What fans thought was the end for Stranger Things is apparently only the beginning. The animated show, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, is new and ready for a second season coming this fall. How do the fans feel about this, though?
I think it’s safe to say many fans were saddened when Stranger Things announced it was ending after five seasons. Fans spent holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve watching the final episodes the moment they dropped.
With years between seasons, fans grew up alongside Stranger Things before it ended nine years after debuting.
A new spin-off series
Months before the main series ended, Netflix announced that Stranger Things would be getting an animated spin-off series.
The tricky part was the new show being set between seasons two and three of the original series. When you plan to take on a project amidst the middle of a well-known universe, you have to make sure everything is aligned and planned out properly so as not to disrupt the original narrative.
Though the news seemed premature, the Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy’s involvement suggested the show was in good hands. Who else would know better than the original creators and directors of the series?
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 features the original six kids (plus a new addition we’ll get to later) going up against new paranormal monsters in Hawkins. They must investigate these new threats and get to the bottom of the cause before it’s too late.
The adults and older teens are mainly left out of this side quest — though Nancy and Steve do make some quick appearances in the show — so Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Will have to fend for themselves during their winter break of 1985.
Should Stranger Things just be left alone?
To say the least, a lot of viewers were not happy with the conclusion of the main show in December.
Without getting too much into it, fans wanted more from the characters, and some even wanted a different ending entirely. Conspiracy theories online spread like wildfire over the actual ending of the show. Fan speculations like “Conformity Gate” insisted that there was a secret, unreleased episode out there that we didn’t get to see.
Fans felt so disappointed that they refused to believe season five’s final episode was the real ending, and instead, expected a hidden finale.
I believe the audience’s disappointment with the way Stranger Things ended carried into the initial reaction of this new animated spin-off.
If Netflix was going to release anything else, fans wanted it to be related to the conclusion of season five — not something else entirely.
A watered-down story
With the ending of the series they loved so much seeming irrevocable, viewers didn’t seem interested in a spin-off supposedly taking place years before the finale. Whatever happened in this show couldn’t change the fate of their favorite characters all that much anyway.
One of the main differences here is the target audience the show appeals to. Fans of Stranger Things like the dark, gloomy, scary tone the show usually radiates.
Tales From ’85, on the other hand, has a brighter and kid-friendly appeal to it. While that’s not a problem for some, many fans admit that it doesn’t feel like the same show anymore.
Angie Han from The Hollywood Reporter described the show as a “watered-down recreation of the original’s appeal” and that she “can’t imagine most fans finding much to adore about it, either.”
What originally attracted fans to the series in the first place is now lacking.
A review by Rafael Montamayor from A.V. Club also admits, “Even if it leaned more toward sci-fi and fantasy in its later seasons, Stranger Things used to be quite a neat little horror show. Not here!” He says, “There’s little tension, and the new creatures like pumpkin zombies are just too childish to be threatening.”
Many fans will agree that it may not be worth their time to get attached and disappointed all over again.
What does this mean for the franchise?
It seems like over the past few years, the world of Stranger Things has grown exponentially.
Now, not only do we have the original Netflix series, but there’s also the Broadway play (Stranger Things: The First Shadow), over a dozen novels and short stories out, comics, a variety of video games and crossovers, and now this new spin-off series.
If you’re a devoted fan of the world-building, it can be hard to stay on top of it all. Luckily, though, Reddit fans have outlined the entire Stranger Things timeline in chronological order.
Mapped out the full Stranger Things timeline (including books, comics, VR, and more)
by u/bigEouze in StrangerThings
This level of expansion and added content is not anything new. It might remind you of another fictional universe that’s big on continued storytelling. Star Wars, perhaps?
If the franchise continues down this route, I’d have to ask: Is Stranger Things going down the same path as Star Wars?
Rather than telling a singular linear story, Star Wars creators have developed expanded universes and produced multitudes of spin-offs. The franchise’s growing list of movies and television series can easily confuse new fans.
Netflix knows Stranger Things did extremely well with audiences, and they’re counting on that love to continue into future projects revolving around Hawkins and The Upside Down.
In the way of prequels and sequels and parallel storylines, the opportunities could be endless. It could be a long time before they let the name of this show lie to rest.
The bright side of world-building
It may not be the spin-off fans were looking for, but they did earn some points with the voice casting.
If you didn’t know any better, you might mistake some of their voices for the original actors. However, with a brand new cast, they bring the charisma and youthful energy it takes to fill these characters’ shoes.
Dustin (voiced by Braxton Quinney) will have you surprised that Gaten Matarazzo didn’t return to reprise the role. Working alongside Elisha Williams (playing Lucas), Brooklyn Davey Norstedt (Eleven), Luca Diaz (Mike), Benjamin Plessala (Will), and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Max), a new character is introduced to the audience: Nikki Baxter (voiced by Odessa A’zion).
As Hawkins’ punk, new kid Nikki joins the group to help defeat the town’s newest monsters. She excels at science and inventing new tools strong enough to take down anything in her path.
Usually, this character would be easily likable. The only hesitation with getting attached to her character is that fans know she won’t be sticking around. Without being in the main series, they can only do so much with her storyline before it’s time to say goodbye.
Another advantage of going down the animated spin-off route is that the writers and producers can get around the aging factor.
One tricky dilemma with Stranger Things having such a big gap between seasons was that the actors were aging over the years. In the case of Tales From ’85, or any other future animation they may go with, that’s not a problem the writers would have to worry about.
They can revisit different seasons, adding on to the earlier storylines seamlessly.
Lots more to come
I don’t see the franchise quieting down anytime soon. The Duffer Brothers know they have a lot of material they can work with to make Stranger Things even bigger and, for some, better.
With a second season of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 already announced to be arriving in the fall, the Stranger Things universe will continue to grow and expand. It won’t be for a while that we really have to say goodbye to these characters.
The lights in Hawkins will stay on for now.
As long as fans keep loving and returning to the original show, the streaming service will continue to capitalize on that and turn this once five-season show into so much more.
How long will it be until fans get tired of spin-offs and prequels and want something new on their screens? This small-town horror/sci-fi series might bite off more than it could chew with the ongoing lore and scale at which they’re coming out with new stories.
While it’s nice to revisit Hawkins every once in a while, this isn’t what the fans asked for.
