Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Ending Explained With Showrunner Eric Robles – 'There's More to Read Into It'

This nonfiction contains spoilers for Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 1, including the play finale.

With 10 episodes successful the books connected Netflix, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 has finished its archetypal run successful the “secret season” that takes spot betwixt Seasons 2 and 3 of the live-action genitor series. And if you were wondering, astatine slightest fixed that ending – nope, this is not a one-and-done. There are acold much tales to archer from the wintertime of 1985…if fans are intrigued capable to spell connected much adventures.

In lawsuit you’re curious, we won’t explicate the full ending of the bid bushed for beat, but to springiness immoderate context: If you’re wondering how the Hawkins kids had any benignant of escapade with monsters aft the gross successful Hawkins Lab was closed astatine the extremity of Season 2, here’s the gist.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Ending Explained

As it turns out, erstwhile the authorities was cleaning retired the remains of the Upside Down vines astatine the extremity of Season 2, immoderate were near down for experimentation. Utilizing a look created by substitute teacher Anna Baxter (Janeane Garofalo), erstwhile Hawkins Lab idiosyncratic Daniel Fischer (Lou Diamond Phillips) was capable to renanimate 1 of the vines, creating an evolved, spore-based mentation of the Upside Down creatures whose biologic extremity was to germinate and past agelong capable to spell backmost home. That’s right: Unlike the Demogorgons we cognize that are controlled by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the eventual Queen – which Dustin (Braxton Quinney) calls Hordak Prime aft the quality from She-Ra – simply wants to spell backmost to the Upside Down and beryllium near alone.

In the last occurrence of the season, the full pack – including caller Hawkins Investigators Club subordinate Nikki Baxter (Odessa A’zion), who, similar Donatello, does machines – ends up successful a bid of monolithic caves that the Queen has been surviving successful with her creatures. She’s yet grown large capable to rip unfastened a monolithic gross successful the cave, which is thing the kids decidedly don’t privation her to do. They besides recognize that if she returns and bonds with the Mind Flayer, that could beryllium very atrocious arsenic well. The full happening plays retired arsenic an interesting, accidental rejoinder to the finale of Stranger Things, giving america the benignant of monolithic conflict with drones (i.e., small creatures) attacking our radical that we ne'er got successful the combat with the Mind Flayer kaiju successful “live action.”

In immoderate case, you won’t judge this: They win, with the Queen getting sliced successful fractional arsenic Eleven (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) closes the gate. Three weeks later, things are backmost to normal, and the Baxter household has decided to enactment successful Hawkins. Not lone that, but the pack has a caller hangout: Nikki’s garage, wherever she’s invited to beryllium the Barbarian of the D&D party.

But wait, that’s not all! Heading to an Upside Down mentation of the greenhouse wherever Fischer cultivated the Queen (oh, he’s dormant by the way), we perceive “We’ll Meet Again” play, and a angiosperm with a mysterious bluish tinge hatches from the Queen’s corpse. Uh-oh!

That’s a batch to propulsion retired successful the last moments, but don’t worry, we person showrunner Eric Robles connected manus to explicate it all… oregon astatine slightest beryllium cagey astir it all, arsenic he’s waiting to uncover a batch of info until Season 2 premieres. That brings america to our archetypal burning question:

Will Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Return for Season 2?

As of this writing, Tales From ’85 has not been renewed (or canceled) by Netflix, but that’s thing retired of the ordinary, arsenic the streamer usually takes astatine slightest a period (approximately) to look astatine streaming numbers and determine connected renewals. The tricky happening astir a amusement similar Tales From ’85 is that if they haven’t started enactment connected the amusement successful the background, it’s going to instrumentality a portion to spot a Season 2 (rule of thumb is astatine slightest 2 years to nutrient an animated series, which is wherefore 2 seasons are often picked up astatine the aforesaid time, truthful they tin enactment ahead). While Robles didn’t specifically reply whether they’re already astatine enactment connected scripts oregon person been brushed renewed successful the background, helium is champing astatine the spot to instrumentality for much adventures.

“I cognize precisely wherever we're going with this,” Robles said. “If I get that call, and past everybody's acceptable to bash this, there’s zero hesitation… I cognize precisely from time 1 wherever we're going… Animation does instrumentality a while. It gives maine clip to truly marinate connected this worldly and truly deliberation things retired and what the potentials are. We're truthful excited astir what we're astir to motorboat with Season 1, and however it each wraps up this finale.”

“If I get that call, and past everybody's acceptable to bash this, there’s zero hesitation."“

When Would Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Take Place?

If the amusement does continue, erstwhile would it instrumentality place? Season 1 takes spot implicit the people of astir a month, from January 10, 1985 to “three weeks later” astatine the end. While Robles didn’t explicitly accidental that each play would instrumentality a period of time, determination are inactive a fewer of those months to spell until we scope June 1985 – aka the opening of Season 3.

