The voices are different. All of them.
If you pressed play on Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 expecting Millie Bobby Brown’s hushed rasp or David Harbour’s gravel-edged growl and got something completely unfamiliar instead, you’re not alone, and you’re not mishearing things. Netflix made a deliberate, full-roster casting decision: zero actors from the original live-action series return. A brand-new lineup of voice talent takes over every single role for this animated spin-off, which premiered on April 23, 2026.
Here’s every character, every voice actor behind them, and why you probably recognize some of these names from somewhere else.
Quick Answer What is the voice cast of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85? The full voice cast includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Luca Diaz as Mike, Benjamin Plessala as Will, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max, Brett Gipson as Hopper, Jeremy Jordan as Steve, Odessa A’zion as Nikki Baxter, Robert Englund as Cosmo, Janeane Garofalo as Anna Baxter, Lou Diamond Phillips as Daniel Fischer, Alysia Reiner as Karen Wheeler, Alessandra Antonelli as Nancy Wheeler, Valeria Rodriguez as Rosario, and Jack Griffo as Jeff. None of the original live-action cast reprised their roles.
Why is the Original Cast Not in Tales From ’85?
This is the question everyone asks first. And it’s a fair one.
The show is set in the winter of 1985, slotting between Seasons 2 and 3 of the main series. The problem is obvious: Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, and the rest of the gang are now adults in their early-to-mid twenties. They’d have been 12–14 in the timeline this show depicts. Getting them to voice 12-year-olds would’ve been a stretch, and showrunner Eric Robles and the Duffer Brothers decided, wisely, not to try.
Or maybe I should say it this way: the real-world timeline decided for them. The live-action cast simply aged out of their 1985 selves. Fresh, younger voice talent was always going to be the only option that felt authentic.
10 Episodes of Stranger Things Tales From 85 Full Season Breakdown
https://netserieszone.com/stranger-things-tales-from-85-episodes/: Every Voice Actor in Stranger Things Tales From ’85 The Complete Cast ListThe Core Party Main Kid Voice Cast
This is the group you came for. Six members of the Party, six new voices.
Brooklyn Davey Norstedt Eleven (Jane Hopper)
Taking over from Millie Bobby Brown is Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, making her major mainstream debut in this role. She previously appeared in the Apple TV+ miniseries WeCrashed. Voicing El is, by any measure, the highest-pressure casting decision in this entire show, and Netflix went with a relative newcomer.
That’s a bold call. My read is that it works because Eleven’s voice was never what made the character iconic; it was the restraint and stillness behind it.
Jolie Hoang-Rappaport Max Mayfield
Jolie Hoang-Rappaport steps in for Sadie Sink. She’s not new to screens; audiences saw her as Zoe in Amazon’s Just Add Magic and as Bian in HBO’s Watchmen. She also lent her voice to Netflix’s 2025 animated film In Your Dreams, which means Tales From ’85 isn’t her first animated rodeo.
Luca Diaz Mike Wheeler
Luca Diaz fills Finn Wolfhard’s shoes as the Party’s de facto leader. Voice acting fans will clock him immediately from Nickelodeon’s Transformers: EarthSpark, and he’s also appeared in the live-action Nickelodeon series Erin & Aaron. He’s a natural fit for animation.
Braxton Quinney Dustin Henderson
Dustin is arguably the fan-favorite of the group, which makes Braxton Quinney’s casting the hardest to evaluate before hearing it. He steps into his biggest project to date here, taking on Gaten Matarazzo’s beloved role.
Quick note: Quinney’s prior credits are lighter than some of his castmates, but that’s not necessarily a red flag — Matarazzo himself wasn’t a household name before Season 1.
Elisha “EJ” Williams Lucas Sinclair
EJ Williams is the most recognizable name in the core kid cast. He starred as Dean Williams in the 2021 ABC reboot of The Wonder Years, a show with a near-identical nostalgia-and-coming-of-age DNA to Stranger Things. He’s also done voice work on Disney’s Puppy Dog Pals.
Benjamin Plessala Will Byers
Ben Plessala takes over from Noah Schnapp as the boy who survived the Upside Down. He’s built a genuine resume already: HBO’s Big Little Lies, Showtime’s Shameless, and NBC’s American Auto all carry his name in the credits.
SGE Direct Answer Who voices Eleven in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85? Eleven is voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, a young actress who previously appeared in the Apple TV+ miniseries WeCrashed. According to Netflix Tudum (2026), Norstedt leads the animated series as the character at the center of the show’s supernatural mystery, set in the winter of 1985 between Seasons 2 and 3.
Adult Cast Hopper, Steve, and the Supporting Players
The kids get the headlines, but the adult cast is where Tales From ’85 quietly made some of its most interesting choices.
Brett Gipson Jim Hopper
Brett Gipson takes the role that David Harbour made a cultural touchstone. Hopper, as the protective, gruff, secretly soft police chief, is one of the most beloved characters in the franchise, no pressure, Brett.
Jeremy Jordan Steve Harrington
This one will excite a specific subset of fans. Jeremy Jordan, known for Supergirl and the animated Hazbin Hotel, voices Steve Harrington. Jordan has genuine voice acting chops, and Steve’s evolution from bully to babysitter is the kind of character arc that rewards a performer with range.
