Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 has expanded the world of the hit Netflix show with an animated version, and we’re getting to see unseen footage of events at Hawkins. There’s a new look, new voices and new monsters but the biggest question it’s raising is that does any of this actually count? Is what happens in the animated series going to affect the main show at all, or is it a separate thing fans can enjoy without worrying too much about continuity? Here’s what you should know.
While Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is set within the existing Stranger Things timeline, especially in the gap between seasons 2 and 3, showrunner Eric Robles has confirmed that the animated series won’t be treated as fully canon to the main show.
Speaking to Radio Times, he explained that the Duffer Brothers had no plans for an animated series when they were building the original storyline, so the show has to carve out its own space. He tells the outlet,
“Even though we start at the end of season 2, and technically, the hopes are, if we continue with the series, we’ll make sure that we tie it right back to the beginning of season 3…Everything that happens in that space of what we’re creating, is its own adventure. There’s no way that we can create these exciting adventures with these creatures that would fit perfectly in the live action timeline. So we have to make sure that we isolate this, and really make it feel like its own adventure”
So what is Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 about?
Set between the winter of 1984 and the summer of 1985, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 fills in what the main show glossed over as a quiet period for the gang. Season 2 ended with the Snow Ball, complete with first kisses for Eleven and Mike, and Max and Lucas. Season 3 then jumped ahead to late June 1985 with a time skip that implied months of peace and normalcy. That’s where Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 comes. Turns out, something terrifying was hiding beneath the ice of Hawkins the whole time.
The gang, voiced by an entirely new cast, find themselves pulled back into another fight against a new creature while still trying to enjoy some D&D sessions and snowball fights in between. It’s the Stranger Things formula fans know and love, just rendered in animation with a slightly different energy. New residents of Hawkins get introduced too, expanding the world beyond what the live-action series had time for.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is now streaming on Netflix.
Edited by Nibir Konwar