Exclusive: Inside Stranger Things Spinoff Tales From 85 — How It Became Real and How Nikki Revived Will

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 rewinds to the instant Hawkins first cast its spell—rekindling the original magic while introducing new wrinkles that hint at where the franchise goes next.

Netflix found a way to spin Stranger Things without breaking what everyone loves about it: go back to a very specific year, 1985, drop into the gap between seasons 2 and 3, and cook up a new adventure that still feels like Hawkins. I talked with executive producer Eric Robles about how they cracked it, why Will Byers finally gets the spotlight again, and how a brand-new character (hi, Nikki Baxter) upends the group in the best way.

So what is this thing?

'Stranger Things: Tales From '85' is an animated series set right after Eleven shuts the gate at the end of season 2 and before the start of season 3. Translation: the Upside Down is officially sealed, which makes new monsters a tricky problem to solve. That challenge is exactly what pulled Robles in.

How they cracked the spinoff

After wrapping his last show, Glitch Techs, Robles hit lockdown and decided to chase the horror itch he had been nursing since 2004. Back then, he even got a horror series into development at Cartoon Network that never made it out. This time, he spent about five months building a new horror pitch and took it to Netflix. They liked it, but it bumped into something else they were developing. A couple weeks later they called him back with a different idea: come look at what we have in the works. They showed him Stranger Things.

The catch: because this new story had to sit between seasons 2 and 3, Eleven had already closed the gate. No new gate means no easy path for creatures. That was the puzzle. Robles, who grew up on a steady diet of 80s VHS horror (A movies, B movies, C movies, the whole wild grab-bag), thought about Re-Animator and the kind of science-gone-wrong energy that defined the era. That became the hook.

"Hawkins Lab science meets Upside Down matter. If you can take dead matter and find a way to bring it back to life, we might have something pretty cool here."

He pitched that to Netflix. The Duffers saw it, pulled him in for what was supposed to be a 30-minute meeting, and the room ended up geeking out about animation and possibilities for more than an hour. For context, the Duffers were in post on season 4 at the time; this wasn’t some long-game corporate plan, it grew out of genuine enthusiasm in the room.

Staying inside the lines without feeling boxed in

Robles calls the window between seasons 2 and 3 a 'frozen time' that lets the team play without breaking canon. The Duffers’ guardrails were simple: don’t interfere with the main show, but have fun in the space you’ve got. No one wanted a hangout-only season where the kids just kill time; there had to be an actual adventure. That’s where the new creatures come in, born from Hawkins-style science colliding with Upside Down residue. Think side-quest energy that still feels true to the mothership. Robles even points to the 80s cartoon The Real Ghostbusters as proof that audiences will roll with great stand-alone adventures if the characters feel right.

Will Byers, front and center (finally)

One of the sharper swings here: Will gets the focus he didn’t really have in the middle stretch of the flagship series. Mike is wrapped up in Eleven, Lucas and Max have their own drama, Dustin is always hunting the next big caper, and Will… kind of faded into the background. Tales From '85 flips that with the arrival of Nikki Baxter, a new kid in Hawkins who doesn’t carry the town’s baggage about 'zombie boy.'

Nikki sees Will’s past for what it is: a kid who went to another dimension, survived monsters, and still made it back to junior high. If that sounds like spin, it’s exactly the point. She reframes Will’s history as strength, and that confidence boost is a big part of the season. Nikki also brings her own stuff with her mom and constant moving, so the show slows down for real relationship beats: friends clashing, a mother and daughter arguing, the messy human parts you usually don’t see prioritized in animated genre TV. It’s not just creature feature set pieces stacked end to end.

Quick hits: setting, cast, date

• When it takes place: Between Stranger Things seasons 2 and 3, right after Eleven closes the gate.
• The problem to solve: No open gate, but monsters still need to menace Hawkins — cue 'Hawkins Lab meets Upside Down matter' and a reanimation twist.
• Creative lane: Respect the flagship canon, play in that 'frozen time' without altering main continuity, and keep it character-first.
• Voice cast highlights: Benjamin Plessala as Will, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, and Luca Diaz as Mike. Nikki Baxter, played by Odessa, joins the party.
• Premiere: April 23, 2026 on Netflix.

Why this doesn’t feel like a cash grab

Robles is clear: this wasn’t 'let’s milk the IP.' The ball started rolling because a horror-forward idea clicked with the Duffers, the team got excited about animation, and a weirdly perfect window in the timeline made sense. That kind of energy tends to show up on screen.

The long road to Hawkins

If you like a behind-the-scenes arc with a little grit: Robles worked his way up from an animation intern to an Emmy-winning creator, at one point told he wouldn’t make it and should just stop. He grew up in LA in a family that worked hard to make ends meet, and he credits that grind — plus support from family and friends — with keeping him in the fight.