has a habit of making us care deeply before pulling the rug out. Fans still haven’t recovered from Eddie.
The show is also bringing in some great new voices. Janeane Garofalo plays Anna Baxter, Lou Diamond Phillips voices Daniel Fischer, and horror legend Robert Englund joins as Cosmo. Englund previously appeared in Stranger Things as Victor Creel, so it’s cool to see him return in a completely different role.
Everything about this trailer suggests a slightly lighter, adventure-driven take on the world, but it still carries that eerie edge that makes Stranger Things what it is.
It feels like a mix of monster-of-the-week storytelling and ongoing mystery, which could be a really fun way to explore this universe from a new angle.
Stranger Things: Tales from '85 premieres on April 23, and honestly, this one looks like it could be a blast.