‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’: Ending explainer

After several harrowing encounters with “snow sharks” and “Jerk-O-Lanterns,” Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 ended with a decisive victory over the monsters of the Upside Down — or so the Hawkins party thinks. That’s because Tales From ’85 leaves the door open for more tales, which would still take place before the start of Stranger Things Season 3.

From a possible Season 2 to the truth about the monsters and the fate of Nikki (Odessa A’zion), here’s what you need to know about the ending of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.

Who created the Queen in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85?

Tales From ’85‘s monstrous foes aren’t like Stranger Things‘ Demogorgons or the Mind Flayer. They’re constantly evolving, and it’s all because of human experiments.

Dustin (voiced by Braxton Quinney) initially suspects substitute science teacher Anna Baxter (voiced by Janeane Garofalo) of creating the monsters, including the Queen who controls them. The evidence adds up: She’s a science teacher obsessed with evolution, and she’s working on cutting-edge research that can reanimate dead plant life. Plus, the view of the radio tower from her house matches up with the image that the monsters’ human victims remembered seeing after being swallowed.

However, Anna was just a red herring. The culprit is actually her partner Daniel Fischer (voiced by Lou Diamond Phillips). Before he was a store clerk beefing with Dustin over change, he was a scientist at Hawkins lab. While he didn’t have high-level clearance, he did get his hands on a dead vine from the Upside Down. He brought it back to life using green goo similar to what Anna used in her experiments, and from there it evolved into the deadly monsters the Hawkins party faced off against. He thought he’d made a viable, controllable sample with the flower-like “Queen.” But turns out, her roots were growing deep below Hawkins, extending her and her offspring’s influence. When Dustin shows Dan the truth, the Queen transforms into a massive, almost unstoppable beast who tries to open a gate back to the Upside Down and return to her place of origin.

I say “almost” because Eleven (voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) manages to stop the Queen by telekinetically slamming the gate on her, chopping her in half. Not before the beast can eat Dan, though.

That’s the end of that saga, right? Wrong.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 sets up a Season 2.

Credit: Netflix

The final scene of Tales From ’85 reveals that we may not have seen the last of this new breed of Upside Down beastie. Right before the credits roll, we see the corpse of the Queen lying prone in the Upside Down. While she’s dead, something within her isn’t: A small blue flower bursts from her skin, letting out a screech from its Demogorgon-like petal mouth. Funnily enough, the entire scene is set to Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again,” which also scores a haunting Stranger Things Season 3 sequence involving the Mind Flayer’s growing army of human hosts.

Could this new flower be linked to Dan’s life source, since he was swallowed by the Queen and might still be in her corpse? Or is it just another stage in these creatures’ evolution? Either way, it’s clear that these monsters are sticking around a while longer. However, given that they’re not a threat in Stranger Things Season 3, or any future seasons, for that matter, you can guess that they’ll die out eventually. Tales From ’85 leaves the “how” of that open for the future. (Maybe Vecna does some weed whacking?)

What happens to Nikki in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85?

Credit: Netflix

Speaking of characters who never come up in the rest of Stranger Things, let’s talk about Nikki. She’s the latest addition to the Hawkins party, which also comes to be known as the Hawkins Investigation Club in Tales From ’85. (Again, not something that comes up in the flagship series.)

Since Nikki isn’t involved in later seasons of Stranger Things, it’s clear she’s out of the picture by Season 3. However, Tales From ’85 keeps her firmly in the picture in its finale. While Nikki and her mother Anna were originally going to move away from Hawkins, they end up staying and moving into a new house, one without any spooky secret laboratories. (That we know of, anyway.) Nikki joins in on the group Dungeons & Dragons game, and everything seems hunky-dory.

Of course, that’s sure to come crashing down in any future seasons of Tales From ’85, as Nikki has to exit eventually. Maybe she and Anna will end up moving away. Or maybe she’ll join Barb, Bob, Alexei, and Eddie in the ranks of beloved Stranger Things characters who were killed off. For now, though, she’s embracing her role in the group after years of being too afraid to make any long-lasting connections.

Will there be a Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2?

As of now, Netflix has not yet renewed Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 for a second season.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is now streaming on Netflix.