Everything We Know About How Stranger Things Could Continue with a Spinoff

3 min read

ONE OF NETFLIX’S biggest shows of all time is very close to its conclusion. Stranger Things first premiered in 2016, and nearly ten years later, it is finally gearing up to give everyone the answer to one long-awaited question: How will the kids of Hawkins stop Vecna and close the Upside Down for good?

Season 4 left Hawkins in a precarious position. At the start of the final season, Vecna has opened enough portals to easily travel between the Upside Down and the Right Side Up, and the military (led by Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay) has taken over the town and continued its manhunt for Eleven. Meanwhile, Max is still in a coma, and Will is only beginning to realize the connection he still has to the Upside Down. The stakes have never been higher, and it’ll take everyone to stop Vecna from winning.

But once the finale’s credits roll, it’ll be hard to say goodbye to a show that was a mainstay for so long in everyone’s Netflix carousel. No more Stranger Things means no more fun ’80s nostalgia or Dungeons & Dragons references. And it’s one less show you can call “appointment TV” since you know just about everyone watched it. That leaves the question, is that really it for Stranger Things?

Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. Here’s what we know.

Will Stranger Things have a season 6?

Sadly, this is the last we’ll see of our (live-action) Hawkins crew. Season 5 really is it for the main show. Considering it’s taken nearly a decade to tell the story, it makes sense that the show’s creators, Ross and Matt Duffer, are ready to move onto their next project, and the cast is ready to appear in new TV shows and movies. Deadline has reported that the duo’s current Netflix deal ends in April 2026, and they recently signed on to a 4-year deal with Paramount. That’s not exactly much time to sneak in a whole new season of the show.

However, it may not be the last we see of the world the Duffers have created.

Will there be any Stranger Things spinoff series?

So far, there’s one Stranger Things spin-off we can confirm will return to Hawkins.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is an upcoming animated series that takes place between Season 2 and 3 of the original show, and will feature the crew we already know—Max, Eleven, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Hopper—although with a new voice cast.

There’s not much detail on the premise, but Netflix’s logline vaguely spouts “the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.” That’s not much to go on, but if you’re missing the show after the finale, you won’t have to wait long. Tales From ’85 is set to premiere sometime in 2026, although we don’t have a set date yet.

Deadline also reports the Duffer brothers have a spin-off idea that’s been in the works since Season 4. There’s not much we know about it now, but apparently earlier this year, actor Finn Wolfhard ended up guessing the general idea.

“He suggested that there could be a lab in Russia where the spin-off is centered without any mention of Hawkins or the original Stranger Things characters,” the article says. It could potentially be an anthology series, with a mystery style similar to Twin Peaks. But, of course, nothing is confirmed until we hear more from Netflix.

The Duffers also said they’d start with new characters and a “clean slate,” so the spin-off feels markedly different from Stranger Things.

While the Duffers haven’t said much more than that, they did say they plan to be involved in any projects that spin off of the original show, even with their new Paramount deal. However, there was one big caveat to any future non-Stranger Things work they do.

“Whatever we do next, I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to be set in the ’80s,” Ross Duffer told Deadline. “I think we’re done with the ’80s,”