Following the release of the season 5 finale of Stranger Things on December 31, Netflix announced an animated spin-off scheduled to premiere on April 23, 2026. Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the original series. “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,” shares Behind the Voice Actors. This new animated series has left many with mixed emotions about its creation, but fans are still eager to see what’s in store for the next chapter of the Stranger Things universe.
This series brings many new aspects to Stranger Things. Aside from the obvious difference in the animated take on this spin-off, another change is an entirely new cast. New actors are voicing every single original character. This is mainly due to the old cast having aged out of their role, but because of this, many fans can’t imagine this show living up to the original. The new cast includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Luca Diaz as Mike Wheeler, Benjamin Plessala as Will Byers, Elisha Williams as Lucas Sinclair, Braxton Quinney as Dustin Henderson, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max Mayfield, Brett Gipson as Jim Hopper, and Jeremy Jordan as Steve Harrington.
This spin-off is meant to act as a buffer, with its predecessor ending after ten years. In part, many think this release is also meant to pull attention away from disappointment with how the show ended. Some of its audience felt the ending was rushed and left too many questions unanswered, with fan theories of a secret ending, dubbed “Conformity Gate,” swarming TikTok feeds. “The ending was so poorly received that fans mass-deluded themselves into thinking that there was a secret alternative ending. For several days after the series finale dropped, fans searched through scenes for clues that this was not the real ending… many were found, which led to a startlingly realistic theory,” explains Collegiate Times.
The theory goes that the ending was a fake reality created by the show’s antagonist, Vecna, and that another episode would be released shortly after the finale. However, Caleb McLaughlin, who stars as Lucas Sinclair, disproved this theory. “At first, I thought the ‘Conformity Gate’ theory was dumb,” McLaughlin told THR. “I get that people want to live in this optimistic place of, ‘Oh, we want more Stranger Things,’ but the show is done, guys. I was like, ‘Guys, it’s over. It’s been 10 years. We were full-on kids, and now we’re full-on adults, and we don’t need any more of us.”’
Many fans agree with McLaughlin in that it is time for the series to end, but many go as far as to believe that this new series is a desperate attempt to stay relevant to Stranger Things’s fans, and that this universe needs to be put to bed before it turns into just another poorly-made series of spinoffs.
Either way, the release of Tales from ‘85 is sure to pull attention away from discourse over the original’s ending since it doesn’t take place where the series left off, but in between seasons 2 and 3. “We get to spend time with these kids in a way that you did not have time to in the flagship series. We were able to freeze time and really go on these never-before-told adventures with them in this timeline,” Showrunner and Executive Producer Eric Robles tells Netflix in reference to this new series’ role of filling in the time jump between seasons.
Good or bad, whatever this new animated series has in store for viewers is sure to bring attention and revenue to Netflix and the series’s creators, the Duffer Brothers. Just don’t forget your popcorn and soda when you settle down to watch Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 on April 23, 2026.
