With Season 4 of the live-action phenomenon garnering 1.35 billion viewing hours in its first 28 days, Netflix is promising fans more strange days ahead with a new animated series.
Netflix has announced a series order for a new untitled animated series set within the Duffer brothers’ Stranger Things universe and developed by Flying Bark Productions and Executive Producer Eric Robles. The Duffer brothers will executive produce for Upside Down Pictures, their production company launched in 2022. Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen executive produce on behalf of 21 Laps, and Robles on behalf of Flying Bark Productions. No release date was announced.
The Duffer brothers said, “We’ve always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realized has been absolutely thrilling. We couldn’t be more blown away by what Eric Robles and his team have come up with -- the scripts and artwork are incredible, and we can’t wait to share more with you! The adventure continues…”
The Duffers created the Stranger Things franchise – one of the streamer’s most popular English-language series. According to Netflix, the most recent fourth season accumulated 1.35 billion viewing hours in its first 28 days.
In addition to the newly announced West End production of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Kate Trefry, the brothers have multiple projects in development, including a live-action series adaptation of Death Note and an original series from creators Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews. The brothers broke out in late 2011 with their horror-thriller script Hidden, which they directed for Warner Brothers. They subsequently wrote and were executive producers on M. Night Shyamalan's television show Wayward Pines.
Levy’s 21 Laps projects include the multi-Oscar-nominated Arrival and the award-winning Netflix series Stranger Things. The company also produced Netflix’s Most Streamed Movie of 2022, The Adam Project, which Levy also directed, and it released the hit action-comedy Free Guy in August of 2021.
Currently, 21 Laps is in post-production on the Netflix limited series directed by Levy, starring Hugh Laurie, and Mark Ruffalo, All the Light We Cannot See. Upcoming projects from 21 Laps include Stephen King’s The Boogeyman and Crater for Disney+. Other productions include the Lionsgate feature film Never Let Go, starring Halle Berry, and the upcoming new Deadpool movie, starring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Emma Corrin, which Levy also directs.
Sydney and Los Angeles-based independent animation studio Flying Bark Productions is a full-service production facility providing animation services for global clients. Its animation team across CG, 2D, and CG/2D hybrid productions continues to grow with over 400 employees. Flying Bark Productions is owned by media and theme park group Studio 100, headquartered in Belgium.
Source: Netflix
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
