--- title: "Netflix sets Stranger Things prequel Other Worlds in the 1950s, with a 2028 debut and a New Mexico shoot" url: https://badiyaa.com/stranger-things-other-worlds-1950s-prequel-2028/ published: 2026-11-08T21:41:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-08T21:41:00+00:00 section: Entertainment publisher: Badiyaa --- # Netflix sets Stranger Things prequel Other Worlds in the 1950s, with a 2028 debut and a New Mexico shoot Joe Wright will direct the first three episodes of the live-action spin-off, led by The First Shadow writer Kate Trefry, as the Duffers say only that casting comes next. Stranger Things is going back further than Hawkins. Netflix used Stranger Things Day on November 6 to reveal Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, a live-action prequel set in the 1950s that will shoot in New Mexico and arrive in 2028, with Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright behind the camera for the first three episodes. “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,” Matt and Ross Duffer said in Netflix’s announcement. “Now, on to casting. In the meantime — watch the skies, nerds!” That last line is the closest thing to a plot detail Netflix has offered, and fans will treat it accordingly. There is no cast yet. ## Where it sits on the timeline The franchise now runs across three decades and several formats, and the order of events is less obvious than the order of release. Here it is in story time: - **The 1950s, before 1959:** Other Worlds, which Netflix says predates everything else in the saga. - **1959:** Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage play exploring Henry Creel’s troubled past in Hawkins. - **November 6, 1983:** Will Byers vanishes in the original series, which is why fans mark the date each year. - **Winter 1985:** The animated Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. - **November 1987:** The bulk of the fifth and final season, with an epilogue in May 1989. Netflix’s wording on the date matters. It says only that the show comes before The First Shadow, without naming a year inside the decade, so any specific year you see attached to it is a guess for now. One report on the teaser quotes a tagline, “Before Hawkins, there was Marion,” which would point to a new town rather than a return to Indiana. Netflix’s own announcement does not mention Marion. ## The people running it Kate Trefry is showrunner, co-creator and writer. She has been with the Duffers since Season 2 and wrote the script for The First Shadow, so she has already written this universe’s past once. “The Duffer Brothers gave me my first paying job in Hollywood, and it has been a joy and a fever dream ever since,” she said. Wright, who won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe and made Atonement and Darkest Hour, is the headline hire. Prestige period directors are not the usual choice for sci-fi horror television, and a 1950s setting suits his eye for detail. Executive producers also include the Duffers through Upside Down Pictures, Shawn Levy and his company 21 Laps, Andrea Sperling, Pavlina Hatoupis, Shelley Meals and Paul Dichter. Levy described the new show as carrying “the DNA of our flagship series while exploring a new era, setting, and all-new characters, themes, and mythology.” ## Why Netflix wants this one The business case is simple. Netflix says Seasons 1 through 4 have drawn more than 1.2 billion views, and it counts Seasons 4 and 5 among its most popular television seasons ever. The original ended on December 31, 2025, which would leave a gap of at least two years before the live-action world returns, filled by the animated Tales From ’85, now streaming two seasons. Fans who want to see Trefry’s earlier prequel on stage are running out of time: The First Shadow closes at the Phoenix Theatre in London on December 27 and at the Marquis Theater on Broadway on January 3, 2027. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Stranger Things](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_Things) *Illustrative image. Image: mypubliclands, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*