Stranger Things Spinoff Exacerbates Series Finale’s Upside Down Plot Hole

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Warning: spoilers for Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85.

The ending of Stranger Things had a few unanswered questions, and the new spin-off series, Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, actually made one of those mysteries even more confusing. Over the show’s five seasons, Stranger Things created a lot of intriguing secrets about the Upside Down and the monsters within it. Many of these were explained when Henry Creel/Vecna (played by Jamie Campbell Bower) was introduced, and the Abyss was revealed.

The latest season of Stranger Things left some storylines unfinished and questions unanswered, and it’s unclear if those will ever be resolved. Now, an animated spin-off called Tales From ‘85 is here, filling in the gaps between seasons 2 and 3 of the original show. This new series features Eleven and her friends battling more creatures from the Upside Down, and they’re joined by a new friend named Nikki.

While Tales From ‘85 explains where the pumpkin-like monsters and a new kind of Demogorgon come from, the ending actually creates a bigger problem with the show’s storyline. Even though Eleven defeats the monster and closes the gate to the Upside Down, half of its body remains there. This half then grows into a strange, flower-like monster, which doesn’t quite make sense given what we know about the Upside Down.

Stranger Things’ Abyss Was Notably Missing Monsters In The Series Finale

The fifth season of Stranger Things revealed that the Upside Down wasn’t a parallel world, but a pathway to another dimension called The Abyss. This is where Vecna and all the monsters – including the Mind Flayer, Demogorgons, and Demodogs – actually lived. The final battle between Eleven and her friends and Vecna took place there.

Despite the thrilling fight in the Abyss, it was strange that there were almost no monsters present. This was puzzling because the Abyss is actually where the monsters from Hawkins reside, not the Upside Down, and their involvement would have significantly heightened the intensity of the final battle.

At the conclusion of the story “Tales From ‘85”, a strange flower grows from the dead monster’s body. This flower blooms into a Demogorgon head, indicating that this creature somehow made its way to the Upside Down. It’s puzzling why we don’t see similar monsters again throughout the rest of Stranger Things, both in the Upside Down and the Abyss, and it highlights the limited number of monsters present in the Abyss during season 5.

What Happened To The Mutant Demogorgon After Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85?

After the Demogorgon, a mutated monster, survived the events of Tales From ‘85 and wasn’t seen again in Stranger Things, fans have wondered what became of it once it returned to the Upside Down. The Upside Down clearly allowed the creature to grow and change, but its ultimate fate remains a mystery.

Since the flower and the mutated Demogorgon weren’t seen in seasons 3, 4, or 5 of Stranger Things, it’s likely they didn’t live very long. We don’t know much about how Demogorgons live or reproduce, and even less about the mutated version, so it’s possible the creature died shortly after the events of Tales From ‘85.

We’ll probably find out what happens to this creature in a future season of Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 if the show continues, or possibly in another spin-off series. While it wouldn’t explain why there were so few monsters in the Abyss, it would at least tell us why this monster disappeared and help prevent further inconsistencies in the story.

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2026-04-25 16:08