The world of Stranger Things is not done with us yet—but it is going somewhere it has never been before. On November 6, 2026, Netflix finally confirmed the long-rumored live-action prequel series, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, set to premiere in 2028. It will not take us back to Hawkins. It will take us to 1950s Nevada, decades before Eleven, Mike, and the rest of the gang ever picked up a walkie-talkie.
The announcement, timed to Stranger Things Day—the annual fan celebration marking the date Will Byers went missing in 1983—was accompanied by an eerie teaser trailer and a statement from the Duffer Brothers that was equal parts tantalizing and deliberately withholding. Here is everything we know about the next chapter of the Stranger Things universe.
The Setting: 1950s Nevada, Not Hawkins
The most significant detail about Other Worlds is its location and era. The series is set in April 1955 in Marion, Nevada—a small town that will be familiar to anyone who has seen the Stranger Things: The First Shadow stage play, which explores Henry Creel’s troubled past in Hawkins in 1959. The play was given a proshot treatment earlier this year, with a “nifty Marion, Nevada location change” ahead of a planned future Netflix release.
The timeline is crucial. Other Worlds takes place four years before the events of The First Shadow, and decades before the flagship series. It predates everything we have seen on screen—and it is set in the state where Henry Creel discovered the terrible artifact that would transform him into Vecna.
The title, the 1950s New Mexico setting, and one hint by the Duffers in their statement—“watch the skies”—strongly suggest the show has a UFO/aliens/outer space theme. The teaser trailer reinforced this, showing a bicycle, a government facility, and dark, ominous skies that open up to another world.
The Creative Team: Kate Trefry Takes the Reins
The Duffer Brothers are not running this show. They are co-creators and executive producers, but the creative duties have been handed to Kate Trefry, a longtime Stranger Things writer who has been with the series since Season 2 and who penned The First Shadow stage play.
Trefry will serve as showrunner, co-creator, and writer, and she will executive produce alongside Joe Wright—the BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning director of Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, and Darkest Hour—who will direct the first three episodes.
Trefry’s statement about the project was emotional and personal: “The Duffer Brothers gave me my first paying job in Hollywood, and it has been a joy and a fever dream ever since. Now, it is my insane honor and privilege to be bringing this new chapter of Stranger Things to life alongside them and our incredible director, Joe Wright. With the support of Netflix and 21 Laps, we have had the time of our lives returning to all the horror, wonder and mystery of the flagship, while also telling a wholly new story, one we hope will blow your minds and break your hearts all over again. There are so many more mysteries to explore. Welcome to Other Worlds“.
The Duffers were equally enthusiastic: “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. 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!”.
Additional executive producers include Matt and Ross Duffer via Upside Down Pictures, Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps, Paul Dichter, Shelley Meals, Andrea Sperling, and Pavlina Hatoupis.
The Story: The Rock That Made Vecna
The central mystery of Other Worlds is one that Stranger Things Season 5 only hinted at: how did the Dimension X rock—the artifact that turned young Henry Creel from a boy scout into a monster—end up in our dimension in the first place?.
The Duffers have previously teased that a potential prequel series would explain that Dimension X-related encounter with the rock in the scientist’s briefcase glimpsed in Season 5. Other Worlds, with its 1955 setting and its connection to The First Shadow via Kate Trefry, is positioned to do exactly that.
But the show is not just a lore delivery system. Shawn Levy, a longtime executive producer, framed it as something bigger: “With Other Worlds, the Duffer Brothers and Kate Trefry craft a new ensemble and adventure that is imbued with the DNA of our flagship series while exploring a new era, setting, and all-new characters, themes, and mythology—the seeds of which may have been planted in Hawkins, but now venture into other worlds of spectacle, action, and emotion”.
The Cast: New Heroes, New Villains, and Possible Familiar Faces
Netflix has confirmed that Other Worlds will feature an all-new cast and story. The Duffers’ statement was explicit: “new heroes and villains”. This is not a Stranger Things reunion; it is a new ensemble set in the same universe.
That said, the show’s connection to the future Upside Down means we could still see younger versions of old characters—particularly Dr. Martin Brenner or Dr. Kay, both of whom have deep ties to the mythology and would have been active in the 1950s. Whether any familiar figures appear is not what the creators are emphasizing, though. As Nerdist put it: “Stranger Things 5 showed us there were other worlds out there. We want to see what kind of stories they have to tell”.
Production and Release: 2028, New Mexico
Production on Other Worlds will take place in New Mexico, standing in for Nevada. The series is targeting a 2028 premiere on Netflix, though an exact release date has not been announced.
The show is one of several expansion projects in the Stranger Things universe. The First Shadow stage play has been given a proshot treatment, and the animated series Stranger Things: Tokyo is also in development. But Other Worlds is the flagship’s first live-action spinoff, and it carries the weight of a franchise that has garnered more than 1.2 billion views across Seasons 1–4 and won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards during its nine-year run.
Other Worlds: A Stranger Things
Adventure is not a victory lap. It is a deliberate expansion into new territory—a prequel set in a time and place far removed from the familiar streets of Hawkins, built around a mystery that has haunted the franchise since Vecna first appeared. With Kate Trefry at the helm, Joe Wright directing, and the Duffer Brothers overseeing, it has the creative pedigree to justify its existence. The 2028 premiere is still years away, but the teaser has already done its job: it has made the wait feel unbearable.
The skies are waiting. And so are we.
