Netflix has officially confirmed the live-action Stranger Things spin-off, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, set to premiere in 2028. The announcement came on Stranger Things Day, ending years of speculation about the franchise’s future beyond the upcoming fifth and final season.
The series is a prequel set in 1955, taking place before both Stranger Things and the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. It unfolds in Marion, Nevada, where an abandoned bike near a restricted area hints at a wormhole forming in the night sky — a deliberate visual callback to the kids-on-bikes imagery that defined the flagship series, only this time transplanted to a Cold War desert landscape.
Kate Trefry, longtime Stranger Things writer and co-creator of The First Shadow, serves as showrunner and writer. The Duffer Brothers co-create and executive produce through Upside Down Pictures. BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Darkest Hour) will direct the first three episodes and executive produce. The creative team stresses this is a wholly new story with new characters, heroes, villains, themes, and mythology — not a continuation of Eleven’s journey or a next-generation sequel.
The Duffers won’t be day-to-day showrunners due to their Paramount overall deal, but their Stranger Things work through Upside Down Pictures is carved out of that pact. Shawn Levy (21 Laps Entertainment) also executive produces despite recently moving to an overall deal at 20th Television. Rounding out the EP bench are Paul Dichter, Shelley Meals, Andrea Sperling, and Pavlina Hatoupis.
The teaser features The Chords’ “Sh-Boom,” previously heard in Season 5 Episode 4 during Max’s visit to Henry Creel’s memory of Hawkins High. The 1955 setting directly connects to The First Shadow’s 1959 Nevada experiments and the mysterious rock young Henry finds in a scientist’s briefcase — a thread the Duffers confirmed the spin-off would “delve into” during the Season 5 press tour. Netflix’s February tapings of The First Shadow saw the play’s Nevada location changed to Marion for the proshot, with tweaks aligning it more closely with Season 5 and this new series.
Casting begins next, with filming in New Mexico expected to start in 2027. Netflix’s head of scripted series Jinny Howe called it a new dimension of the universe for fans to step into. The Duffers have emphasized quality over speed: they’ve had this one live-action expansion idea for roughly seven years, they shut down anthology and Holly-sequel theories, and they’ve been clear they won’t rush it — “it has to be awesome or forget it.”
For fans, the 2028 target means a three-year wait after Stranger Things ends, but the pieces are finally in place: a showrunner who grew up in the writers’ room, a prestige director making his TV debut, and a timeline that lets the Duffer Brothers oversee the franchise they built without day-to-day operational burden.