‘Stranger Things’ recap ahead of season 5
Catch up on “Stranger Things” before season 5 with key plot twists and epic showdown details
Even with the end of “Stranger Things” in sight, Netflix is keeping the door open three inches for more.
The Netflix phenomenon is about to come to an end, with its highly anticipated series finale hitting the streamer on New Year’s Eve. But while the final episode will wrap the mainline show, it won’t be the last fans see of the “Stranger Things” world.
The series’ universe has already expanded into games, books and even a Broadway play, and at least two separate spinoff shows are on the way.
The one we know the most about is “Stranger Things: Tales from ’85,” an animated series set to premiere in 2026. The show takes place in between the events of Season 2 and Season 3 and will feature the return of main characters from the original series, including Eleven, Max, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will and Hopper. New actors will step in to voice the roles.
“Welcome back to Hawkins in the stark winter of 1985, where the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town in ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85,’ an epic new animated series,” Netflix’s official synopsis reads.
The show’s voice cast includes Odessa A’zion, who is coming off a breakout year with roles in “Marty Supreme” and “I Love LA.”
Live-action ‘Stranger Things’ spinoff will tell a new story with a ‘completely different’ cast
Another “Stranger Things” spinoff is in the works that will be live-action, but its plot is a total mystery. Original series creators Matt and Ross Duffer have had the idea in place for years, but they’ve only provided cryptic hints about it.
Back in 2022, the pair told Variety they “haven’t told anyone” their idea for a spinoff series, though one of their stars managed to figure it out on his own.
“We think everyone – including Netflix – will be surprised when they hear the concept, because it’s very, very different,” they said. “But somehow Finn Wolfhard – who is one crazy smart kid – correctly guessed what it was going to be about. But aside from Finn, no one else knows!”
Wolfhard said on “The Tonight Show” in 2023 he guessed the spinoff idea by simply thinking of what a “cool” way to expand the “Stranger Things” world would be. This seemingly confirms the spinoff has nothing to do with any new lore introduced during the final season, which Wolfhard would presumably not have been aware of at the time.
Earlier this year, Wolfhard suggested to Variety that the spinoff would be “an anthology” similar to “Twin Peaks,” “set in different places and all tied together through this mythology of the Upside Down.” The Duffers, though, clarified to Deadline this isn’t their idea, and they suggested Wolfhard may no longer remember his original, accurate guess.
In any case, fans shouldn’t expect the spinoff to center on any characters from the original series. The Duffers recently told Screen Rant that while the new show “relates in some ways” to what came before, it’s “a completely different story, in a completely different location with completely different actors and characters.”
The show also takes place in a “different decade,” Ross Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter, e.g. not the 1980s. “[‘Stranger Things’] is the end of the story for these characters of Hawkins, for the Upside Down,” he said.
But in an interview with Variety, Matt Duffer said the spinoff will fit with its predecessor’s “brand” and “style of storytelling,” as opposed to trying to “increasingly expand what could become an insanely convoluted mythology.” Ross Duffer added, “There’s going to be connective tissue, but you’re almost anthologizing in a way.”
Fans may have a slightly better idea of what’s next after watching the last episode of “Stranger Things.” Ross Duffer told The National there’s “one small scene in the finale that gives a hint as to what the spinoff will be,” adding, “We’ll see if people pick up on it.”
No premiere date for the “Stranger Things” spinoff has been announced. It’s likely at least a few years away, though, especially given Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief creative officer, said she still didn’t know anything about it as of a Variety story published in October. But Matt Duffer told Deadline in a November interview, “We’re trying to get it to go pretty quickly. So hopefully it’s gonna happen soon.”
