Stranger Things: Tales From '85 — Odessa A'zion Voices New Character Nikki Baxter - Netflix Tudum

  • Meet the Cast

    Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Brings Odessa A’zion’s Nikki Baxter to the Party

    Meet the colorful new character who’s just arrived in Hawkins. 

    By Keisha Hatchett
    Feb. 24, 2026

A fresh adventure awaits in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, the animated series from showrunner Eric Robles and executive producers the Duffer Brothers that’s set in the Stranger Things universe. 

In this thrilling tale premiering April 23, our heroes Eleven (voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt), Mike (Luca Diaz), Will (Benjamin Plessala), Dustin (Braxton Quinney), Lucas (Elisha “EJ” Williams), and Max (In Your Dreams’s Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) have settled back into a normal life of D&D and quiet days. When something terrifying awakens beneath the snow blanketing the town, the kids must leap back into action to uncover a layered mystery.

Related Stories

  • Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2 Is Now Streaming
    Animated group of kids in outdoor night setting, wearing jackets and hats, holding flashlights and looking ahead with concerned expressions, surrounded by trees under a dark blue sky.

Terrifying new monsters will arise in the coming episodes, and a new friend is poised to join the party. Enter Nikki Baxter, the pink-haired transfer student who’s “super punk rock,” says Odessa A’zion (Marty SupremeI Love LA), who voices the character. Having moved around for the majority of her life, Nikki hasn’t had any real friends until now and had grown accustomed to being on her own. 

The D&D enthusiasts play important roles in the group, like Will as the cleric and Mike as the paladin, and Nikki comes in as “the barbarian and the protector [of the crew],” A’zion explains. “They had everything, and she was the missing puzzle piece. You need a little muscle in that crew.”

As the muscle, she “wants to stick up for people who have trouble sticking up for themselves, and I think she’s a badass for that,” A’zion adds. 

Get a sneak peek at Hawkins’s newest resident in the new poster below. 

Nikki in ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85’

“Nikki is the audience’s eyes,” Robles says of the character. “She comes into this world completely new. She’s got her own issues that she’s been dealing with, and it’s these kids who step into her world in a sense.” So when the chaos starts to unfold, “she’s got to figure things out with the kids because there’s no way that she could just walk away [from what she’s seen] and pretend like it never happened.”

Robles and the Duffer Brothers had “big conversations” about introducing the show’s latest recruit, Robles notes, making sure that “not only is the tone for the series what we all want it to be, but the new character feels like an addition to the cast.”

He adds, “It’s not until we found what makes Nikki special to the team, what makes her unique, that we were just like, ‘OK, now we need to go all in.’ ”

Meet Nikki when Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 arrives April 23 on Netflix. Plus, learn more about the new series in this interview with Robles. 

Watch the First Look at Stranger Things: Tales From ’85
Related Tags
  • Animation
  • Article

More on Stranger Things: Tales From '85

  • Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Will Return for Season 2
    A new adventure awaits Hawkins.
  • Find out when and where to get your taste of the Upside Down. 
  • Here’s everything to know about the series set in the Stranger Things universe.
  • Winter has settled in, along with a terrifying new threat. 

Shop Stranger Things: Tales From '85

Go to Netflix Shop

Based on What You Watched

  • Find out if justice is served in the Bollywood courtroom drama.
  • The sweet and spicy time-slip fantasy stars Lim Yoon-a, Korea’s rom-com queen.
  • Movies that prove he’s with you till the end of the line. 
  • Here’s everything you need to know about the 1945-set Korean drama, plus what to expect from Season 2.
  • The new K-drama stars rom-com queen Lim Yoon-a.
  • The Gray Man star just nabbed an Oscar nomination for Blonde.
  • The Russo Brothers break down how they created some of the most epic visual effects in the film.

Meet the Cast

  • A gamer, a mountain climber, and a doctor tackle deadly games in this series.
  • From Arisu to Ryuji, here are all the key players of the series.
  • The series returns with Josh Duhamel, Minka Kelly, and legend Patricia Clarkson.
  • Where does the finale film leave the Truham-Higgs squad? 
  • Tina Fey, Tracey Wigfield, and Lang Fisher weigh in on the reunion.
  • Nick Offerman, Lukas Gage, Harry Shum Jr., and Leah McKendrick also star.
  • The Harlan Coben series stars Sam Worthington, Britt Lower, and Milo Ventimiglia.
  • Kate Hudson and Brenda Song star in the hilarious new series from Mindy Kaling.

Animation

  • Is it for your pet, your kid … or for you? The answer may surprise us all.
  • Plus Wonka’s The Golden TicketOculus, and more new movies and shows this week.
  • The animated comedy from Rick and Morty writer Matt Roller gets another chapter.
  • From documentaries to stand-up sets, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
  • Part 7 of the beloved series will be available worldwide in March.
  • Harness your own practical magic with these witchy watches.
  • Here are the family-friendly flicks landing on Netflix this month.

Popular Now

  • Ella Beatty leads the latest installment of the Ryan Murphy anthology series. 
  • “How much of himself does Eddie lose whilst getting revenge?” Theo James asks.
  • The filmmakers on Mica and JP’s marriage, his federal charges, and “Mica’s Law.”