Stranger Things: The Ultimate Guide To The Expanded Universe In Order

Stranger Things

Netflix’sStranger Thingshas become such a ethnic phenomenon that , over the years , it has birthed a range of media that comprises the series ' boom Universe beyond its four veritable season . With theStranger Thingsfull timeline including comics , novels , telecasting secret plan , and a pile of other content slated for next sack , it can be unmanageable for audience to keep track of everything . This pathfinder direct to provide consultation with the arrant viewing / meter reading ordering to help make gumption of the serial ' ever - lucubrate narrative , guide them through media tie - ins , and more easily spot certainStranger ThingsS4 easter egg .

touch on : Stranger Things Season 4 book 2 Easter Eggs & References

There ’s a lot to extricate here – and a great deal to unpack , narratively and thematically . The more that the writer behind theStranger ThingsEU excavate the show ’s past times , digging into its part and conjuring up new adventures before theUpside Downinvaded Hawkins , Indiana , the more floor possibilities extend , meaning that fans of the TV show will be hard - pressed to ladder out of retro material , no matter how foresighted of a gap there may be between batches of episodes . Here is the sodding way to experience everything that is theStranger Thingsfull timeline .

Stranger Things Season 4 Poster

1. Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds

Set 13 years beforeStranger Thingsseason 1,SuspiciousMindscovers the most redoubtable period in theStranger Thingsfull timeline . It begins in June 1969 and stop in November 1970 , with babe Jane Ives already some five months sometime . With the Hawkins National Laboratory having just been complete , and with Brenner having just arrived with test study Eight in towage , the stagecoach is set for the enlisting of Terry Ives , Eleven ’s mother , and a slipshod crew of otherHawkins Lab child experiments – the individuals who will first discover the Void ( the telepathic surface area that exists between our world and the Mind Flayer ’s ) and get glimpses of the Upside Down and the Demogorgons that reside there .

Along the way , Terry forms a alliance with her fellow subjects that ’s not unlike Mike Wheeler ’s fellowship with his three midway - school sidekick and comes to be pregnant with the next Eleven . She succeeds in justify at least one of her newfound Quaker from the icy clutches of Brenner , but she give out in burst Eight out of her new prison house – or from preventing the mad Dr. from snatching her new-sprung baby by from her .

2. Stranger Things: Six

postulate place in 1978 , the comic miniseriesStranger Things : SIX , switch the nidus to examine subject Six , a character never before realise ( or , even , heard of ) on - screen . Whereas Eleven has telekinesis andKali , a.k.a . Eightcan project trick into individuals ’ mind , the teenager formerly known as Francine is able to see abbreviated snipping of the future and , at times , act upon them – the complete weapon for Dr. Brenner to flourish against the Soviets .

interrelate : How Many nipper Were In Hawkins Lab ( & How Many Are Dead ? )

Stranger Things : SIXis Francine ’s only appearance in theStranger ThingsExpanded Universe , as she was replaced inStranger Thingsseason 4 by De’Jon Watts ' character Six . This inconsistency , which also hold out to Hawkins Lab experiment Nine introduced , is a bit of a gaping hole , but the comic miniseries does deliver on some interesting backstory tidbits . for certain , it ’s worth a read .

Stranger Things Expanded Universe

3. Stranger Things Season 1

TheStranger Thingsfull timeline begins in earnest with time of year 1 . These first eight episodes introduce viewers to the property ’s premise , character , whole tone , themes , and – perhaps most importantly for Expanded Universe role – the backstory . time of year 1 offers the enfranchisement ’s first taste perception of things like the Upside Down , Stranger Things ' plethora of D & 500 references , and the core cast that make up the main timeline ’s central story .

4. Stranger Things: The Other Side

Stranger thing ' four - issue comic - playscript miniseries – collected in trade softback form asStranger thing : The Other Side – secernate the story of season 1 from the perspective of Will Byers as he ’s drop off in the Upside Down . Stranger Things ' first raid into the print page both impresses and falters . On the one deal , this comic is as much a loving atavism to the ‘ fourscore as is its television primogenitor , replete with simulated - retro art and thought balloons to extract Will ’s inner monologue ( the trend in comics scriptwriting long ago switch to using captions instead of the cheesy , downlike balloon ) . The story is filled with loving address to time of year 1 – and , in the destruction , just maybe a composition of foreshadowing or two for the 2nd and third season , let in a tricky reference to theMind Flayer .

On the other hand , there is no real story to speak of , with the plot of ground touch sensation more like a inclination of references to be checked off than a living , breathing entity . While itisneat to see how Will is able to psychologically survive in the Upside Down , one ca n’t facilitate but feel like the ruined ware was some two or three issues too long , at the least .

colligate : Stranger Things Comic Answers Season 1 Questions

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds Cover

5. Stranger Things: The Game

Designed as a bang court to the 8 - bit classics that reigned supreme in the ‘ 80s , most specificallyThe Legend of Zelda , the free - to - playStranger Things : The Gamedoes equip into the dimension ’s overarching mythology , but it act a bit fast and lax with its capacity – again , not unlike the Nintendo Entertainment System adaptations of the big movies of the daytime . Players start off controllingPolice Chief Jim Hopperand eventually fall closely all of the cast ’s minor characters , starting with Lucas Sinclair and ending with Eleven ( a hole-and-corner unlockable character ) .

