The New Stranger Things: Tales From '85 Trailer Ignites A Wild Fan Theory

Netflix has figured out how to keep "Stranger Things" going forever: If the streamer is willing to recast the voices and explore sections of the sprawling timeline in animation, all with original creators The Duffer Brothers on board as executive producers, it feels like there could truly be no end in sight for this franchise.

Unless, of course, the audience isn't into it. It's too early for any conclusions to be drawn on that front, but the latest trailer for the franchise's first spin-off series, "Stranger Things: Tales From '85," has arrived, and putting the story elements aside, the aesthetics of the show ... aren't great. In fact, the aesthetics are more akin to a video game than a TV series, and a Reddit fan theory suggests there might be more to that possibility than meets the eye.

If you've ever played any of Telltale Games' video games, the stylized, illustrated, pop art look of "Tales From '85" might look familiar to you. That company worked on games set in the world of "The Walking Dead," "Fables," Batman, and more, and gained popularity through its decision-based gameplay that let players make choices that guided their narrative experience. 

It turns out Telltale was once developing a "Stranger Things" game, but it was scrapped when the company temporarily shut down. Now a Redditor is theorizing that "Tales From '85" is actually comprised of the bones of that abandoned project. "I'm still convinced this started life as a TellTale game before that company went bankrupt and they salvaged the scripts and animation, reworking it into a series," LapsedVerneGagKnee wrote.

Until someone officially goes on the record confirming this theory, we can't operate under the assumption that Netflix took the character designs, scripts, and animation components from an abandoned video game and reworked them into this animated series. But it's also hard to deny that the new show has a very similar look to Telltale's cell-shaded house style, and what we can see of the story feels somewhat flimsy, especially compared to the live-action "Stranger Things" storylines. 

Someone in that same Reddit thread posted a video that claims to be footage that Telltale developed for its "Stranger Things" game before the company shut down (it has since reopened, by the way). I have not been able to independently verify the legitimacy of this clip, but I'll drop it here anyway:

Obviously there's a difference between this developmental footage and the polished final product that's making it to Netflix, and I won't pretend to understand either the animation pipeline or the video game workflow well enough to say whether this fan theory is fully plausible. At the end of the day, it may not matter. From Netflix's perspective, they're just wondering if all of those people who are furious about Eleven's fate in the "Stranger Things" finale will be willing to jump back into that world in animation form. 

We'll find out soon enough: "Tales From '85" hits the streamer on April 23, 2026.