While Stranger Things still has plenty of stories to explore, season 4 of the Netflix hit killed any potential interest in one particular spinoff. It has already been confirmed that Stranger Things will spawn numerous spin-offs after the successful series ends with its upcoming season 5. The storylines that these Stranger Things spinoffs will follow have not yet been revealed, but fans online have speculated that the shows could follow the adult adventures of Eleven and company, illustrate the origins of Hawkins Lab, or even center around Dustin and Steve’s goofy antics.
However, at least one of these potential spinoff premises was killed by Stranger Things season 4. Since Dr. Brenner and Henry Creel/001/Vecna revealed the origins of Hawkins Lab when they recounted their respective roles in its early days, Stranger Things effectively explained the entire backstory of the shadowy secret operation. As a result, there is nothing left for a potential Stranger Things spinoff to delve into, meaning a Hawkins Lab prequel show would no longer work. Luckily, as series star Maya Hawke noted, Stranger Things has a huge number of characters to focus on in future projects, meaning the loss of this potential spinoff will be no problem for the show’s future.
A Stranger Things Spinoff Could Have Explained Hawkins Lab
Explaining Hawkins Lab would have been one of the most obvious storylines for a Stranger Things spinoff to explore for numerous reasons. For one thing, Hawkins Lab predates the events of Stranger Things season 1 and appears to be the cause of almost all of the show’s supernatural phenomena, whether it is because the institution actively attempted to unearth paranormal entities or simply stumbled across them by accident. For another, explaining the origins of Hawkins Lab would have allowed the 80s-obsessed Stranger Things to set a spinoff in another, earlier decade, thus giving the show a new aesthetic and style to explore.
Henry Creel/Dr. Brenner’s Plot Killed This Story
However, the Stranger Things season 4 villain Vecna effectively killed this spinoff’s storytelling potential when he explained his origins to Nancy and Eleven. Vecna revealed that he was Henry Creel, a child with psychic abilities who was the first focus of Dr. Brenner’s experiments. This revelation, cemented when Stranger Things showed his number 001 tattoo, proved that Henry’s backstory was the backstory of Hawkins Lab. There was no shady, extra-governmental institution before Dr. Brenner began experimenting on the boy, and, with Dr. Brenner dead at the end of Stranger Things season 4, the plot was tidily wrapped up.
While Stranger Things season 4 introduced a slew of new characters and subplots to the show’s universe, the outing also closed some doors for good. Finding out the connection between Dr. Brenner and Vecna clarified the goals of Hawkins Lab, while the destruction of the NINA Project and Eleven regaining her powers proved the institution served its purpose. Stranger Things season 5 promises to bring back some elements of season 4, but the Hawkins Lab storyline (which had been central to the show since the first season), finished with the death of Dr. Brenner and the explanation of his grand plan. Now, a Stranger Things spinoff centered around the facility would be wholly redundant since there is no lingering mystery surrounding the purpose of Hawkins Lab.
Why A Stranger Things Spinoff Can’t Be A Prequel Now
While Stranger Things could still pull off a lot of spinoff storylines, the most interesting of these will no longer be prequels thanks to season 4. Before the events of Stranger Things season 4, the prospect of a prequel set in the 50s or 60s was appealing. Even more than the 80s, the 50s was an era defined by Cold War paranoia in cultural memory, making the setting perfect for a show about a shadowy government conspiracy. Like how Stranger Things season 4’s satanic panic storyline mined small-town urban myths of the 80s for satire and genre thrills alike, a spinoff setting up the backstory of Hawkins Lab could have done the same for the cultural obsessions of the 50s.
However, this is now no longer an option since Stranger Things season 4 left nothing to explore in the Hawkins Lab plot line. Stranger Things spinoffs could still be sequels that explore the world of the series into the 90s, 00s, and 2010s, but a series set before the events of Stranger Things would now have trouble justifying its existence. This would be particularly true if the Stranger Things spinoff was set in Hawkins, a small town that houses nothing of note outside of Dr. Brenner’s enigmatic Lab. Fortunately, Stranger Things can still follow its many other characters in the show’s inevitable spinoffs.