A month on from Stranger Things coming to an end the first trailer has been released for the upcoming spin-off show that will see many of the main characters return.
Before fans of the Netflix show get too excited though, this is nothing to do with Conformity Gate and the show isn’t seeing the characters return after the uncertain ending that saw fans questioning if Eleven really died.
Instead, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is an ‘inbetweenquel’, showing the gang on an adventure between seasons two and three of the show in the winter of 1985, with the first trailer having just released.
Whilst the actual actors are not making a return to play their characters, Eleven, Mike, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Will are all appearing in the show.
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Normally anything set between seasons of TV shows don’t happen because the stories aren’t able to change much.
We know where the gang finish up season two and how they start season three, so if you’re worried Lucas is going to be eaten by a Demogorgon in the show it’s not exactly high stakes.
Netflix however have completely changed the lore of the series by adding a mysterious secret character as a member of the gang.
This was previously confirmed to be a character called Nikki Baxter however the trailer gave us our first look at the character.
With a pink mohawk and shaven sides, she has been described as being a ‘tinker’ and is reportedly ‘taller, tougher, and mechanically inclined’.
Her inclusion however opens the show up to incredibly obvious questions, namely: What is going to happen to her because she’s never mentioned in any of the five seasons of the show?
Whether she dies and the kids just never mention their friend dying, or she moves away and they forget she exists, the show will have some work to do in order to justify her never being brought up in seasons three, four, or five.
One Reddit post about her inclusion pointed to a common complaint about Stranger Things, that every season added more side characters at expense of the original cast.
It said: “Funny to me how even in this spin off that’s meant to fill the gaps between seasons 2 and 3 and is meant to be canon compliant, they still can’t resist adding a new main character rather than just focusing on their actual original cast. I have no idea how they’re gonna work having them become friends with this whole new person and then never mention her again.”
One comment said: “Literally what was even the point of a new character.”
Another commented: “This sounds like a bad fanfiction.”
Overall reaction outside of the inclusion of Nikki was pretty positive though.
One fan on Reddit commented about how Dustin ‘sounded the exact same’, leading another to say: “THATS LITERALLY WHAT I WAS THINKING! They did a really good job in casting similar voices for The Party!”
Other fans pointed to how the show addressed an issue many had with season five of the series, saying: “I'm looking forward to it. Seems a bit more like low stakes wacky fun, which the show has kind of lost over time.”
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 releases on Netflix April 23.
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin