Netflix revealed the first details of its Stranger Things animated spinoff, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, and its hot awards-season contender In Your Dreams at a panel at the Annecy film festival on Wednesday
The animated expansion of the Stranger Things universe will be set in Hawkins “in the stark winter of 1985” between seasons 2 and 3 of the original live-action series and feature the show’s original characters — with one new edition, Nikki, a tough, mohawk-wearing gal — fighting “new monsters and unravel[ing] a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town.”
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer are executive producing the animated series via their Upside Down Pictures production banner, along with Upside Down’s Hilary Leavitt, and Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen via 21 Laps. Eric Robles will executive produce via Flying Bark Productions and act as showrunner.
Robles gave the Annecy audience a sneak peek at the series, which he said was originally inspired by the Saturday morning cartoons of the ’80s era, from Masters of the Universe to Scooby-Doo and Dungeons and Dragons, with The Real Ghostbusters, which “in a few episodes were really dark and really creepy.” being the show’s “north star.” But the final design landed a world away from those shows, drawing from CGI stylings of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Arcane, the spookiness of the classic Goosebumps book covers, and character designs from Meybis Ruiz Cruz (Entergalactic). New monsters, including pumpkins zombies and a toothy snow shark, come courtesy of creature designer Carlos Huante (Blade Runner 2049, Men in Black, Alien vs. Predator).
Australia’s Flying Bark, which did animation work on Marvel’s What If…? series, Netflix’s Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and the upcoming Paramount Pictures film The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, will act as the animation studio for Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.
Netflix did not give an exact date for the series release but said it would drop next year. The fifth and final season of the live-action Stranger Things series will air in three parts late this year, the first premiering on Nov. 26, part two on Christmas and the series finale on New Year’s Eve.
The Annecy audience was also treated to a first look at In Your Dreams, the new original animated feature from former Pixar creators Alex Woo and Erik Benson, whose art department credits include work on Toy Story 4 and Cars 2, among others.
Netflix is making a big awards play for the feature, and it’s easy to see why. The film revolves around Stevie and her brother Elliot, who enter the realm of dreams in a quest to find The Sandman, with the hope he will grant their greatest wish: to save their parents’ marriage.
Woo, speaking from the stage at Annecy, said the film was directly inspired by his own childhood — “my father, who’s in the audience, would be angry if I didn’t tell you that my parents worked things out and have been married 50 years now” — before thanking Netflix for taking such a big swing on an original story. “That’s something that’s so rare these days. … They are showing real leadership in the industry.”
The festival audience was treated to some spectacular imagery from the film, and Stevie and Elliot’s dream worlds, including a scrumptious look at Breakfast Town, a French-style medieval village where all the inhabitants are sweet morning treats; Baloney Tony, a beloved, if moth-eaten lost stuffed animal; and more nightmarish visions, including a man-eating hot dog and a stuffed giraffe that farts lasers.
But the true money shot was a spectacular sequence set in The Sandman’s HQ, a glistening sand castle, with light filtering through a glass kaleidoscope in the ceiling. It’s a shot that could stand up to anything Pixar has to offer.
Netflix is bowing In Your Dreams on Nov. 14. The Annecy film festival runs through June 14.