Most of the kids have dead gone missing , and Hopper quick deduces that the Hawkins National Lab is at the meat of the wretchedness yet again , as a number of small portals between the everyday world and the Upside Down have begun to emanate from there once more . By the game ’s end , not only has everyone been find , but there are even a few man ofStranger Thingsseason 2 foreshadowing introduced , such as the emergence of Bob Newby andBilly Hargroveon the scene . There was even an update after season 2 arrived , adding in an extra dungeon and allowing Max Mayfield to be a playable reference – somewhat breaking the persistence of the show but even so proving to be a fun gameplay addition .

6. Stranger Things season 2

With all of the spread out Universe material now firmly in bridge player , Stranger Thingsseason 2 ’s contents are rendered all the more spectacular : the revelation of how Terry Ives cease up in a catatonic state is more heartbreakingly climactic as opposed to being purely expositive ; Eight is less part of a perceived deadened - end plot line and becomes more of an emotionally - engaged build ; and theHawkins National Laboratory ’s demise lands all the more heavily , given just how much more clock time readers have spent in its Asaph Hall and visit how its various residents have been regale .

BONUS: Beyond Stranger Things

Before getting to even more expanded adventures set within Hawkins , Indiana , there ’s a slight roundabout way to be had first . Beyond Stranger Thingsis an after - show , though it ’s somewhat different than its Brother in that it ’s contrive to be see only after the entirety of its fellow traveler time of year has been make out ( that is to say , watch all ofStranger Thingsseason 2 , then bingeBeyondstraight through ) . These seven short episodes , hosted by actor Jim Rash , jog out the creators - showrunnersthe Duffer brothersalong with a figure of the cast and crew to discourse cardinal developments from the second season of the source material , all in a set that is exceptionally pitch - complete ( and with an introduction that is also satisfactorily ‘ 80s ) .

relate : Vecna & Mind Flayer Connection Fully explicate

7. Stranger Things: Runaway Max

Just as theStranger Thingscomic miniseries fictionalize the story of the first season from a different position , Stranger Things : Runaway Maxdoes the same exact thing for the second . This young - grownup novel does things a bit differently from its two book compatriots – its mark audience is younger , its page enumeration is right smart shorter , its narrative reach is more limited , and its usage of the first individual is , thus far , unique . It starts only a few days beforeStranger Thingsseason 2 and terminate at the same time with it , deliver its steel - new textile – Max Mayfield ’s home biography , her relationship with her deadbeat father and madden step - brother ( including what made them pack up and move to Indiana ) , and her continued efforts to operate away from Hawkins for the green pasturage of LA – almost exclusively in the shape of flashbacks .

8. Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town

It is December 26 , 1984 – just a few weeks afterStranger Thingsseason 2 – and as Jim Hopper and Eleven wait out a bad snowstorm , El decide to pull out a box from Hop ’s days as a New York City homicide detective and make her fresh - legally - minted father tell her the story about the clip that he chased down a outre serial killer . Stranger Things : Darkness on the Edge of Townis set in July 1977 , at a place and with characters that have very piffling bearing upon theStranger Thingsfull timeline – if any bearing at all , that is . Therefore , it ’s sincerely a standalone chronicle .

However , even with that said , the novel is well - write and step , and it so perfectly captures Hopper ’s voice and fictitious character , it ’s hard not to fall in dearest with it . When fuse with the worked up nature of the history – it end on Christmas ’ 77 , the last holiday that Hopper and his family would ever pass together , as just one for - example – it ’s intemperately not to regardDarkness on the Edge of Townas anything other than a sheer , arrant homerun and some of the well time that one can pass in the populace outside ofStranger Things ' Hawkins and the Upside Down .

BONUS: Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down

Part behind - the - scenes tell - all and part coffee - mesa book of account , Worlds Turned Upside Downdoesn’t do either absolutely – and yet , in this interesting intermix , it still contend to be a compelling varlet - Henry Hubert Turner , alternatively offer up interesting tidbit aboutStranger Things ’ very early conceptualisation by the Duffer brothers and providing beautiful double - page photographic spreads of the worker , their costumes , and the stage set they inhabit .

link up : What The Grandfather Clock stand for In Stranger Things Season 4

Just as the comics play up the retro schtik by feature dated nontextual matter and wear out - looking covers , this companion book goes the spare stat mi , including a dog - eared coming into court and , even , a sticker from Melvald ’s General Store ( where Joyce Beyers works and where audiences can explore inStranger Things : The Game ) . Beyond that , it include a map of Hawkins and a Morse code decoder , which readers could utilise to trace a rather cryptic clue as to what the then - upcomingStranger Thingsseason 3held – just the first in many such titbit in this regard ( including some that come straight from the mouths of Matt and Ross Duffer ) .

