Stranger Things quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular shows and held that title for a decade, but the flagship series officially ended in January of this year, with a controversial conclusion. But that isn’t really the end of the story because even before the finale premiered, fans began wondering about a spinoff. Though Stranger Things has many ways to grow in the future, the first follow-up series proved to be exactly what the franchise needed.Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 released more content just a few months after the original series’ finale, offering a new way for the story to grow.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 isn’t a sequel or a prequel. Instead, the animated series provides a unique opportunity for the characters as it explores the main cast during one of the show’s time jumps. This method allows the new series to include the best of Stranger Things while offering its own strengths. Though Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is a departure from the original series, it proves the story has the potential to expand, even with the original actors having moved on. Ultimately, that assurance is what the franchise needed, making the animated adventure a game-changer for the story’s future.
‘Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’ Goes Back to ‘Stranger Things’ Glory Days
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 returns to the best parts of the original series, highlighting the dynamic that made the story great: the friendship between the young characters. Focusing on the winter between Seasons 2 and 3, the series expands El (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt), Mike (Luca Diaz), Will (Ben Plessala), Dustin (Braxton Quinney), Lucas (Elisha Williams), and Max’s (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) adventures as it introduces a new plant-based threat from the Upside Down. This offers a new mystery that fans haven’t seen before, allowing them to spend more time with their favorite characters. With 80s nostalgia, lovable characters, and a new enemy that only El and her friends can face, Tales from ’85 offers everything fans love from the original.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
Like it or not, Season 5 wrapped up the story, but Tales from ’85 shows that filling in gaps allows the story to continue. Yet, despite the potential it offers, this method comes with complications, namely continuity. Though these events overlap with the original series, the spinoff doesn’t rewrite the previous story, but they can’t fit together perfectly. Nothing that happens in the spinoff is referenced in the original series, which seems a little odd, given that it is supposed to be part of the same journey. The release order makes this understandable, but it’s hard to ignore one glaring change as the newest character, Nikki (Odessa A’zion), seemingly disappears by the summer. Nikki joins the group throughout the animated series, offering a new perspective on their supernatural situation, but her becoming involved in the Upside Down story only to be quickly forgotten raises a major issue for the series’ continuity. Yet, despite this issue, Tales from ’85 offers an exciting expansion of the beloved world.
Netflix Is Wasting No Time with ‘Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’
While the animated series is a dramatic shift from the original, it has a lot to offer. The original story shows the potential for Stranger Things to continue and thrive despite the original’s end. And Netflix wasted no time proving it, releasing the spin-off just four months after Stranger Things’ finale, turning the show into a franchise. And this forced Tales from ’85 to overcome the original’s biggest issue. Tales from ’85 is one of the fastest-moving series on streaming. Not only did it premiere shortly after the original, but it promises to keep up the momentum.
Already renewed for Season 2, Tales from ’85 will be back before fans can even miss it. The second installment promises a 2026 release, making it less than a year between seasons. This momentum is in direct contrast with Stranger Things, which routinely asked fans to wait more than two years between seasons, leading to the inexplicable aging of the characters. By reversing the franchise’s most problematic issue, Tales from ’85 proves that Stranger Things can expand without falling into the same traps, and that is game-changing as Netflix plans to grow the story.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is streaming on Netflix in the U.S.
Release Date
April 23, 2026
Network
Netflix
Showrunner
Eric Robles
Directors
Phil Allora, JJ Conway, Ben Choi
Writers
ChatGPT, Dan Milano, Ray Utarnachitt, Jennifer Muro, Chad Quandt, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Jen Bardekoff, Joshua Pruett
