After weeks of heated speculation about whether Netflix was done with Stranger Things, including thousands of TikToks and social media posts about #ConformityGate and whether there was a secret, ninth episode of Season 5, the streamer has finally revealed the first look at new episodes of the hit series. Well, sort of. They actually unveiled the official, two-ish minute teaser for Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, a new animated series that’s been in the works for at least the past three years.
So yeah, sorry Season 5 truthers, Netflix has moved on with something new… Or rather, moved backwards, as this new series takes place smack in the middle of the action of Hawkins, Indiana, with some new characters, new creatures, and a whole lot of those ’80s vibes you know and love.
That said, there’s a lot that’s changed, and it isn’t just the fact that everyone is looking a whole lot more cartoony. So with that in mind, let’s break down some of the biggest burning questions about Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, and answer everything we know about the series so far.
What Is Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 About?
Okay, before we get into it, to set the stage – and we’ll expand on some of this later – here’s the official synopsis for the series:
Return to Hawkins with Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, an exciting new animated series from Showrunner Eric Robles and Executive Producers the Duffer Brothers. 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 untold story set in the Stranger Things universe.
So they might solve a mystery? Perhaps rewrite history? What is this, DuckTales? Well, sort of. Except for the ducks. And the large, swimmable bin filled with money.
In addition, this is – as you may be able to tell from the footage – being done with computer animation, despite being partially inspired by ’80s cartoons. The reason? Originally, the show was going to be made in the style of cartoons from the 1980s. But then they realized it was much darker, and characters might die. Because of this, they updated the look.
When Does Tales From ’85 Take Place (in the Continuity of the Show…)?
This might get a little bit of a deserved groan from you, dear reader, because yes, it takes place in 1985. And as you might have either read in the synopsis or seen in the trailer based on the snowball fights, this takes place in the winter of 1985. But for those wondering when it takes place in the continuity of the live-action show, the answer is between the end of Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3.
More specifically, at the end of Season 2, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) sealed the gate to the Upside Down in Hawkins Lab after a legion of demodogs had invaded tunnels under the town. The final episode took place at the Snow Ball, a winter dance, so this happens after Max (Sadie Sink) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) kissed for the first time, El and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) are together, and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) have hooked up.
Season 3 kicks off the next summer with the opening of the Starcourt Mall, and the emergence of a goopy, rat-filled Mind Flayer, so we’re not quite there yet.
Point being, the Upside Down is closed off, the threat has dispersed, and mostly everyone is exploring new romantic relationships. And perhaps more importantly, they’re all still in eighth grade. Or at least, the kids are. Hopper (David Harbour) is not in eighth grade. FYI.
What’s Up With All the Monsters Then?
Great question! With previous spinoffs of Stranger Things, they’ve mostly touched on things that could maybe be supernatural but ultimately are not. Specifically any of the in-continuity Dark Horse Comics or novels will have things like Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) thinking he’s dealing with a Jason-style slasher at summer camp (he’s not), or the kids trying to find a secret treasure left by Bob Newby (Sean Astin) that isn’t really rich stuff so much as emotionally rich stuff.
The reason for that is pretty simple: If they fought monsters between seasons, why wouldn’t that come up in conversation during seasons? Tales From ’85, on the other hand, clearly has what looks like demogorgons with pumpkin heads, giant plant beasties, and more.
The answer is that Tales From ’85 exists in its own continuity. And in that continuity, Hawkins Lab is messing with the Upside Down. Showrunner Eric Robles explained to Tudum that, “All of it is still connected to the Upside Down, so there is the DNA of Upside Down creatures in all of our creatures. It’s like Hawkins Lab science meets Upside Down matter. When you put them together, those are the kinds of creatures we have in our world.”
‘All of it is still connected to the Upside Down, so there is the DNA of Upside Down creatures in all of our creatures.’ -showrunner Eric Robles“
So Wait, This Isn’t in Canon With Stranger Things?
Er, yes and no on the in canon thing. The closest comp to Tales From ’85 is The Real Ghostbusters, which Robles has noted was an inspiration for the show. Like that Ghostbusters spinoff, it didn’t do anything to contradict the live-action adventures, but also it followed its own path and ideas. So, for example, Dustin isn’t going to lose an arm on Tales From ’85, and we aren’t going to find out the Upside Down is not a wormhole – in fact, it’s likely nobody will mention wormholes at all. Probably.
So by not contradicting, one could simply imagine that fighting plant monsters before the summer of ’85 in Season 3 just never came up in conversation on screen, but they were talking about it all the time off-screen. It’s a narrative trick to allow the writers of Tales From ’85 to not be constrained in the same way that, for example, Broadway play The First Shadow had to cut out certain plot points so as to not spoil them before Season 5 of the show. Basically, it’s everything we said about the novels and comics, but with some of the restrictive guard-rails taken off.
Are Any of the Live-Action Actors Returning for Tales From ’85?
That’s a big “N-O,” good buddy. The entire voice cast of the show is new, with probably the most famous member being Jeremy Jordan – who you nerds might know as Winn from Supergirl – as the voice of Steve “The Hair” Harrington.
The Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 voice cast includes:
- Jeremy Jordan as Steve “The Hair” Harrington
- Luca Diaz as Mike Wheeler
- Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven
- Braxton Quinney as Dustin
- Elisha Williams as Lucas
- Ben Plessala as Will
- Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max
- Brett Gipson as Hopper
In addition, there will be a new character named Nikki Baxter, who is described as a tinker with pink hair. A pinker, if you will. You won’t? Okay then.
Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo and Lou Diamond Phillips are also in the cast in undisclosed roles.
That doesn’t preclude a surprise cameo from any of the live-action cast, but they won’t be playing the roles they made famous on TV. At least part of the reason for that is likely that the “kids” don’t, uh, sound like that anymore.
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Is This the Spinoff the Duffer Brothers Were Teasing in Season 5?
Nope. Tales From ’85, as mentioned, has been in the works for a while now. But the live-action spinoff the Duffers are working on that has yet to be officially announced is not the animated series. That will involve entirely different characters than Stranger Things did, and in a different setting than Hawkins. Given Tales From ’85 includes the same characters in the same place… Well, you can probably figure it out from there.
Another big clue that this animated series is not the Duffers’ live-action spinoff? One is animated, and the other is live-action. And no, this show does not Roger Rabbit it up (probably).
How Many Episodes Are in Tales From ’85? And When Does It Premiere?
Last one first! Tales From ’85 premieres on April 23 on Netflix. As of now, we don’t have any info about how many episodes the show will run, or how long the episodes will be. We also don’t know if there will be additional seasons, or if those additional seasons would also be set in 1985… While animation has a long lead time to get ready (see above re: this taking three years), it’s possible Netflix may be waiting to see how this goes before greenlighting Season 2: Tales From Slightly Later In 1985.
As for now, we’ll just have to wait for April, when we find out that life is like a hurricane, here in, Haw-kins.
