Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is a Stranger Things spin-off, and since the main show ended in 2025, many might wonder if the spin-off is even worth the watch. After all, we know how the show ends, and thus many viewers might not think there’s a point in watching the spin-off.
Besides revisiting the characters and Hawkins at a time when the kids of the crew are still kids, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 provides one of the best big fights in its climax. The final battle of Season 5 left many fans disappointed due to the lack of action and anybody being at actual risk. The spin-off’s fight scene almost makes up for it by being the one of the best big fights we have seen the characters been in.
Why Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is a worthy spinoff
Whether a spinoff of an already successful show is worthy of being called a spin-off or not depends on whether it feels it belongs to the original show’s world or not. Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 not only belongs in it, but also provides a fight scene that makes it more than part of the franchise. What immediately stands out in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’s climax is how the fight is structured. Rather than leaning entirely on Eleven’s telekinetic powers, the rest of the Hawkins crew steps up when it matters most.
Before El even enters the fight, her friends, Will, Mike, Dustin, Max, and Nikki are seen already doing their part, improvising their way through a genuinely dangerous situation. The spin-off sticks to the characters’ fundamental traits which is that all of them are fighters in their own ways. Even after Eleven arrives, the group refuses to just and watch her save the day. Every character, including Will, fights, and thus the whole team physically works together to stop the creature. This fight also feels like a great watch after the Stranger Things series finale fight seemed hurried with no real high stakes or risks.
Ultimately, the spinoff succeeds because it remembers the heart of the franchise, which is not the monsters from Upside Down, but the friendships of the kids who fight them, which has been more powerful than any other supernatural power.
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, aka, Jane Hopper, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max Mayfield, Luca Diaz as Mike Wheeler, Braxton Quinney as Dustin Henderson, Elisha Williams as Lucas Sinclair, Alessandra Antonelli as Nancy Wheeler, Ben Plessala as Will Byers, Odessa A’zion as Nikki Baxter, Brett Gipson as Jim Hopper, Jeremy Jordan as Steve Harrington, and among others.
The show is developed by Eric Robles and Jennifer Muro. Robles also serves as the showrunner. Executive producers of the show include Robles, The Duffer Brothers, Dan Cohen, Shawn Levy, and Hilary Leavitt. The production companies behind the show are Upside Down Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment, and Flying Bark Productions.
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is streaming on Netflix.
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Edited by Sohini Biswas