Netflix Fans Eagerly Await Release Date for 'Stranger Things' Spinoff
With 'Stranger Things' finale over, fans are eagerly awaiting the next installment. Although there won't be a season 6 of the popular Netflix show, a spinoff is coming.
According to Variety, the filmmakers purposely tried to tie up all plot points and "character arcs" at the end of Season 5. The spinoff was first revealed in 2022, but what it will entail remains a bit of a mystery. According to Variety, the spinoff "won’t continue the story of any of the show’s characters," and it won't "explore a larger narrative within the world of the first show."
In fact, People reported that there are multiple 'Stranger Things' spinoffs planned. What is the release date? "An animated show, first announced in 2023, will feature the original characters and premiere later this year," People noted. However, there's a second spinoff coming, too.
It will feature "a different decade and different characters, but of course, still connected to the Stranger Things universe," co-creator Ross Duffer told THR. "It’s an idea we’ve had for years and something we’re just really excited and passionate about." He added that this spinoff is in its earliest stages, saying, "We’re very early days on a live-action spinoff. But this is the end of the story for these characters of Hawkins, for the Upside Down." The release date for the latter spinoff is not clear.
The 'Stranger Things' Co-Creator Insists That the Show Is 'Done'
Despite the spinoff, the possibility of a sixth season was emphatically ruled out by one of the show's co-creators.
"We do every last remaining thing we wanted to do with the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer and Vecna and the Upside Down and Hawkins and these characters,” Matt Duffer told Variety. “This is a complete story. It’s done.”
(Photo by Andrew Chin/Getty Images for Netflix)
However, the co-creators did give some clues about the spinoff. "You’re starting with new characters — it’s like clean slate. You’re not tied up into any knots. There’s something refreshing about it," Matt Duffer told Variety.
“The hope is you’re not just doing something to just do it,” he added. "And Netflix has been surprisingly patient, although I think now, I feel that patience wearing thin a little bit with the show coming to an end. But they’re understanding.”
The Spinoff Will Show Characters 'in a Bit of a Different World
The co-creators have provided some teases.
Ross Duffer explained to Variety: "They’re going to live in a bit of a different world. There’s going to be connective tissue, but you’re almost anthologizing in a way. Because we’re not ‘Star Wars.’ We can’t be like, ‘Oh, now we’re on this planet.’”
As for the animated series, Netflix "unveiled a first look at Stranger Things: Tales from '85, an animated series first announced in 2023, which is set in Hawkins in winter 1985," People reported, quoting the logline as saying, "The original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town."