Maya Hawke's getting her own Stranger Things spin-off podcast

It’s getting to be that time of year again, folks: The moment when we suddenly realize that, oh yeah, Stranger Things is totally a thing! To be fair, the Netflix series hasn’t been going out of its way to stay fresh in our memories of late, especially since it’s been nearly two years since the show dropped new episodes, with the Russians-and-shopping-malls-themed third season of the once inescapable series airing all the way back on July 4, 2019

But have no worries, fans of small-town-life-often-imperiled-by-small-town monsters: The series is now gearing up for its fourth season—although the release date itself is still strictly TBD. But, since TV shows take time to make and all, the Duffer Bros. have come up with a way to rebuild a little of the old enthusiasm, and tide fans over during the wait: A new scripted spin-off podcast project. Titled Surviving Hawkins, the series is centered on one of the breakout characters of the show’s third season: Maya Hawke’s charmingly sarcastic ice-cream slinger Robin Buckley.

Details about the podcast (including an excerpt) were revealed today as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week YouTube presentation, where the streamer debuted a quick glimpse of the scripted series. Interestingly, it sounds like the show might dip into some of the ideas that Stranger Things tends to gloss over as barely-noticed subtext—most pointedly the way that small town life, and especially high school, can itself be the “Hawkins monster” lurking in the weeds, waiting to devour the highly edible youth of rural Indiana.

The six-episode companion series isn’t the only bit of Robin content in the works, either; it’s designed to accompany an upcoming novel, Rebel Robin, which dives even further into the life of the Scoop Squad’s most interesting member. The podcast, which also stars Firefly’s Sean Maher, debuts on June 29.