‘Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’ Trailer: It’s (Already) Time to Return to Hawkins in Netflix’s Animated Spinoff

“Stranger Things” just ended its nine-year run four months ago with a teary, soapy, sentimental finale that gave fairly conclusive endings to all of the many, many cast members who have joined its ensemble across five seasons.

But franchises as monstrously big as this never end quite so quickly, and before fans have an opportunity to actually miss Hawkins, they’re being thrown right back in with “Tales from ’85.” Netflix has today released the first trailer for the series, an animated spinoff telling an original story starring (most of) the characters everyone knows and loves from the flagship show.

Set in between Season 2 and Season 3 of the original series — meaning, sadly, Maya Hawke’s standout slacker Robin won’t be making an appearance — “Tales from ’85” takes place in the winter, after the Hawkins kids have closed the Upside Down and are largely living normal lives. However, when they discover some monsters from the parallel dimension have been frozen underground and are now thawing, they have to go on another adventure to save their town.

The series will feature plenty of the main “Stranger Things” characters, but they’ll sound very different, as none of the original cast has returned for this new show. The voice cast for the series includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Luca Diaz as Mike, Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Ben Plessala as Will, Brett Gipson as Hopper, Jeremy Jordan as Steve, Alysia Reiner as Karen Wheeler, and Alessandra Antonelli as Nancy Wheeler. Voicing new characters are Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jack Griffo, and horror icon and “Nightmare on Elm Street” star Robert Englund, who notably appeared in a guest role in the flagship show’s fourth season.

“Tales from ’85” is animated by Flying Bark, an Australian studio whose prior work includes the Marvel series “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” and “What If…?,” as well as the Netflix series “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The company is slated to work on several upcoming animated series for Netflix based on existing IP, including “Ghostbusters,” “Minecraft,” and “Clash of Clans.” Eric Robles showruns and executive produces; additional executive producers include “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer and Hilary Leavitt via their Upside Down Pictures production banner, Shawn Levy for 21 Laps, and Dan Cohen.

“Tales from ’85” is only the beginning of an expanded “Stranger Things” universe; a live-action spinoff is also in development at Netflix, although the series will allegedly not follow any characters from the original series and will instead feature a completely new cast.

All 10 30-minute episodes “Stranger Things: Tales from ’85” will release on Netflix on April 23. Watch the first trailer for the series below.