Stranger Things Officially Returns With New Episodes & It's The End Of An Era

Published Sep 16, 2026, 3:09 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While Stranger Things is back with new episodes this week, Tales from ’85 season 2’s new outings might be the last addition to the show’s original story. It has been a long and strange journey from the release of Stranger Things season 1 back in 2016 to the arrival of Tales from ’85 season 2, the second outing of the original show’s animated spinoff. When Stranger Things began, the show was a gritty, mature horror mystery. Similar to the later Stephen King spinoff It: Welcome to Derry, Stranger Things season 1 used a child’s disappearance from a seemingly ordinary small American town as a conduit to explore the community’s dark secret history. Season 1 and 2 of the series were dark, creepy, and sometimes brutal, but Stranger Things still found time for moments of levity and hope in the show’s coming-of-age story. Then things changed completely with the arrival of 2019’s divisive season 3. Although season 4 would undo some of these tonal changes years later, Stranger Things season 3 made the show a sunnier, funnier, more light-hearted affair. The occasional moments of gore remained, but quiet character studies were replaced by broad sitcom humor as the show’s goofiness was increased exponentially. Clearly, something happened between seasons 2 and 3 that altered the show’s universe forever. That’s where the spinoff Tales from ’85 comes in. Stranger Things Tales from ’85 Season 2 Could End The Show’s Story Image via Netflix Pitched as a Saturday morning cartoon set in the world of the original show, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is a spinoff with a difference. Where many modern spinoffs, like The Big Bang Theory’s follow-up Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, pride themselves on working as independent, original shows, Tales from ’85 takes the opposite approach. Not only does the show feature the same lead characters as Stranger Things and take place in the same setting, but it also takes place in the same time period. As unusual as it may sound, Tales from ’85 is neither a conventional sequel nor a prequel, but rather an interquel. This means the show’s story takes place in the break between Stranger Things seasons 2 and 3, filling in the blanks between the dark second season and the zanier, wackier story of season 3. After a mixed critical reception for the animated show’s first outing, season 2 of Tales from ’85 returns tomorrow. While this wasn't confirmed, the brief five-month window between season 1’s April release date and season 2’s September arrival means the two outings were most likely produced at the same time, with the show then being split into two parts. Thus, after season 2 drops, it is unclear whether Tales from ’85 will return for another season or not. If it does, the series will most likely need to finally move beyond its setting between seasons 2 and 3 of the original show, but this cause a host of other issues. Stranger Things Tales from ’85’s Season 2 Ending Fixes A Major Timeline Mistake Image courtesy of Netflix Like Netflix’s 2025 mega hit KPop Demon Hunters, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is explicitly aimed at an audience of children, unlike the original show. This means that its main characters can’t suddenly age up in a third season, since they would suddenly be far less relatable protagonists for younger audience members. That said, Tales from ’85 season 3 also can’t continue to take place in the time between seasons 2 and 3. It was pretty bizarre when Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 season 1 revealed that an entire supernatural adventure occurred between seasons 2 and 3 of the original show and none of the main characters ever mentioned it again. Season 2 of the spinoff is now making this mistake even worse, as the show proves two huge stories happened in this period and neither were referenced between seasons 3 and 5. Thus, Tales from ’85 should quit while the spinoff has not yet completely derailed the original Stranger Things timeline. Release Date April 23, 2026 Network Netflix Showrunner Eric Robles Cast Brooklyn Davey Norstedt Eleven (voice) Jolie Hoang-Rappaport Max (voice) Directors Phil Allora, JJ Conway, Ben Choi Writers ChatGPT, Dan Milano, Ray Utarnachitt, Jennifer Muro, Chad Quandt, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Jen Bardekoff, Joshua Pruett Franchise(s) Stranger Things Creator(s) Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Eric Robles