The New ‘Stranger Things’ Show’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Lower Than Season 5

InnovationGamingThe New ‘Stranger Things’ Show’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Lower Than Season 5ByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorApr 23, 2026, 10:43am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Stranger Things Tales From '85NetflixNetflix may have broadcast the end of the main Stranger Things series in a controversial finale that had fans divided or mad. Mostly mad. But now a new, somewhat unexpected project has just gone live months later: Stranger Things: Tales from ’85.It’s a new animated series that takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the show and features almost the entire main cast. Well, the main character, not the main cast as no one has shown up to voice their roles for Tales From ’85, which I do find a bit odd. But maybe that would have cost a lot more, even for just voicework across five total hours of ten episodes. Here’s the synopsis:“Snow Sharks. Jerk O Lanterns. Killer Vines. When new breeds of monsters turn up in Hawkins, Eleven and friends must band together again to fight back.”This is supposed to be “canon,” though obviously it’s not terribly important to the overall arc of Stranger Things as it wasn’t even remotely built into the main show. Critics have now reviewed the show and, as it stands, it’s doing okay on Rotten Tomatoes, but it is lower-scored than all past seasons of the main Stranger Things. Here’s the list:Stranger Things season 1 – 97% critic scoreStranger Things season 2 – 94% critic scoreStranger Things season 3 – 89% critic scoreStranger Things season 4 – 89% critic scoreStranger Things season 5 – 82% critic scoreStranger Things: Tales from ’85 – 75% critic scoreStranger Things: Tales from '85NetflixSo that’s certainly a trendline, though it goes from near-perfect to still pretty good. There a...