Do We Really Need More Stranger Things?

Recently NetflixOriginally started as a disc-by-mail service, Netflix has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world (and one of the most valued internet companies as well). With a constant slate of new internet streaming-based programming that updates all the time, Netflix has redefined what it means to watch TV and films (as well as how to do it). released a teaser for a new Stranger Things show, Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, and, suffice it to say, everything about this project sounds baffling. Before we even address the teaser and the show to follow at all, let’s remind everyone that Stranger Things ran for five seasons (and nearly a full decade, which is just a failure on all fronts) and I don’t think anyone would argue that the show ended things on a good note. The last season was a bafflingly executed series of bad decisions, chopped up and aired over three different parts, and it handled everything so poorly that fans quickly started saying that the finale was worse than the finale of Game of Thrones, a parallel no one wants to have drawn about their series.

This says nothing about the stage play that also exists, somehow ties into the continuity, and also, apparently, completely doesn’t fit the continuity and just makes things worse. And there’s also the Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 animated series that is supposed to give us new adventures with younger versions of the Stranger Things cast to fill in gaps and keep fans happy (not that I think any fans are happy at this point). But even amidst all that, the Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure teaser is just… odd.

Starting with the teaser itself, this is barely a teaser at all. It would be more appropriate to call it a teaser to a teaser to a concept of an idea because Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure hasn’t even really begun production yet. Showrunner Kate Trefry will direct the first three episodes, but the episodes are still being written. There’s no news on cast, and the setting is incredibly vague right now. All that is known is that it’s set in the 1950s and won’t be based in Hawkins (the site of the main series) and won’t feature any of the same cast or characters. Thus, the teaser announcing this show is just a bare taste for Netflix to say, “hey, we have this idea. It’s coming in 2028. Stay tuned!”

I have to say I don’t understand this, at all. Teasers are meant to get fans hyped for an upcoming project. “Look at this cool thing that’s coming soon. Don’t you want to see it?” But the Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure teaser is just a bike sitting on the side of a road, with eerie music playing. There isn’t anything here to get hyped about other than the fact that it’s “more Stranger Things”. Even HBO MaxThe oldest and longer-running cable subscription service, HBO provides entertainment in the force of licensed movies along with a huge slate of original programming, giving it the luster of the premiere cable service. Now known primarily for its streaming service, HBO Max (formerly Max, HBO Max, HBO Go, HBO Now, et al)., when putting out new Game of Thrones spin-offs, at least has the decency to show characters when they put out a teaser trailer. Well, and they don’t publish teasers for shows two years before they’re going to air because that would be stupid.

Beyond that, why should people care about this show at all. What is known, and can be found out about this series from the facts online, is that this is some kind of Twin Peaks-style anthology-ish series that may or may not even take place on the same version of Earth as the original series. Due to its setting it happens before any of the events of Stranger Things, even the events that shaped Henry and made him a monster. That means there won’t be any Upside-Down and also no kids with mental powers, because all of that came from Henry and his bloodline (which is what gave Eleven her powers).

Presumably this show, instead, is going to tackle the idea of parallel worlds, but, like, ones that are similar to the Earth this show takes place on (and not parallel dimensions like the Upside-Down). But when you consider this is a different concept, with a different time period, a different cast, and a different story to tackle, the question then becomes: how is this even Stranger Things at all?

Sci-fi franchises grow and evolve, there’s no question about that. They can tackle new stories, have spin-offs that go in wildly different directions, and can, in general, cover a wide swath of ideas that never would have been thought possible when the first work (novel, movie, or television episode) was first dreamed up. These franchises, though, usually retain enough connective tissue such that even when you explore a new work set in the same universe you understand how it connects to the original material.

Star TrekOriginally conceived as "Wagon Train in Space", Star Trek was released during the height of the Hollywood Western film and TV boom. While the concept CBS originally asked for had a western vibe, it was the smart, intellectual stories set in a future utopia of science and exploration that proved vital to the series' long impact on popular culture. is a good example of this. The first work, The Original Series, gave us a crew of characters on a spaceship, traveling unknown space as part of the United Federation of Planets, doing science and finding unbelievable things (usually space gods). Later spin-offs usually maintained this core concept, with new crews exploring different parts of space, at different points along the timeline, but still dealing with similar issues as the crews tried to be good citizens of the Federation (space gods be damned). But then you have a show like Deep Space Nine which said, “what if Star Trek but on a space station?” and that was a big flex for the show. The setting was slightly different, but the show still maintained the Star Trek vibe.

You can also look at the Mirror Universe episodes that have taken place in Star Trek for further examples. These are based in a parallel reality where the Federation isn’t a benevolent space government but is, instead, an evil Empire seeking to take over all known territory. These episodes are used to shine a light on the concept of the Federation and (when done right) reveal no facets of the main universe we can appreciate. And, tellinging, they still feature versions of characters we know in settings similar to what we are used to.

Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure tosses all of that aside. Everything that made Stranger Things the cultural phenomenon it was has been abandoned here. That isn’t just setting, characters, and cast, although all of those are gone. We’re also talking the 1980s nostalgia that was a major driving force for the audience watching, which this show’s 1950s setting won’t have. Stranger Things fed into Millennial nostalgia and it was a big selling point for the series. 1950s nostalgia came and went back in, well, the 1980s. I don’t think anyone that cares about Stranger Things is going to care about the 1950s setting in the same way.

So what does that leave us, then? A sci-fi show with… well, nothing else really. Maybe there’s some connective tissue we don’t understand yet, like the government project that was behind Henry and Eleven could exist here, doing a completely different experiment. But that also feels like a weird way to connect the two shows. To use our analogy above, that feels Gene Roddenberry making a sci-fi show about a detective on a post-apocalyptic Earth, trying to solve mysteries, and then Roddenberry saying, “oh yeah, and this is a Star Trek project.” That’s how little this seems to connect.

(And yes, that Roddenberry project does exist, going under three failed titles of Genesis II, Planet Earth, and Strange New World, and none of them were ever made into Star Trek projects.)

What we have then is a tiny nugget of a sci-fi idea that the original Stranger Things creators, The Duffer Brothers, came up with and then abandoned at Netflix for someone else to use, saying “it’s totally a Stranger Things project, trust us bro,” before they took their money and run. Nothing about this screams Stranger Things; it’s just them, and Netflix, using a familiar name to sell a new idea. And it’s not even a complete idea because the show hasn’t even begun filming and it’s two years out (at least) from release.

I have no clue what Netflix was thinking when they put this teaser out the way they did. It feels so very desperate, like they can sense the Stranger Things fanbase is slipping and they’re trying to do anything to get them back. All for a show that might not even come to fruition, knowing how streaming projects work. Just because a teaser exists doesn’t mean the show is going to exist. Time will tell if this teaser was a good idea or a stupid thing to put out that totally blows up in their faces… but my bet is solidly on the latter.