No Eleven, no Hawkins: Netflix's monster hit is heading to the 1950s

The Upside Down isn't finished with us.

Netflix has announced Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, a live-action prequel set in the 1950s, before the original series and the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, What's on Netflix reports. It arrives in 2028.

The teaser is dated April 19, 1955, in Marion, Nevada. It shows an abandoned bike near a restricted area at night, town lights in the distance and something like a wormhole forming in the sky, all set to "Sh-Boom" by The Chords, a song fans will remember from the final season, when it played as Max visited Henry Creel's memory of Hawkins High.

"Welcome to Other Worlds," showrunner Kate Trefry said.

New heroes, new villains

Don't expect Eleven and the gang. The series has all-new characters and a new story, according to Engadget.

It won't pick up loose ends from the finale, either. Ross Duffer said the new series is "not Hopper mentioning Montauk" and "obviously not Holly and the kids," What's on Netflix reports.

Matt Duffer told Variety in November 2025 that the story would explain the mysterious rock young Henry Creel finds in a scientist's briefcase in the Nevada caves, What's on Netflix notes. Henry, of course, grows up to become Vecna. The new setting could take the story well beyond Hawkins, E! News notes.

That rock first turned up in The First Shadow, the Tony and Olivier-winning play by Trefry and Stephen Daldry. It's set in 1959 and follows a teenage Henry.

Who's making it

Trefry, a longtime Stranger Things writer, is co-creator, showrunner and writer. Joe Wright, the director of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, will direct the first three episodes.

The Duffers are executive producers but won't run the show day to day, because of their exclusive deal at Paramount. Filming is expected to start in New Mexico in 2027.

No one has been cast yet. "Now, on to casting," the Duffers said. Trefry said the team had "the time of our lives returning to all the horror, wonder and mystery of the flagship," adding: "There are so many more mysteries to explore."

More Hawkins on the way

The original series wrapped last year, with season five arriving in three parts on Nov. 27, Dec. 25 and Dec. 31, 2025.

There's plenty to fill the wait. The First Shadow closes in London's West End on Dec. 27 and on Broadway on Jan. 3, and a recording of the play is reportedly heading to Netflix, Engadget reports. Season two of the animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales from '85 arrived in September.

Shawn Levy, an executive producer, said the new show is "imbued with the DNA of our flagship series," while Netflix's Jinny Howe promised it would "give fans a new dimension of this universe to step into."

For now, the Duffers' advice to fans is to "watch the skies, nerds!"