Exclusive: Stranger Things Animated Movie In Development

The latest Giant Freakin Robot exclusive has it that a Stranger Things animated movie is currently in the works over at Netflix

By Doug Norrie | Published 3 years ago

While we anxiously await the Stranger Things season four, having now been away from Hawkins, Indiana for way too long, there is other news coming on this franchise’s front. In addition to possible spin-offs of the main series and individual projects being discussed as part of the overall world, we have another very cool piece coming down the pike. Giant Freakin Robot has the latest exclusive from our trusted and proven source that a Stranger Things animated movie is in the works. What better way to get horrifically nostalgic than to get this group of characters and these themes into a cartoon version? It sounds perfect. 

While details around the Stranger Things animated movie are light right now, there are a number of different ways this kind of project could take shape for Netflix. For starters, we could get animated versions of the show’s most popular characters, essentially giving more stories around Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will, the main Party for the show. An animated movie like this could fill in some timelines with the characters and even retroactively take care of some storylines in a way the live-action version can’t. With the way the characters age, especially during the teenage years, this is already a “problem” of sorts for the show. Something we are sure to see when the next season finally airs. These kids are going to look a heck of a lot older than when we first saw them. 

Then, of course, the other way a Stranger Things animated series could go, which is much more likely, is to develop a totally new story within this world. We know that though the story has been mostly confined to Hawkins through the first three seasons, there are much bigger powers at play around the mysterious powers of the Upside Down. Major government conspiracies have been wrapped in and around what is happening and many more people have been affected by the supernatural aspects of what’s occurred in the series. An animated series could deal with some of the background pieces of these storylines or fill in the gaps. 

And we also know that Eleven wasn’t the only one of her kind, those with powers beyond some human understanding. In Stranger Things season two, Eleven traveled to Chicago and met up with some others of her ilk, teenagers who’d also been experimented on by Matthew Modine’s Martin Brennan. This side story didn’t cover a ton of ground except to establish that Eleven was anything but a singular force. Could a Stranger Things animated movie tell the story of these folks and how they are surviving out in the world. One of them was Kali/ Eight who was effectively like Eleven’s sister. 

We are sure to get more details about how this Stranger Things animated movie will take shape in due time. In the meantime, we are still waiting for Stranger Things season four to hit Netflix. The first trailers for the new season look like the story has expanded even more with the characters now spread out more than ever. It’s been long-delayed because of the pandemic, but the hope is that it finally hits the streamer in early 2022.