Stranger Things Spin-Off Aims to Capture the Essence of a “Lost Season” from the Original Series

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Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 showrunner Eric Robles shares that the spinoff aims to capture the essence of a lost season of the main series, exploring what Mike, Eleven, and their friends were up to during their winter break before season 3.

“You could easily take this and make it the live-action version,” Robles mentioned. “We wanted to return to Hawkins and create a feeling of a lost season… when the kids weren’t saving the world – they were just trying to save their town.”

Set between seasons 2 and 3 of Stranger Things, the animated series fills in narrative gaps and may address lingering questions left by the series finale. It also introduces new, never-before-seen creatures from the Upside Down, including some intriguing Demogorgon variations with pumpkin heads that emerge from a pumpkin patch in Hawkins. Since these creatures haven’t appeared in the live-action series, our curiosity is definitely piqued.

According to the official tagline for Tales from ’85, this “epic new animated series” features the original Stranger Things characters “battling new monsters and unraveling a paranormal mystery.” Robles also revealed his admiration for Jaws, stating that Tales from ’85 is “their take on it.”

The voice cast includes Brett Gipson as Hopper, Luca Diaz as Mike, Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Elisha Williams as Lucas, Ben Plessala as Will, and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max. Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips also contribute their voices to undisclosed roles.

Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is set to premiere on Netflix on April 23. All episodes of Stranger Things are currently available for streaming.