Stranger Things: Six comic book miniseries

9. Rebel Robin

Much likeRunaway Max , Stranger Things : Rebel Robintakes a deeper dive into a newly introduced phallus of the coreStranger Thingscast after her debuted season . This prequel novel is really place before the events ofStranger Thingsseason 3 and search the backstory of Robin in great point . It also has an accompanying fictional podcast .

9. Stranger Things Season 3

Stranger Thingsseason 3 is set in the summer of 1985 , not quite a twelvemonth after time of year 2 . mostly regarded asStranger Things ' most divisive launching , time of year 3 had some sound moments , such as the reunion of Dustin and Steve ’s iconic duo , the creation of Robin , and comedic scenes likeSuzie and Dustin ’s " Never Ending Story " duet . On the other hand , Stranger Thingsseason 3 ’s narration – split between a thriller - elan conspiracy plot , a Russian undercover agent cognitive process , and the Mind Flayer ’s paying back as a mass of sentient ooze – is generally overcharge and muddle . The good thing aboutStranger Thingsseason 3 ’s mistakes , however , is how they allowed season 4 to shine by comparison .

10. Stranger Things 3: The Game

Stranger Things 3 : The Gametakes everything that was craft for the inaugural video recording game outing , Stranger Things : The Game , and expatiate upon it to thenth degree : it has a more advanced , 16 - bit graphics engine and gameplay exemplar ; it utilizes local and on-line co - op ; and it have 12 playable characters , including the new additions of Joyce Byers , Steve Harrington , and Billy Hargrove . The story is also even longer , taking roughly 15 60 minutes to finish , and is found on all eight installment of the third season , replete with Modern , exclusive side quests that branch off from the television set show ’s story .

Related : Stranger Things ' Vecna Identity , Powers & Origin Fully explain

11. Stranger Things Summer Special #1

The latestStranger Thingsrelease to date is actually determine during season 3 . The summer special one - shaft take after some familiar but often - drop faces from theStranger ThingsTV universe : Hawkins police officer Powell and Callahan , who are often have alongside Hopper . Their comic book differentiate the level of the two officer during the events ofStranger Thingsseason 3 , including the fire at the Starcourt Mall .

12. Erica The Great

Erica the Greatis prepare betweenseasons 3 and 4 ofStranger Thingsand centers on Lucas ’s little sister Erica Sinclair , who was introduced in time of year 2 . This in writing novel follow Erica as she help a frenemy track down her mother ’s lost parakeet . Although it ’s not directly link up to theStranger Thingsfull timeline , it makes for an enjoyable and blithe gain .

13. Kamchatka

Stranger Things : Kamchatkais a four - issue comic miniseries from Dark Horse comics that bid more context about the Russian prison Hopper is trapped in during time of year 4 . It ’s unclear when precisely in theStranger Thingsfull timelineKamchatkais readiness , but the news report does directly define up the season 3 close . The level surveil a Russian scientist who is hale into weaponizing a Demogorgon transport from the U.S. , and whose children are desperately searching to recover him .

14. Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1

The first to be split into two parts , Stranger Thingsseason 4kicked off in May of 2022 with volume 1 , which check a total of seven episodes . Bigger , darker , and longer than every otherStranger Thingsseason , it also for the most part redeemed season 3 ’s shortcomings with its well - actualize stakes and more effective pacing and role development . Stranger Thingsseason 4 volume 1 is set in March of 1986 , eight months after the result of season 3 . It introduced the Upside Down ’s first mechanical man threat , Vecna , brought back Dr. Brenner , and explored Eleven ’s backstory at the Hawkins Lab in much greater item through flashbacks .

Related : Stranger thing : Biggest Unanswered Questions & Mysteries After time of year 4

15. Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2

Stranger Thingsseason 4 ’s two - instalment finale provided plenty of shocking present moment and twists , dramatically and effectively set up up time of year 5 . With Max left in critical condition , Vecna still live , and the intact town of Hawkins seemingly sink into the ground , there are plenty of light threads left afterStranger Thingsseason 4 volume 2 ’s ending . After redeeming itself with a well - paced part 1,Stranger Thingsseems to have murder it out of the park ( at long last ) with its time of year 4 stopping point .

16. Stranger Things Season 5

A spillage date forStranger Thingsseason 5 has yet to be denote , but the Duffer Brothers have affirm that it will be the final time of year . It ’s also unknown when the serial stopping point will take topographic point , but founder the cliffhangers set up by the time of year 4 close , it ’s potential not much metre will pass in the earthly concern of the story . As forStranger Thingsseason 5 ’s story itself , expect a unmediated continuation ofVecna attack Hawkinsas the township shinny to readapt to life sentence after the Upside - Down ’s penetration .

Stranger Things Expanded Universe: Release Order

It ’s one thing to watch over the effort of the burgeoningStranger ThingsExpanded Universe in narrative lodge , arranging the various chapters for maximal storytelling dramatics ; it ’s quite another to survey the ever - unfolding mythology in release rescript , allowing looker to track each new storytelling wrinkle in real - metre .