While fans wait for Stranger Things season 4 to arrive, there are already plans for spinoffs in the not-so-distant future, including one that would have Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) as the lead, but Stranger Things has already proven that an Eleven spinoff isn’t the best idea. Netflix has been home to a variety of movies and TV shows, of which many have become pop-culture sensations, as is the case of Stranger Things. Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in 2016 and quickly became one of the platform’s most popular titles thanks to its combination of horror and sci-fi, its 1980s setting, and more.
Stranger Things took viewers to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where the experiments at Hawkins Lab involving human subjects and a gate to another dimension got out of control, unleashing a series of disappearances and murders. Through three seasons, viewers have visited the parallel (and obscure) dimension known as the “Upside Down” a couple of times, encountered some of the monsters that live there (like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer), and met some human threats as well, such as Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) and the Russians who established an underground lab in season 3. Stranger Things is coming back with a fourth season, which will answer some of the biggest questions left by season 3, but the future of the series beyond that is unknown.
The future of Stranger Things seems to depend on how well season 4 performs, but fans are hoping at least a fifth season will happen to properly wrap up the stories of Eleven and the rest of the group. However, that might not be the real end for Stranger Things, as Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos has teased the show is a “franchise being born” and hinted at plans for spinoffs, with one led by Millie Bobby Brown. However, Stranger Things has already explored the idea of a story centered on Eleven and proved that it isn't a good one even if she’s the main character of the show.
The most divisive episode of Stranger Things to date is “The Lost Sister”, from season 2, in which Eleven traveled to Chicago to meet a girl named Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), who is a fellow Hawkins Lab test subject with the number 008. Kali, just like Eleven, has special abilities, and she can create powerful illusions in other’s minds that seem very real. The episode focuses only on Eleven and her journey, leaving the rest of the group behind at Hawkins, and its tone was very different from the rest of the series, which didn’t appeal to viewers. Although the idea of Eleven meeting other test subjects and exploring their stories too isn’t bad at all (and is needed to an extent to tell Eleven’s full story), the execution definitely was. The strength of Eleven’s storyline lies in finding and building relationships with the rest of the characters of the series – her romance with Mike, her friendship with Max, Jim Hopper becoming her father – rather than having her on her own as an all-powerful being. Those bonds are what bring balance to her story, and a spinoff focused on Eleven risks losing those key elements that make her special and likable.
Of course, the Stranger Things spinoffs are just an idea for now, as Sarandos didn’t make a proper announcement nor did he confirm anything beyond season 4, so if an Eleven spinoff is to happen, the writers have enough time to come up with the best way to approach it, and hopefully, they will learn from the mistakes made in season 2 with “The Lost Sister”.