Hawkins simply cannot catch a break. Five days after an animated return to the fictional town, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 has been renewed for a second season.
The news comes after the spin-off series debuted at No. 7 on the weekly Netflix top 10 English-language TV chart for the week of 20 to 26 April and in the streamer’s top 15 animated series debuts of all time. It racked up 13.8 million hours during the window, equating to 2.8 million views across 10 episodes.
While other details, such as a release date or story details, have yet to be announced, showrunner Eric Robles previously expressed his intentions to address continuity issues surrounding Nikki Baxter, a brand-new character in the Stranger Things universe.
“I’m giving you a very vague answer, but I have an idea of what feels right for me, creatively, in terms of the story introducing Nikki Baxter — her not being around anymore and what that means,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Technically, she doesn’t fit into the timeline. It’s not in the cards, in the sense that this was developed when the Duffers were in season four post[-production]. What I can say is that I understand the responsibility of ending this story for this series correctly — what the kids process, how they move forward after that, how it connects perfectly to season three and why they don’t talk about her.”
Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, collectively known as the Duffer Brothers, returned as executive producers on the project, alongside Hilary Leavitt, Shawn Levy, and Dan Cohen. None of the original stars reprise their roles in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, which serves as a midquel that fills in the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 of the mothership show. The voice cast includes Brooklyn Davey Norstedt (WeCrashed) as El, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (In Your Dreams) as Max, Luca Diaz (Transformers: Earthspark) as Mike, Elisha “EJ” Williams (The Wonder Years) as Lucas, Braxton Quinney as Dustin, Ben Plessala (Turning Red) as Will, and Brett Gipson as Hopper.
The official logline reads, “In the winter of 1985, snow blankets the town and the horrors of the Upside Down are finally fading. Our heroes Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have settled back into a normal life of D&D, snowball fights, and quiet days. But beneath the ice, something terrifying has awakened. Could it be from the Upside Down? From the depths of Hawkins Lab? Or from somewhere else entirely? Our heroes must race to solve this mystery and save Hawkins in this untold story set in the Stranger Things universe.”
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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