Stranger Things Spinoff Renewed: First Footage and Story Details Revealed
The Stranger Things juggernaut isn’t slowing down: after a five-season run, Netflix’s first franchise spinoff has premiered as a hit—and it’s already been renewed.
Netflix is not done with Hawkins. After Stranger Things wrapped its five-season run, the first spinoff out of the gate, Stranger Things: Tales From '85, showed up, pulled big numbers, and now it is officially coming back for Season 2. And yep, Netflix already shared where the next batch of episodes is headed.
Where this spinoff fits
Tales From '85 rewinds the timeline to a very specific sweet spot: it picks up after Stranger Things Season 2 but lands before the events of Season 3. It is basically an earlier chapter for the Hawkins crew, set during the winter of 1985, which turns out to be a pretty smart sandbox for a fresh mystery.
Quick Season 1 refresher (light spoilers)
The first season ends with the gang taking down the creature that kicked all this off. Eleven manages to close the portal to the Upside Down right as the thing is mid-leap, and the force literally chops it in half. The top half is dead… but then a single blue flower sprouts from the remains. It is a small, strange detail that is obviously not small at all, and it is clearly going to matter next season.
Season 2: what Netflix just confirmed
Netflix says the Hawkins Investigators Club is back next season and chasing a new paranormal threat tied to the town's abandoned silver mines. The streamer also put out the first Season 2 teaser and locked in a release window for later this fall.
- Setting: still winter of '85, slotted between Stranger Things S2 and S3
- Premise: the Hawkins Investigators Club digs into a fresh haunt connected to the old silver mines
- That blue flower: the weird bloom from the Season 1 finale is part of the setup
- Cast: the entire voice cast from Season 1 returns, including Odessa A'zion as new-to-the-franchise Nikki Baxter
- Timing: new episodes arrive later this fall; Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix
- Status: the show was a hit out of the gate, and the renewal is official
The showrunner on what is next
Showrunner Eric Robles says Season 1 was a gratifying ride and that seeing both longtime fans and newcomers click with these characters has been special. The good news is they are not leaving this era just yet.
We are thrilled to return to the winter of '85 for season two. The Hawkins Investigators Club is back, and a new paranormal threat has emerged from the town's abandoned silver mines. I can not wait for fans to discover where this entity and the mysterious blue flower we last saw blooming in the Upside Down at the end of Season 1 take our young heroes.
The bottom line
Tales From '85 is sticking with the pre-Season 3 window, leaning into a mine-shaft mystery, and dragging that unsettling blue flower into the spotlight. Everyone you heard in Season 1 is back (including Odessa A'zion as Nikki Baxter), and the next round lands this fall. Season 1 is up on Netflix now if you need to catch up or stare at that finale flower again and overthink it like the rest of us.