Television series

Stranger Things: Tales from '85

Name: Stranger Things: Tales from '85
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Supernatural
Released: 2026
Cast: Brooklyn Norstedt, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Luca Diaz, Elisha "EJ" Williams, Braxton Quinney

This is the animated spinoff: same six Hawkins kids, redrawn in a cartoon style, solving a stand-alone winter mystery in tight half-hour chapters instead of sprawling seasons. It trades the live-action show's grown-up dread for something brighter and more kid-friendly — cozier, funnier, lower-stakes. Good for existing fans wanting a bite-sized caper rather than a full season of horror.

TVMaze rating

6.5

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The wildcard

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The Goonies1985

The exact year this story is set, and the template for every 'kids on bikes chasing a mystery' story since — treasure, tunnels, and best-friend banter.

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A stop-motion horror-comedy about an outcast kid who can see the dead — genuinely eerie, genuinely funny, and pitched at exactly this younger register.

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Twin Peaks1990

It's the adult art-house cousin of 'town with a terrible secret underneath it' — same architecture, wildly different register.

The same premise — a small town sitting on top of something otherworldly and rotten — told for grown-ups: dreamlike, unsettling, and genuinely strange rather than cozy.

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