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Netflix Officially Found Its Next ‘Stranger Things’ Problem

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All good things must come to an end, and Stranger Things is no exception. Netflix’s hit science fiction series aired its super-sized finale at the beginning of 2026, and in the process brought an end to one of its biggest hits…or so fans thought. Netflix has been eager to continue expanding the Stranger Things franchise in different forms with Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, an animated series that takes place between Seasons 2 and 3, and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a stage play that expands upon the origins of the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Creators Ross & Matt Duffer even managed to recapture some of Stranger Things‘ magic by producing Netflix’s latest sci-fi hit, The Boroughs.

Despite this slew of successful spin-offs, Netflix has already hit a snag when it comes to Stranger Things. That snag comes with the fact that Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 has been renewed for a second season. While this sounds like a good thing, especially since Netflix tends to be pretty cavalier about axing shows before they get a proper run, a single question remains: how much more story does this franchise have left to tell? More importantly, how far can Netflix go before it runs the risk of running Stranger Things into the ground?

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‘Stranger Things’ Has More or Less Told A Complete Story

For whatever criticisms fans could lay at Stranger Things‘ feet, they can’t deny that the series told a complete story over five seasons. Adding more spinoffs threatens to ruin that delicate balance, especially where Tales from ’85 is concerned. No matter how long the series lasts, it’ll have to end things in a way that doesn’t contradict Stranger Things Season 3. There’s also the fact that Tales from ’85 has introduced a new character in the form of Nikki Baxter (Odessa A’zion). Given that Nikki isn’t mentioned throughout Stranger Things, Tales from ’85will have to address her absence in a way that aligns with the rest of the show.



















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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

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Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides
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You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.


USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk
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You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.


The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia
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You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.


The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley
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You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.


The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky
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You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

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Netflix is about to lose the creative minds behind Stranger Things, as Ross & Matt Duffer are set to leave the streamer for a more lucrative deal at Paramount. The timing couldn’t be worse, as the Duffer Brothers have not only produced one hit with The Boroughs but two thanks to the smash success of the horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Netflix would be hard-pressed to find creative minds on the Duffers’ level, which means that the streamer should remember that Stranger Things became a hit thanks to word of mouth. If Netflix wants another hit series in that vein, it should step back and let incoming creators fulfill their vision.

There’s One Way ‘Stranger Things’ Could Continue

Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 and Stranger Things: The First Shadow both share the distinction of taking place within the Stranger Things timeline, meaning that they’re bound by events that have already happened in the narrative. There’s an easy workaround if Netflix wants to continue the franchise, and it lies with Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher). Holly becomes an integral part of Stranger Things‘ final season, as she’s among a group of children who are imprisoned by Vecna, yet she manages to escape with the help of Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). The Stranger Things series finale, “The Rightside Up,” more or less passes the torch to Holly and her friends, as they start their own game of Dungeons & Dragons. Ross Duffer noted in an interview with Netflix’s official site, Tudum, that this was meant to bring the series full circle.

“This is about this group of characters saying goodbye to their childhood. That basement, specifically the Dungeons & Dragons game, represents their childhoods [and it’s] how we first met them as an audience. To say goodbye to it, you have to play one last time.”

Though the adventures of Will (Noah Schnapp) and his friends have come to an end, Holly and her friends could potentially still go on their own adventures, especially if Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 leaves some plot threads dangling. Simply put, if Netflix wants to continue building on Stranger Things, it needs to look forward rather than backwards.

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Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

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Network

Netflix

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Directors

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz

Writers
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Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock

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