Credit: NetflixNow that the controversy surrounding Stranger Things Season 5 has faded, fans can start looking forward to what comes next. The fifth season marked the end of the beloved sci-fi series that started in 2016, but it was met with backlash from many fans due to how the story unfolded, both throughout the season as a whole and in its final chapter, “The Rightside Up.”
Season 5 was easily the most anticipated of all five seasons, but for many, it came as a huge disappointment. So much so that fans launched an online petition demanding an extended cut from Netflix. At the same time, many claimed the finale was fake and that a “true ending” would follow. This quickly turned into a viral theory (or hoax) dubbed “Conformity Gate.”
New Stranger Things Content
However, while the flagship series has ended, Stranger Things isn’t finished. Since Season 5 premiered in November, we’ve already had a new tie-in novel, the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 expansion pack, and the asymmetrical multiplayer game Dead by Daylight’s second Stranger Things chapter. And now, there’s even more in development.
Not only is there an untitled live-action project that centers on the mysterious “briefcase rock” that appeared in the Season 5 finale in the works, but it has also been confirmed that the Broadway version of The First Shadow has been filmed for Netflix. But before those additions, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 will be expanding the franchise into animation.
Related: New ‘Stranger Things’ Theory Emerges Following “Conformity Gate”
Tales From ’85
The 3D animated series brings back all the main characters including Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max (voiced by an entirely new cast) and takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the main Netflix series. While many are excited to see the world of Hawkins and the Upside Down continue in a vibrant new format, others have voiced concerns over how the show breaks canon, given that none of the events were mentioned from Season 3 onwards.
Showrunner Eric Robles describes the show as a “lost season”, telling Empire in February, “We wanted to go back to Hawkins and feel like a lost season,” adding that the series focuses on “when the kids weren’t trying to save the world — they were just trying to save the town.”
So, Tales From ’85 will, at the very least, brings things back in terms of tone and scale — one of the many criticisms Season 5 faced, with some fans feeling that the once-small-town-mystery had gotten away from itself in the end by becoming a full-blown fantasy adventure.
Concerns About Canon
But what fans are really concerned about is logic. Given the fact it’s set between seasons and brings back the same characters, Tales From ’85 takes many liberties. But it’s not the Hawkins gang that’s the issue — the new series introduces new monsters, despite Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) having sealed the gate to the Upside Down at the end of Season 2.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, Robles revealed how he’d discovered “loopholes” in the main series to allow for the introduction of new monsters. He explained:
“I dissected the [main live-action] show, looking for any loopholes. I found a few of ’em. And then I found this one idea that I was just like, ‘Oh s—! I think that’s it.’ What is this big idea? Hawkins Lab science meets Upside Down matter. There’s a chain reaction to the creatures that are in our world and the things that are popping up.”
While the first trailer offers some idea about how these new monsters appear, it mostly keeps things close to its chest, mainly showcasing the characters, the animation style, and overall tone, which feels more comedic and whimsical than its live-action counterpart:
Related: Netflix Confirms Official Changes to ‘Stranger Things’ After Season 5 Backlash
A New Stranger Things Trailer
Now, the second official trailer, which premiered last week, finally explains why there are new threats, such as pumpkin zombies, vine-like monsters, and snow-dwelling sharks, despite the gate to the shadow dimension being sealed off from Hawkins.
“The gate is closed. Where did it come from?” Eleven asks in the trailer, to which Dustin replies, “Something from the Upside Down must have survived last year!”
It seems that “chain reaction” Robles was referring to is those deadly spores from the Upside Down — a key element in the main series to begin with — which are now creating new monsters. This is backed up by the synopsis for an upcoming Tales From ’85 tie-in novel. Per Penguin Random House, it states that “a Lost and Found box has become infected with Upside Down spores and the contaminated objects spread all over town.”
This Lost and Found box appears to contain an eclectic mix of items. A pumpkin, a plant of some kind, and, by the looks of it, a goldfish. But, as they say, stranger things have happened.
Per Netflix, the official logline for the new series reads:
“In the winter of 1985, snow blankets the town and the horrors of the Upside Down are finally fading. Our heroes Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have settled back into a normal life of D&D, snowball fights, and quiet days. But beneath the ice, something terrifying has awakened. Could it be from the Upside Down? From the depths of Hawkins Lab? Or from somewhere else entirely? Our heroes must race to solve this mystery and save Hawkins in this new story set in the Stranger Things universe.”
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 stars Brett Gipson (Jim Hopper), Luca Diaz (Mike Wheeler), Brooklyn Davey Norstedt (Eleven), Braxton Quinney (Dustin Henderson), Elisha Williams (Lucas Sinclair), Ben Plessala (Will Byers), Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Max Mayfield), Jeremy Jordan (Steve Harrington), Odessa A’zion (Nikki Baxter), Janeane Garofalo (Anna Baxter), Lou Diamond Phillips (Daniel Fischer), Robert Englund (Cosmo), Alysia Reiner (Karen Wheeler), Alessandra Antonelli (Nancy Wheeler), Valeria Rodriguez (Rosario), and Jack Griffo (Jeff).
The series will premiere on Netflix on April 23. It has also been confirmed that the first two episodes will be screened in select theaters on April 18, five days before the series launches on the streamer. The double-bill preview will have a total runtime of about 55 minutes.
Are you excited about Tales From ’85? What do you think of the new trailer? Let us know in the comments!