#TalesFrom85 is the hashtag for Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, Netflix’s animated spin-off of the main Stranger Things series, set in 1985 between the live-action show’s second and third seasons. Season 1 premiered April 23, 2026 with 10 roughly-30-minute episodes focused on the original Hawkins kids and earned a quick Season 2 renewal despite reviewers calling it a “depressing, cynical retread”; Season 2 followed on September 17, 2026 with a Valentine’s-Day-set adventure that leans harder into monster-of-the-week territory and (per outlet comparisons) a “Scooby-Doo” tone.
Quick Facts
- Format: Animated spin-off series, 10 episodes per season (~30 minutes each)
- Setting: Hawkins, Indiana, between Stranger Things seasons 2 and 3 (in-canon year 1985)
- Season 1 premiere: April 23, 2026
- Season 2 premiere: September 17, 2026
- Season 1 opening week: ~2.6 million views (Digital Trends) / 13.8M hours viewed (Netflix top 10 week of April 20–26)
- Rotten Tomatoes: 75% approval (12 reviews, Season 1)
- Status: Renewed through Season 2; Season 3 not confirmed as of October 2026
The Show
Tales From ‘85 is a Netflix original animated show that fills in the roughly year-long gap between seasons 2 and 3 of the live-action Stranger Things. The main cast of kids from the Duffer Brothers’ original — Eleven, Mike, Max, Lucas, Will and Dustin — are voiced by a new animation-cast lineup (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as Eleven, Luca Diaz as Mike, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport as Max and Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas, per release-date previews).
Showrunner Eric Robles described the project as a way “to discover a little bit more about the history of Hawkins.” Season 2’s plot, per Dread Central and TheViewersPerspective, centers on a Valentine’s Day case involving ghostly apparitions, a swarm of strange creatures, glowing flowers and a trip into previously unexplored parts of Hawkins — a tone some reviewers compared to Scooby-Doo. Nikki, a new character introduced in Season 1, remains a sticking point for canon-watchers because she does not appear or get referenced in later live-action Stranger Things seasons.
Critical Reception
Reviews skewed negative on story and tentatively positive on character and animation.
- Variety: Alison Herman called it “a depressing, cynical retread,” a line widely picked up by other outlets.
- IGN: Tara Bennett wrote that the thin story results in a weaker and more repetitive adventure than expected.
- Screen Rant: Kara Hedash said the show was “struggling to figure out who the spinoff is actually for.”
- Polygon: Brian Vanhooker praised it for “a nice job capturing the personalities of those six kids.”
- The A.V. Club: Gave Season 1 a D+, per Digital Trends’ summary.
Rotten Tomatoes showed a 75% approval score from 12 reviews for Season 1 — well below the live-action show’s near-perfect debut Tomatometer in 2016.
Reactions and Viewership
Season 1 reached number seven on Netflix’s weekly English-language TV chart for April 20–26, with 13.8 million hours viewed (roughly 2.6–2.8 million views). Digital Trends framed this as the franchise’s lowest-ever opening-week figure; Paste noted Netflix nonetheless ordered Season 2 only five days after the premiere, before much of the critical reaction had crystallized. Season 2, per Winter Is Coming’s coverage, did not crack Netflix’s weekly global top 10s on launch and received comparatively little promotion from Netflix.
Legacy
Tales From ‘85 is the first animated series in the Stranger Things universe. Season 2 is the current terminal point for the show as of mid-October 2026; the showrunner has said viewership is the main driver of a Season 3 decision, and the broader franchise is now in its final year of main-series live-action production for Season 5. Any lasting cultural impact of Tales From ‘85 will depend on how it is retconned into (or ignored by) the live-action canon.
Variations & Related Tags
- #StrangerThingsTalesFrom85 — the full title form
- #ST85 — short form common on X and Reddit
- #StrangerThings — the overarching franchise hashtag
Sources
- https://www.nme.com/news/tv/stranger-things-tales-from-85-leaves-critics-cold-a-depressing-cynical-retread-3941988
- https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/netflix-renews-stranger-things-tales-from-85-for-season-2-despite-its-worst-ever-franchise-ratings/
- https://www.pastemagazine.com/media/stranger-things/stranger-things-tales-of-85-renewed-for-season-two
- https://www.dreadcentral.com/trailer/586429/stranger-things-tales-from-85-goes-full-blown-scooby-doo-in-season-2-trailer/
- https://theviewersperspective.com/2026/08/25/stranger-things-tales-from-85-season-2-release-date-trailer/
- https://winteriscoming.net/new-stranger-things-release-clear-sign-how-far-netflix-franchise-fallen-season-5