Odessa A’zion Nikki Baxter (New Character)
Odessa A’zion (Marty Supreme, I Love LA) voices Nikki Baxter, the pink-haired new addition to Hawkins. She’s described as “a tinker,” mechanically minded, independent, and presumably key to whatever mystery the gang has to unravel this season.
Secondary Adult Cast: The Characters Most Guides Miss
Look, if you’ve been scanning cast lists and can’t find who’s voicing Karen Wheeler or that new character Cosmo, here’s what actually works: most articles published around the premiere only covered the core seven. The full secondary cast didn’t get the same spotlight.
Robert Englund Cosmo
Robert Englund is back in the Stranger Things universe. Horror fans know him as Freddy Krueger. Stranger Things fans know him as Victor Creel from Season 4. Now he’s voicing a new animated character named Cosmo, details still scarce ahead of the full season release.
He’s the single most marquee name in the adult supporting cast. Full stop.
Janeane Garofalo Anna Baxter
Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites, The Larry Sanders Show) voices Anna Baxter, presumably related to Nikki, given the shared surname.
Lou Diamond Phillips Daniel Fischer
Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Longmire) plays Daniel Fischer. His character’s role in Hawkins’ paranormal events hasn’t been detailed in pre-release materials.
Alysia Reiner Karen Wheeler
Alysia Reiner, best known as Fig from Orange Is the New Black, steps into the role of Karen Wheeler, Mike’s mom.
Alessandra Antonelli Nancy Wheeler
Alessandra Antonelli voices Nancy Wheeler, the journalist-in-training sister to Mike, who was central to the Hawkins Lab conspiracy threads in the main series.
Valeria Rodriguez Rosario / Jack Griffo Jeff
Valeria Rodriguez voices Rosario, and Jack Griffo (The Thundermans) plays Jeff, both new characters whose exact roles in the plot are yet to be revealed as of this writing. Some sources have conflicting information on whether these characters appear in the first episode batch or later. My read is to treat these as secondary antagonist or town-resident roles based on the names and casting tier.
Quick Comparison New Voice Actor vs. Original Live-Action Cast
| Character | Original Actor | New Voice Actor | Voice Actor Known For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eleven | Millie Bobby Brown | Brooklyn Davey Norstedt | WeCrashed (Apple TV+) |
| Mike | Finn Wolfhard | Luca Diaz | Transformers: EarthSpark |
| Will | Noah Schnapp | Benjamin Plessala | Big Little Lies, Shameless |
| Dustin | Gaten Matarazzo | Braxton Quinney | Animated series debut |
| Lucas | Caleb McLaughlin | Elisha “EJ” Williams | The Wonder Years (2021) |
| Max | Sadie Sink | Jolie Hoang-Rappaport | Watchmen, Just Add Magic |
| Hopper | David Harbour | Brett Gipson | — |
| Steve | Joe Keery | Jeremy Jordan | Supergirl, Hazbin Hotel |
This guide covers the announced voice cast as of April 2026. It does not address background/ensemble characters whose casting had not been confirmed at the time of publication.
SGE Direct Answer Is the original Stranger Things cast in Tales From ’85? No. According to Netflix (2026), none of the original live-action cast members reprise their roles in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. The Duffer Brothers and showrunner Eric Robles cast entirely new voice talent because the show is set in 1985, and the original actors have aged significantly beyond their characters’ ages in that timeline.
About the Show Context for New Viewers
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 premiered on Netflix on April 23, 2026, with the first two episodes also screening in select US theaters on April 18. The series runs 10 episodes, each approximately 27–28 minutes — about five hours of content total.
It’s set strictly in the winter of 1985, between Seasons 2 and 3. The Mind Flayer has been dealt with. The Starcourt Mall disaster hasn’t happened yet. The whole gang is still together in Hawkins, which is exactly the gap fans always wanted to revisit.
The animation is handled by Flying Bark Productions, the Sydney-based studio also behind Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Netflix’s Glitch Techs. The visual style is deliberately brighter and more family-accessible than the live-action series on Netflix, and the production team has described it as “entry-level Stranger Things.”
[INTERNAL LINK: Flying Bark Productions animated series guide → anchor: “other Netflix animated shows from the same studio”]
The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers via their Upside Down Pictures banner, alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment. Tales From ’85 arrives just ahead of the franchise’s 10th anniversary in summer 2026.
Voice Search Q&A
Q: Who voices Eleven in Stranger Things: Tales from 85? A: Brooklyn Davey Norstedt voices Eleven. She’s a young actress whose prior work includes the Apple TV+ miniseries WeCrashed. She’s making her animated series debut in this role.
Q: Why isn’t the original Stranger Things cast in Tales From 85? A: The live-action cast has aged into their mid-twenties. The show is set in 1985, when the characters were 12–14, so entirely new, younger voice talent was cast instead.
Q: Who voices Steve Harrington in the animated Stranger Things? A: Jeremy Jordan, known for Supergirl and Hazbin Hotel, voices Steve Harrington in Tales From ’85.
Q: Is Robert Englund in Stranger Things: Tales From 85? A: Yes. Robert Englund, who played Victor Creel in Season 4 of the live-action series, returns to the franchise, voicing a new character named Cosmo in the animated spin-off.
Q: When did Stranger Things: Tales from 85 come out? A: The series premiered globally on Netflix on April 23, 2026. US fans could also catch the first two episodes in select theaters starting April 18, 2026.