Credit: NetflixA confirmed Stranger Things spinoff may recast any returning characters.
When Stranger Things Season 5 finally lands on Netflix, a collective grief will hang over the fifth and final series not unlike that dark supernatural storm cloud that gathers over the town of Hawkins in the Season 4 finale, “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback.”
Needless to say, the end is coming, as our Hawkins heroes, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) — to name a few — make a last stand against Vecna/Henry Creel One (Jamie Campbell Bower).
It’s fair to say that the end is also coming for some of those characters (three in particular, it would seem). If the last four seasons are anything to go by where character deaths are concerned, this long wait gives us plenty of time to emotionally prepare ourselves.
Stranger Things Other Media
In the real world, however, everything looks rather peachy for the franchise. The immersive stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2023) — which is canon with the television series — is already making waves in the West End’s Phoenix Theater, having impressed theatergoers and critics since arriving in December.
For even more extracurricular Stranger Things content, there are several tie-in novels from Penguin Random House and graphic novels from Dark Horse Comics that will have you drooling like a starved Demogorgon. Not much of a reader? How about board games (if you’re a fan of the show, you’ll know those board game skills could come in handy one day).
There’s even a virtual reality game now available, simply titled Stranger Things VR (2024), which puts the incredible power of telekinesis (among many other abilities) in your hands as you assume control of the Upside Down’s very own “dark wizard” Vecna so you can torment the teens of Hawkins like Freddy Krueger’s long lost cousin he never knew he had.
So, Season 5 might sound like the end of all things (and we’re sure that, upon watching, it will feel like the end of all things, too), but it will only mark the end of the long-running Netflix series, which, in its demise, will become a “flagship series,” as a number of spinoff shows are expected to arrive on the streaming service in the not-too-distant future.
Related: ‘Stranger Things’ Star Discusses Character Death Ahead of Season 5 Release
Stranger Things Spinoffs
There are reportedly three separate Stranger Things spinoffs in development; however, one of them is unconfirmed.
Starting with the most concrete news, in April last year, Netflix confirmed that an animated series set in the Stranger Things universe had been “ordered,” which Matt and Ross Duffer have since described it as being “in the same vein as Saturday morning cartoons” (although we’d wager that it won’t be quite as family-friendly as the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe).
There’s also a live-action spinoff in development, which would be the second such series set in the Stranger Things universe. However, absolutely nothing is known about that project. And thirdly, there are rumors of an anime series titled Stranger Things: Tokyo. It’s unclear whether this is the same project as the other animated spinoff, but it has yet to be confirmed by Netflix or the Duffer brothers anyway.
Related: ‘Stranger Things’ May Have Revealed Max’s Fate in Season 5
Either way, the world of Stranger Things is getting the animated treatment — hardly surprising considering most major franchises have already gone under that knife: Star Wars, Marvel, Jurassic World, and Legendary’s MonsterVerse, to name a few.
While we don’t know what the show will be about, or when it will arrive (although it’s likely to be after Season 5), there’s every chance it will see the return of some characters from the main series. And should this happen, whether it’s Eleven, Hopper, or Dr. Martin Brenner, it’s very unlikely the actors who play them in live action would reprise their roles. We’re not saying this is impossible, but it rarely happens. But how would this go down with fans? Well, if it does happen, seeing a beloved character in animated form would probably make that pill a bit easier to swallow. With all that said, Eleven may be getting recast in Season 5 anyway.
The First Shadow is now playing at the Phoenix Theater. Check out the trailer below:
For information on tickets and showtimes, visit the official website.
Stranger Things seasons 1 — 4 are now streaming on Netflix.
Stranger Things stars Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Bob Newby (Sean Astin), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane Hopper), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson), Paul Reiser (Dr. Sam Owens), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Matthew Modine (Papa/Martin Brenner), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/One/Henry Creel).
How would you feel about the Stranger Things characters being recast in the future? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!