Stranger Things: Tales from '85 Recreates the Ending of the Original

If you thought Netflix was just milking Stranger Things for nostalgia, well… their new animated series pretty much doubles down on that idea. Stranger Things: Tales from '85 marks the first official spin-off from the haunted-by-Demogorgons, '80s-drenched hit, and it’s a… bold choice, let’s say. The show tries to thread the needle between Season 2 and 3 of the original, while swapping out the live-action cast for fresh voices and giving everyone an animated makeover. You get some new faces, a bunch of new monsters, and (naturally) a pile of new lore — but if you’re hoping for a spin-off that truly stands on its own? Let’s just say, the Upside Down recycling bin is working overtime.

Familiar Monsters, Familiar Playbook

So, here’s the setup: our Hawkins regulars are back, but this time Dustin forms the Hawkins Investigators Club (H.I.C.), and they bring in a new character, Nikki, who comes with her own mom and some homebrewed, DIY weapons. The big sell this time is the spread of mysterious, mutating spores — it’s the new fright in town, and (surprise!) these things connect into a massive Hive Mind. We’re talking infected vines, Demogorgons with plant-based upgrades, and a towering Spore Queen at the heart of it all.

In theory, that’s a fun remix — in practice, it feels like a Greatest Hits collection from the original series. The whole “Hive Mind” thing? We did that dance already with the Mind Flayer, and Vecna, and pretty much every baddie that made Hawkins a living hell. Now it’s spores instead of shadow spiders, but the mechanics are mostly the same. Instead of Mind Flayer mind control, it’s the Spore Queen bossing around Demogorgons and opening portals to the Upside Down.

The show tries to give the spores a robust backstory about infection and mutation, but honestly, it doesn’t really shake off that copy-paste feeling. As for what makes these creatures any different than the Upside Down alumni we’ve already met? Mostly, it’s a tweak in their method of spreading terror — but not much else.

Wait, Didn’t We Already See This?

Here’s where things get almost comically familiar: the season finale builds up to one big, bombastic showdown with the Spore Queen. Everyone (including Nikki and her mom, wielding those quirky weapons) teams up for a last stand. All roads lead to Eleven, who — brace yourself for déjà vu — has to close another gateway to the Upside Down to keep Hawkins safe.

Sound familiar? Because it’s beat-for-beat what happened in Stranger Things Season 2’s own finale. After a season spent helping Eleven face her past—and after that divisive detour with her not-exactly-a-fan-favorite "sister" Kali—Season 2 wrapped with El drawing on all her powers (with a side of '80s flashback montages) to slam that gate to the Upside Down shut. At least back then, the moment landed with some sense of earned emotional punch. In Tales from '85, it’s just another Tuesday for Eleven. The stakes feel low, since the series is wedged between canon seasons—none of the core crew are ever really in danger, and the emotional heavy lifting gets lost behind the animated fireworks.

It raises the question: if we just watched Eleven close the big evil portal a few months earlier, why make her repeat the feat here? Even the new characters escape mostly unscathed, except for the obligatory villain. It’s hard not to feel like the show is just playing on repeat instead of pushing the story—or Eleven's arc—anywhere new.

'There’s no harm in copying an ending. After all, Top Gun: Maverick became one of the biggest movies ever by more or less lifting the ending of Star Wars: A New Hope.'

Here’s the difference, though: Maverick at least brings a big, loud, crowd-pleaser energy and knows what it’s doing. Tales from '85 looks back at Stranger Things and just does its homework twice, hoping the teacher doesn’t notice. You end up with a show that’s technically fine for what it is—nostalgic, familiar, safe as can be—but it never justifies why it exists as its own story.

So, What’s Actually New?

• A new member joins the kids' crew: Nikki, bringing some creative DIY weaponry into the mix.
• The main threat comes from mutated spores, which form a new “Spore Queen” Hive Mind (instead of the more familiar Mind Flayer or Vecna scam).
• We get some nifty animated upgrades to both monsters and the classic Hawkins cast, but don’t expect any big status-quo shakeups—since the story slots right in between earlier Stranger Things seasons, there’s only so much the writers can let happen.

Overall, if you wanted a spinoff that finally digs into new corners of Hawkins, you’re not getting it here—at least, not yet. Tales from '85 sticks so close to what’s gone before that you might mistake it for a really polished fan cartoon, even if the cast does manage to bring some life to their freshly-animated counterparts. It’s a nostalgia trip, sure, but the train isn’t making any new stops.