“We are frozen successful clip betwixt these 2 seasons, 2 and three,” Robles explained. “But wrong this frozen time, we're present going to grow this… mini-universe of Tales From ’85 successful a mode that it does spell big.”

So potentially, if they are capable to proceed with the animated series, it could spell astatine slightest 5 seasons – 1 for each period starring up to the Season 3 premiere episode.

Why Did The Kids Think They Could Pull the Queen Back With a Rope?

Up until Eleven steps up to the plate, the remainder of the squad is trying to clasp backmost the Queen from the gross with a rope. It’s a Herculean effort that seems similar it would ne'er work… but that’s the full point.

“Those kids, there's nary freaking mode that they could person stopped that Queen by pulling that rope,” Robles said. “But you cognize what that does show? That's f-ing relationship astatine its purest. Man, the information that they volition bash anything, adjacent though they cognize they couldn't halt that thing, that relationship of each of them holding up that enactment and trying their hardest, man, that is what Stranger Things is about. It's astir that loyalty, that friendship… We're gathering a bid that truly captures astatine its halfway what it's about. It's astir those friendships and the information that they'll ever beryllium determination and person each other's backmost nary substance what. That, to me, is everything, and the instauration of what not lone Season 1 volition have, but Seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5, immoderate they privation it to be. At its core, we'll marque definite that we ever clasp what Stranger Things is about, and it's astir those relationships and those kids and however overmuch they emotion each other.”

How “We’ll Meet Again” Ties The Queen To The Mind Flayer

Stranger Things fans volition apt admit “We’ll Meet Again” arsenic the creepy opus that plays astatine the extremity of Season 3, Episode 4 erstwhile Billy (Dacre Montgomery) reveals that the goopy, gross mentation of the Mind Flayer has assembled a veritable service of hypnotized Hawkins citizens. So what’s the transportation betwixt that country and the extremity of Tales From ’85? Is it simply an easter ovum for the die-hards?

“There's much to work into it,” Robles teased. “It's hard to spell into what's coming… It's thing that successful my mind, I cognize wherever we tin spell with this. I cognize what it means. I cognize what the aboriginal of Tales From ’85 could be, what it tin look like. So, and I warrant you this, it's not thing that I'm going to travel up with connected the fly. It's thing that I've been reasoning astir for a precise agelong time, and I'm truly excited astir what that tin mean if everything goes well.”

So what does it mean? The abbreviated speculative mentation is that portion it’s ostensibly Russian experiments that statesman to unfastened the gross to the Upside Down successful Season 3, starring to the Mind Flayer creating a carnal assemblage for itself successful Hawkins, possibly there’s much to it than we know. And possibly the Queen’s assemblage making its mode (well, halfway) to the Upside Down is the happening that begins to topple the dominos.

What About That Weird Blue Flower?

Color is simply a beauteous important portion of Stranger Things. Red is the colour of the Upside Down, and yellow-green is the colour of Baxter’s look which infuses the Queen. Once it opens the gross successful its caves, it gets infused with reddish energy, indicating its transportation to the Upside Down. So what does it mean that the angiosperm is coursing with blue energy?

“It truly says a lot, that color,” Robles said. “If everything goes accordingly, that would beryllium a truly large deal. And you besides person to support this successful mind, what we are dealing with present is not conscionable the Upside Down, it's Upside Down subject meets Upside Down matter. This is an amalgamation present of thing new. And 1 of the things that I retrieve Matt and Ross [Duffer] told maine close from the get is, ‘Robles, you got to marque this yours now. You person to make thing caller that doesn't messiness with our timeline oregon our happening that we're doing here, truthful that mode you tin isolate it, but besides present make from it… That's what that bluish angiosperm that you spot astatine the end, it truly is. Again, if everything goes accordingly, it truly is going to unfastened up a full caller Pandora's container that I don't deliberation anybody is acceptable for, due to the fact that we've ne'er seen thing similar that.”

"If everything goes accordingly, it truly is going to unfastened up a full caller Pandora's container that I don't deliberation anybody is acceptable for."“

Where’s Joyce?

Most of the main formed appears successful the season, albeit voiced by antithetic actors, including little bits with Jonathan Byers and adjacent Nancy Wheeler. Hopper (Brett Gipson), Nancy (Alessandra Antonelli), and Steve (Jeremy Jordan) get supporting roles, but wholly absent from the proceedings is Joyce Byers, played connected surface by Winona Ryder.

“There's a batch of reasons why,” Robles said erstwhile asked wherefore Tales From ’85 is dealing with the disappearance of Joyce Byers, “but 1 of the main things I volition say… is the Duffer brothers didn't privation this to go an big story, a teenage story. They wanted to marque definite that the stories stayed existent to conscionable the kids and their adventures, precise overmuch similar the Goonies, oregon The Lost Boys, precise overmuch similar the Stand By Me of it all. It's the kids’ story. It's their adventure. They didn't privation to get each caught up with the big stories of it all.”

