Stranger Things prequel Other Worlds: can a 1955 spinoff work?

Netflix has ordered a Stranger Things prequel spinoff to series. Titled Other Worlds and set to debut in 2028, it goes back to 1955 Nevada, before Henry Creel got his powers. I don't know what to make of it yet, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.

My co-host and I talked through what a prequel can do.

Other Worlds is ordered to series at Netflix

The announcement came as part of Stranger Things Day, the annual celebration that marks the day Will Byers disappeared in the original show. Other Worlds is the fourth project set in the Stranger Things universe. It joins the original series, Stranger Things (2016), starring Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour and Winona Ryder, which concluded in late 2025.

There's also an animated series and the stage show Stranger Things: The First Shadow. For Netflix, another spinoff makes sense: Stranger Things is its big IP.

The prequel is set in 1955 Nevada, before Henry Creel got his powers

Plot details for Other Worlds are scarce. What is known is that it will be a prequel set in the 1950s, before the events of both Stranger Things and The First Shadow. In an interview tied to the series finale, Matt and Ross Duffer teased that the spinoff would focus on the events before Henry Creel was exposed to the otherworldly substance that gave him his powers in Stranger Things.

A teaser for Other Worlds confirmed that, revealing that the series will take place in 1955 in Nevada. The show is co-created by the Duffer brothers and Kate Trefry, who wrote The First Shadow and was a writer on Stranger Things. The series will film in New Mexico.

Why I'm giving the Stranger Things prequel the benefit of the doubt

What made Stranger Things so special, in the first few seasons, was the dynamic of the kids and that '80s atmosphere. The show was a cool, nostalgic homage to the things we used to watch as kids, and they got that real feel and transferred it over. Other Worlds will have to capture something like that: not the '80s part, since it's set in the '50s, but the same quality.

Still, instead of brushing it off right away and saying nobody cares anymore, I look at Game of Thrones. Plenty of people asked how a spinoff could work there too. So far, House of the Dragon has been pretty good, and people love A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Those spinoffs are set so far in the past that you might know some of what's going to happen, but you don't know all the events, and they don't affect the main story much. Maybe Other Worlds can do the same thing.

I gave Amazon's Lord of the Rings series the same shot and bailed during season one, though I've heard the later seasons are good.

PLLD thinks a 1950s Stranger Things could be a winner

PLLD calls himself a big Stranger Things guy. He loved seasons one, three, four and five, and he watched the animated series too, which he found very fun. He also noted that the stage play has been filmed, and wondered whether they were going to do that next, or maybe still will.

What caught his attention was a picture he saw on social media that showed a UAP. To him, that suggests the show might go down a different avenue than Tales From '85, with a different kind of pulpy sci-fi adventure. "If they want to tackle a slightly different avenue with a Stranger Things vibe and then they can capture like the 50s vibe with that, I think it could be majorly successful," he said.

PLLD acknowledged the drawback: the lore isn't as tightly connected, and people may ask what this has to do with the '80s story. He said he'd have to see what happens. But he agreed that Game of Thrones did it well, and he argued this show has some lore and connectivity behind it. "If they can connect it properly and create a little bit of its own identity, I think we could have a winner."

Why a 1950s Stranger Things prequel is a risk

Prequels are hard to pull off, and this one may have less to build on. George R.R. Martin had set up much more lore outside the main story of Game of Thrones, and maybe Stranger Things doesn't have that. That leaves the question PLLD raised: what does this have to do with the '80s and everything else?

I also thought there'd maybe be something interesting about a Stranger Things story set now, after the finale, though the problem is people would start asking where Eleven is and whether she's really alive.

A prequel is what we're getting, though, and it does make sense for Netflix, since it's their big IP: you give it a shot and you see.