Netflix has found out easy methods to preserve “Stranger Issues” going eternally: If the streamer is keen to recast the voices and discover sections of the sprawling timeline in animation, all with unique creators The Duffer Brothers on board as government producers, it seems like there might really be no finish in sight for this franchise.
Except, after all, the viewers is not into it. It is too early for any conclusions to be drawn on that entrance, however the newest trailer for the franchise’s first spin-off sequence, “Stranger Issues: Tales From ’85,” has arrived, and placing the story components apart, the aesthetics of the present … aren’t nice. In truth, the aesthetics are extra akin to a online game than a TV sequence, and a Reddit fan principle suggests there is perhaps extra to that risk than meets the attention.
Should you’ve ever performed any of Telltale Video games’ video video games, the stylized, illustrated, pop artwork look of “Tales From ’85” may look acquainted to you. That firm labored on video games set on the earth of “The Strolling Lifeless,” “Fables,” Batman, and extra, and gained recognition by way of its decision-based gameplay that allow gamers make selections that guided their narrative expertise.
It seems Telltale was as soon as creating a “Stranger Issues” recreation, but it surely was scrapped when the corporate quickly shut down. Now a Redditor is theorizing that “Tales From ’85” is definitely comprised of the bones of that deserted venture. “I am nonetheless satisfied this began life as a TellTale recreation earlier than that firm went bankrupt and so they salvaged the scripts and animation, transforming it right into a sequence,” LapsedVerneGagKnee wrote.
Is Stranger Issues: Tales From ’85 actually a repurposed model of a scrapped online game?
Till somebody formally goes on the file confirming this principle, we won’t function below the belief that Netflix took the character designs, scripts, and animation elements from an deserted online game and reworked them into this animated sequence. However it’s additionally exhausting to disclaim that the brand new present has a really comparable look to Telltale’s cell-shaded home model, and what we will see of the story feels considerably flimsy, particularly in comparison with the live-action “Stranger Issues” storylines.
Somebody in that very same Reddit thread posted a video that claims to be footage that Telltale developed for its “Stranger Issues” recreation earlier than the corporate shut down (it has since reopened, by the best way). I’ve not been capable of independently confirm the legitimacy of this clip, however I will drop it right here anyway:
Clearly there is a distinction between this developmental footage and the polished ultimate product that is making it to Netflix, and I will not fake to know both the animation pipeline or the online game workflow effectively sufficient to say whether or not this fan principle is absolutely believable. On the finish of the day, it could not matter. From Netflix’s perspective, they’re simply questioning if all of these people who find themselves livid about Eleven’s destiny within the “Stranger Issues” finale might be keen to leap again into that world in animation kind.
We’ll discover out quickly sufficient: “Tales From ’85” hits the streamer on April 23, 2026.
