Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 returns for Season 2 on September 17, picking up immediately after the Hawkins Investigators Club defeated the Horde Queen and stopped her from opening another gate to the Upside Down. The animated series brings Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Nikki together again as Hawkins begins showing signs of another supernatural disturbance.
TV
At first, the group tries to resume normal life. Eleven, voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, joins Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Nikki for arcade games, Hawkins Investigators Club missions and preparations for Valentine’s Day. Their routine quickly changes when unusual flowers begin appearing throughout Hawkins, Indiana.
Showrunner Eric Robles explains that the flowers become one of the first signs that something has gone wrong. Their colorful, iridescent appearance hides a supernatural secret, creating a problem that grows when Nikki and Max decide to sell them around town.
“Nikki and Max are scheming to sell the flowers all over Hawkins,” Robles says. Their plan spreads the mysterious plants further, placing them throughout the town before the group understands what they contain or where they came from.
The flowers form part of a larger series of unexplained events. Ghostly apparitions begin appearing as Valentine’s Day approaches, while a swarm of hate sprites causes additional trouble. The Hawkins Investigators Club must determine what connects these paranormal incidents before another gate to the Upside Down opens.
Season 2 will return to familiar locations from the series, including Hawkins Middle School and the Palace Arcade. The new episodes will also introduce places that the characters have yet to explore.
Robles points specifically to a mine beneath Hawkins as one of the new locations. “What’s really exciting is we’re going to go places that we haven’t been to before,” he says. “There’s a mine in Hawkins that we haven’t explored yet.”
The central voice cast returns in full. Brooklyn Davey Norstedt voices Eleven, Luca Diaz plays Mike, Benjamin Plessala voices Will, Braxton Quinney plays Dustin, Elisha “EJ” Williams returns as Lucas, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport voices Max and Odessa A’zion plays Nikki Baxter.
Several supporting cast members also return for the second season. Brett Gipson voices Hopper, Janeane Garofalo plays Anna Baxter, Jeremy Jordan returns as Steve Harrington and Alessandra Antonelli voices Nancy Wheeler. Valeria Rodriguez returns as Rosario, while Jack Griffo plays Jeff.
The new season continues directly from the first-season finale, when the group prevented the Horde Queen from creating another connection to the Upside Down. Their apparent victory gives them little time to enjoy normal life before Hawkins begins producing another set of unexplained threats.
With strange flowers spreading through town, paranormal apparitions appearing and dangerous creatures emerging, the Hawkins Investigators Club once again faces a mystery connected to the Upside Down. Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2 premieres September 17.
