Summary
- Netflix’s Stranger Things will end in 2025, with new episodes expected to be worth the wait.
- The spinoff needs to be unique, with different characters, villains, and storylines from the original series.
- The Duffer Brothers aim for high quality and originality in potential spinoffs, which will not feature the original characters.
Netflix‘s Stranger Things is ending sometime in 2025, and fans are invested in the conclusion of this moving, magical, and epic journey. Every main character from Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) has been through so much since the pilot episode, and viewers have a lot of thoughts about what could take place. Since several years have passed since Stranger Things season 4 arrived on Netflix in the spring and summer of 2022, Brown shared that the wait for the new episodes is “worth it”.
Over the past few years, fans have heard about a Stranger Things spinoff, and the Duffer Brothers have addressed this in a couple of interviews along with some public appearances. While fans would love to revisit the Stranger Things universe, a spinoff would have to be very different from the original series.
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The Stranger Things Spinoff Needs To Be Unique
Although no details are available about the Stranger Things spinoff, one thing is clear: it has to be different and not copy Stranger Things. While it could be set in Hawkins or feature the Upside Down, it needs different villains, different characters, and a different overall storyline. Fans are hopeful they will learn more about the Upside Down by the end of Stranger Things season 5, and hopefully, a spinoff would use that beloved setting without making things even more confusing. It would make sense if the new villain was related to Vecna somehow, but it would also be fine if they had nothing to do with Jamie Campbell Bower’s creepy and memorable character.
The Stranger Things spinoff could be inspired by the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. It’s a completely different show but has similar themes of guilt, redemption, and being good vs. evil. Creator Vince Gilligan has talked about writing villains in his two big shows, and it’s definitely interesting to watch main character Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk). Jimmy used to be a con artist and rebrands himself as lawyer Saul Goodman who helps criminals.
Better Call Saul aired for six seasons on AMC from 2015 and 2022 and was a prequel to Breaking Bad. It would be fun to see a Stranger Things prequel. That would help the spinoff stand out while also allowing fans to see more of Hawkins, Indiana. Although the events of Hawkins could affect the world in Stranger Things season 5, it would be compelling to see what life was like in this eerie small town years or even decades before Stranger Things season 1.
The Stranger Things spinoff could share the same themes as the original series and feature stories about friendship, coming-of-age, good and evil, moving on from past trauma, and found family. Hopefully, the new series will have a main character as engaging and sweet as Eleven, and fans would be excited to follow them on a fresh journey.
What Did The Duffer Brothers Say About The Stranger Things Spinoff?
The Duffer Brothers have discussed the future of the Stranger Things world in a few different interviews, and they also shared some thoughts in the past few months. Fans have ideas about Stranger Things spinoffs, and it’s interesting to hear what Matt and Ross Duffer think could happen next for the franchise. According to Entertainment Weekly, in January 2025, at an event that previewed Netflix’s 2025 TV and movies, Matt said:
“There are more Stranger Things stories to tell and in the works. It’s a bit early at this point to talk about them, but we’re deeply involved in every one. It’s very important to us that anything with the Stranger Things name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitive, that it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path.”
Also in early 2025, the Duffer Brothers won the Variety Showrunner Award at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, and Ross said about future spinoffs, “We don’t want to rush anything.” According to Parade, Matt explained that a Stranger Things spinoff wouldn’t feature the original characters:
“This story, these characters’ stores, that’s done. That whole story is coming to an end. There’s not like a Steve/Dustin spinoff or something like that.”
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