The world of Stranger Things is expanding with Tales From '85, and it takes us back in time to show what actually happened before the events of Season 3 of the live-action series. The new animated series takes place between Seasons 2 and 3 of the original series and focuses on the group that has enthralled us for years. Set in the winter of 1985, the story follows Eleven, Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max as they finally lead a normal life and go to school. However, it does not take much time for things to get ugly, and the group is once again forced to investigate mysterious vanishings in Hawkins.

As the season progresses, the group realizes the threat is bigger than they expected, and if they do not eliminate it, the whole town will face the consequences. This time, the fight is not just about defeating a monster, but also about existence. Will the group be able to eliminate the threat, or will they come face-to-face with a threat that cannot be contained? Let us find out how Season 1 of Stranger Things: Tales From '85 ended.

The town of Hawkins went through a lot in the first two seasons of Stranger Things. Thankfully, Eleven closed the gate and stopped the Demogorgons from entering the aforementioned town. But the animated series wastes no time in reminding us that the people of Hawkins are still in danger, with a sinister monster lurking in the shadows. The initial scenes make us realize that a new creature is on the loose, and someone dressed in a bio-chemical suit is going after it. Fortunately, the person killed the creature, but after its death, it released some spores from its body, and as soon as the spores touched the ground, they gave birth to a creepy-looking plant.

On the other hand, Eleven and the group are still to find their place in the normal world. But things quickly change when they find out that a creature is abducting people of Hawkins and using them to wreak havoc. As they realize that the creature will be searching for its next potential victim, they stitch a plan to identify it and kill it on the spot. A few moments later, one of the new kids in the school, Nikki, is attacked by the creature, and the group helps her get out of danger. Eleven uses her powers to kill the creature, but before doing so, she sees a human trapped inside the creature. She pulls the person out, and the group realizes that it is one of the kids from their school. 

Nikki is shocked after seeing what happened in front of her eyes and wants to become a part of the group. Mike did not want anyone else to be a part of the group because it could turn out to be life-threatening for them. But Nikki tells them she almost lost her life, and she has the right to know everything about the creature and why it attacked her. As a result, the group tells her what happened before and how Eleven closed the gates of Upside Down so that no other creature could make its way to Hawkins. Unfortunately, some creatures have made their way back to the town, and the most shocking part is that the gate is still closed. So, how did they enter the real world?

Well, the answer is a bit complicated. These are semi-mutated plants from Upside Down with dead spores remaining in Hawkins, and they die if they do not find a host for 24 hours. During another encounter with the creatures that look like Aboleth, the group manages to evade them with the help of Eleven, and during that fight, it is confirmed that these monsters can stay alive even without a human host. After one of their school friends, Rosario, gets abducted by the monster, the group of friends tries anything and everything to get her back, and when they finally have her, they get to know about a vision that she had, which includes a blinking red light at the top of a tower. 

Who Is Nikki Baxtar in 'Stranger Things Tales From 85'? Meet the Latest Addition to Hawkins' Gang and the Actor Behind

The group continues to investigate the mysterious creature and learns that the small creatures are taking directions from their leader, aka Monster Queen. That is why all the people who have been abducted see those visions. They know that the creatures crawl back to the sewers, and that is where they should be looking for the queen as well. So, they take their weapons and check the sewers. While checking, they get into a fight with the creatures, and when they thought they were about to win the battle, the Queen of Monsters arrives. But that is not the only terrifying thing they get to know. They also realize that the Monster Queen was able to find a portal to the Upside Down and was trying to open it fully so that it could reach the place of its birth.

The group tries to stop the Queen from escaping with the help of a weapon created by Nikki, but the creature is too powerful for them, and they need Eleven's help to defeat it. As expected, Eleven steps up and fights the monster with all her might, while others help her gain the upper hand. In the end, the weapon created by Nikki neutralizes the threat, but Eleven wanted the portal to vanish as well. So, she used her powers and not only obliterated the monster, but also closed the portal. 

Even in animation, Stranger Things refuses to soften its edges, reminding us that Hawkins will never truly be safe. What begins as a new mystery slowly turns into another haunting chapter in the town’s dark history. The battle may be over for now, but the shadows still linger. And in Hawkins, it’s never really the end; just a brief pause before the next nightmare.

In the first scene, we see a person dressed in a biochemical suit killing one of the creatures with the help of fire. However, we get to know about how the creature came into existence later in the season. In a flashback sequence, we once again see people wearing biochemical suits, destroying the last remains of the Upside Down in Hawkins. But one of those people took some plants to their lab and injected the already dead plants with different serums. The first four did not turn out to be fruitful, but the fifth serum brought the dead plant to life.

The regenerated plant attacked the person, and that is what happened before the man in the biochemical suit killed it. Later in the series, the group wanted to know more about the plant and got in contact with Nikkii's mother, Anna, who is a scientist and also teaches at the Hawkins School. They ask her about evolution and how an isolated specimen could form a new genetic branch, and they can evolve into something different. After the conversation, they get to know that these plant-like creatures are releasing spores so that they can turn the plants of Hawkins into monsters of the Upside Down.

While they continue to move forward, the group is inside Nikki's garage as she realizes that the monster can be killed with light. So, Nikki, with the help of others, tries to make a weapon for the fight. Meanwhile, Dustin goes to the washroom and sees the tower that Rosario saw in her visions. He went back to the conversation they had with Nikki's mother, which made him feel that Nikki's mother might be the one who created the creatures. Although no one believes him initially, they give this a shot, and Will, Max, and Dustin search Nikki's house to find the truth.

They found a box with tapes inside them and when they saw the tapes, they realized that Dustin was right. He gave the information to Mike, who was accompanying Nikki and her mother in the car while traveling to the hardware store. But they are stopped in their tracks and attacked by one of the creatures. In the tapes, Will and Max saw that the creatures were addicted to the serum and wanted more of it. So, if they smell the serum anywhere, they will follow it, and the reason they attacked Nikki's car is that one of her headphones had a little bit of serum on it. During the fight, Anna learns about Eleven's powers, and when they c0nfront jer about making these monsters, she vehemently denies those allegations.

Back at Nikki's place, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max find a mysterious lab with a bigger plant from the Upside Down. However, they get the shock of a lifetime when they learn that it was Daniel, Anna's boyfriend, who was the creator of these monsters. According to him, he created a serum that could be helpful in regenerating species, and as soon as he takes the bottle of serum in his hand, the plant from Upside Down attacks the entire group. Everyone is shocked to see how Daniel could be behind this dangerous species that is plaguing the town of Hawkins. While the entire group was fighting the Queen Monster, Daniel was trying to leave the place and take the bottles of serum with him. However, the Queen Monster got him and killed him in front of everyone. 

In the end, the battle leaves Hawkins shaken, with more questions than answers lingering in the air. What began as an experiment spirals into a chilling reminder of how fragile the line between science and danger truly is. Even as the immediate threat is contained, the sense that something worse could follow never quite fades. Hawkins may be safe for now, but it’s far from over in this subtle expansion of the Stranger Things universe. 

'Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Review': A Subtle Expansion of the 'Stranger Things' Universe

Did you watch Stranger Things: Tales From '85? Are you excited to return to the world of Hawkins? Let us know your thoughts.