The Stranger Things universe is expanding again. Netflix has announced Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, a new live-action prequel series set in the 1950s and scheduled to arrive in 2028. The announcement landed on Stranger Things Day, giving fans a fresh mystery to follow after the original series reached its conclusion.
Unlike a direct continuation of the Hawkins group’s story, the new series is being positioned as a separate adventure with a different setting, new heroes and new villains. Netflix has revealed the creative team and broad time period, but it has not announced the cast or explained the central supernatural threat.
A new story decades before Hawkins
Netflix confirms that Other Worlds takes place in the 1950s, decades before the events that brought Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will into the Upside Down. Variety reports a more specific 1955 setting in Marion, Nevada, while Netflix’s official announcement confirms the 1950s without naming the location.
That change of place and period gives the writers room to explore a different corner of the mythology without simply recreating the original show’s small-town group dynamic. The Duffer Brothers described the project as Stranger Things with a new setting, new heroes and villains, while keeping the franchise’s blend of horror, wonder and mystery.
The new series also predates The First Shadow, the stage production that explores Henry Creel’s history in Hawkins in 1959. That distinction matters: Other Worlds is not simply a filmed version of the play, and Netflix is presenting it as a separate live-action story.
Who is making the new series — and when it arrives
Kate Trefry, a longtime Stranger Things writer who also worked on The First Shadow, is the show’s co-creator, showrunner and writer. Joe Wright, known for films including Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, is set to direct the first three episodes.
Production is planned for New Mexico. Netflix has not announced a premiere month, episode count, cast list or detailed plot. The 2028 release window is the clearest timing information available, so any more precise date circulating online should be treated as speculation until the streamer confirms it.
The Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy are also involved as executive producers, keeping the new project connected to the original creative team while giving Trefry and Wright room to establish a different tone and mythology.
How it fits into Netflix’s growing franchise
Netflix has already expanded the property through the animated series Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 and the stage production The First Shadow. Other Worlds adds another branch, but it should not be confused with either project: it is a live-action prequel with a new setting and a 2028 target.
The business logic is easy to understand. Netflix says the first four seasons have generated more than 1.2 billion views, and the franchise remains one of its most recognizable global properties. A new series can keep that world active without requiring the original cast to return for another chapter.
The risk is that a franchise can become overextended if every new project feels like an explanation of something viewers already know. The most promising detail is the promise of a genuinely new cast and setting. Until Netflix reveals the characters and plot, that is the element worth watching.
For now, fans have a title, a decade, a creative team and a release year — not a full story. That is enough to make Other Worlds one of Netflix’s most interesting upcoming franchise bets, but the series will ultimately have to earn its place by telling a mystery that stands on its own.
Sources and further reading
- Netflix Tudum: Other Worlds is coming in 2028
- Variety: Netflix expands the Stranger Things universe
- TheWrap: Other Worlds prequel details
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