“Because the world is, erstwhile we archetypal started this and I started processing this series, I really had a communicative that started leaning towards bringing successful Joyce and Hopper and everybody else. And we conscionable started noticing that [we] started going down a darker route. You bring successful adults, past the stories get a small heavier successful a antithetic way. And truthful we decided to thin backmost towards conscionable the kids, conscionable their story, and effort to support the adults retired of that adventure. They tin inactive cheque in, they tin inactive beryllium a portion of it, but it was truly much astir focusing connected the kid escapade and the kid travel of it all.”

To propulsion retired a fewer much theories beyond what Robles laid out, it whitethorn person felt duplicative to person azygous ma Anna Baxter and azygous ma Joyce Byers successful the series. Additionally, astatine this constituent successful time, Joyce is inactive reeling from the decease of her boyfriend, Bob Newby (Sean Astin), truthful having her beryllium depressed each play whitethorn person dragged things down rather a spot (by the clip we loop backmost successful Season 3, she inactive isn’t recovered and considers leaving Hawkins). There’s besides the anticipation that Ryder whitethorn person had an contented with likeness rights, but fixed the reply to our adjacent burning question, that seems little likely.

The Live-Action Cast Gets a Special Thanks successful the Credits

Right astatine the extremity of the credits, the main formed of Stranger Things gets a peculiar thanks; it’s not everybody, though. Getting shout-outs are Millie Bobby Brown, Natalia Dyer, David Harbour, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Winona Ryder, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, and Finn Wolfhard. You mightiness beryllium capable to intuit this one, but wherefore this premix of people?

“It's astir respecting the information that we are utilizing their likenesses,” Robles explained. “They've besides fixed america their blessing… Stranger Things is simply a family. When you deliberation of the Duffer Brothers, and you deliberation of Millie… We had Gaten travel by the studio, and helium was truthful excited to spot what we were up to here. He heard Braxton doing his voice, and helium was like, ‘Is that… me?’”

“Having their blessing, seeing however their characters are going to continue, it truly is conscionable a large convey you to them for creating these personalities. The Duffer brothers tin constitute these astonishing stories. But what ends up happening is… these characters germinate from publication and they go existent characters. That's what's happening to us, arsenic well. We commencement astatine script, and past our actors bring caller life, caller property to them, and that beingness and property gives america a instauration to physique on. And truthful giving them acknowledgment for gathering these characters and bringing their personalities present that we get to proceed to physique on, is truly what that means for us.”

Does Moving to Nikki’s Garage Mean the End of the Wheelers’ Basement arsenic Home Base?

One small alarm doorbell for fans mightiness beryllium that the play ends not successful Mike’s basement, but Nikki’s garage. A batch of the thrust of the episodes is not conscionable astir the pack accepting Nikki, but Nikki accepting the pack successful return. And that last determination seems to acceptable up Nikki’s store arsenic the de facto Ghostbusters firehouse of the Hawkins Investigators Club. But don’t worry, Robles hasn’t forgotten wherever they came from.

“You tin ne'er get escaped of that basement,” Robles said. “That basement is iconic, and no, it's conscionable 1 other place, whether it's the palace arcade, oregon whether it's Mike's basement, these kids ever find places to regroup… But thing volition ever regenerate the Wheeler basement. If we continue, we're not going to stray distant from making definite we person a location base.”

That Name Again Is Mr. Plow

While the play is chock afloat of easter eggs and references to Stranger Things lore, 1 of the weirdest shout-outs successful the archetypal 2 episodes is to the section snowplow operator, Mr. Plow. Fans of The Simpsons mightiness statement whether Nikki Baxter is simply a Poochie, but there’s nary debating that Mr. Plow is a notation to the venerated animated program, specifically the Season 4 occurrence wherever Homer gets a occupation arsenic a snowplow guy.

“We inadvertently did that,” Robles said, laughing. “It wasn't meant to be, and past we each started laughing astir it, and past we ended up keeping it for the involvement of… It's the plow guy, right? ‘Yeah, I don't know, Mr. Plow.’ And past we were like, ‘Oh yeah, Simpsons has that, right?’ And we're conscionable like, ‘Yeah, it does.’ We each conscionable started laughing astir it, and it became a comic happening for america internally.”

Will Live-Action Actors Take Part successful Upcoming Seasons?

You can’t formed Gaten Matarazzo arsenic Dustin, since Tales From ’85 already has a Dustin. So what astir different role? If the amusement does continue, volition we ever perceive the live-action formed making impermanent appearances successful different roles?

“If the communicative allowed it to, and the timing was close and they were available, I'd person nary hesitation doing that,” Robles said. “I wouldn't bash it to effort to unit thing successful there, the amusement is precise organic. It grows connected its ain and it continues. So if an accidental shows itself and oregon appears and we don't wholly instrumentality vantage of it? It'd beryllium amusive for us, and I'm definite it'd beryllium amusive for them.”

You tin chat with Alex Zalben connected BlueSky @azalben.bsky.social, oregon find him regularly yapping connected the Comic Book Club podcast.