Stranger Things Returns to Netflix After Season 5 Backlash, Retcons Everything

Love it or hate it, Stranger Things Season 5 certainly took over the internet when it released at the end of 2025.

We were left with a whole host of unanswered questions, with fan theories that a ‘secret good final Stranger Things episode’ was certainly on its way. Some of them were pretty convincing! Others… Well, they were funny at least.

But it turns out that Netflix could be about to undo the whole show with an alternate prequel show. So does any of it even matter now?

What is Stranger Things: Tales From '85 About?

Set to release in Spring 2026, Screen Rant reminded us about Stranger Things: Tales From '85 - an animated prequel set in the winter of 1985, placing it slap bang between season 2 and 3 of Stranger Things (some of the weaker seasons, in my humble opinion).

You can check out the trailer for Stranger Things: Tales From '85 below.

I think it looks really cute. The Duffer Bros say the idea was to ‘evoke the feel of 80s comics’, which I totally see.

It’s At Risk Of Retconning The Show, Here’s Why

Nikki Baxter, is a new character described as “taller and bigger” than Eleven by the Duffer Bros, and that’s all we know. Mysterious!

But I have to agree with Screen Rant - why is there a new character who’s never brought up in the main show? Hopefully she moves out of Hawkins in the lull between seasons, and nothing bad happens to her. That’s pretty unlikely though.

It’s an odd retcon to introduce a whole new character, in my opinion. Especially as the show post Season 5 could do with a bit of fleshing out! I’d personally much prefer to see the original gang in 10, 15, maybe even 20 years!

To counter this, I think it could be an alternate timeline, or she might be one of Papa’s creations, who can wipe minds? That’s the only way they don’t unravel the main canon I can see.

What Will Stranger Things: Tales From '85 Be About?

Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 will follow El and the gang fighting new monsters and tackling mysteries. It’ll have a more family-friendly tone than the main show, which might be disappointing to some fans.

Some good news though - if you’d missed baby Eleven, Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Max, well, you’re in luck! Kinda. Seeing as the Stranger Things kids are mega-expensive and very busy nowadays, it’ll have a whole new voice cast.

Narrative wise, all we know is that it’s set between Season 2 and 3 of Stranger Things.

Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things

Cast your mind back

Season 2 of Stranger Things involved the Mind Flayer manipulating Will, El hiding in Hopper’s cabin and that very peculiar episode with Kali and the rest of El’s siblings. Universally disliked, but then again, Kali ended up being a major part of Season 5.

Season 3 introduced Max and her brother Billy, as the gang enter adolescence and deal with all the horrors it entails - romance, shopping at the mall, and battling the ferocious Mind Flayer again as your brother is torn to shreds in front of you. Typical teenage stuff.

So we'll wait with baited breath to see how Stranger Things: Tales From '85 bridges these two seasons. Are you ready, or totally burnt out on Stranger Things stuff? I think I’ll give it a watch, purely for the nostalgia hit. It beats watching Bojack Horseman for the 8th time, I don’t think my mental health is that in the gutter. Yet.