Stranger Things: Tales From '85 is set to reunite us with Eleven, Will, and co as it fills us in on what the youngsters got up to between the winter-themed Snow Ball and the opening of Starcourt Mall. All in animated form, too.
It'll also introduce us to Hawkins' newest new kid: Nikki Baxter...
Now, it's fair to say that fans have been a little dubious as to Nikki's involvement so far. She's got a super alternative look that many – read: those who seem to have forgotten Eddie Munson already – argue doesn't fit in with the show's small-town aesthetic and we know that The Party isn't still hanging out with her in season 3, since it takes place 5 months beforehand. So she's either a baddie or... well, she'll die?
We won't spoil that here, but when we sat down with showrunner Eric Robles recently, he couldn't hide his fondness for the pink-haired punk. "I really fell in love with this idea of Nikki in those early days with the Duffer Brothers," he tells GamesRadar+. "One of the things that they do so well is introduce new characters to the show and at first we're all like, 'Oh, I don't know about this Max character… Are they bringing a girl into this?' And then we end up being like, 'We need Max!', right? Same with Robin, with Eddie. When we were talking about it, we're like, 'Well, if this a DnD party, then they're missing the barbarian, right? They need the barbarian. "
In the 10-episode spin-off, which Robles would prefer you not to refer to as a 'Saturday morning cartoon', Nikki (voiced by /Until Dawn's Odessa A'zion) strikes up a fast friendship with Will (Ben Plessala) after she defends him from a school bully. She overhears the kid that's picking on him call him 'Zombie Boy' and since she's fresh to the school and has no idea where that stems from, she innocently thinks it's a rad moniker – and encourages Will to embrace it.
"When we were talking about what she could bring to the table, we realized that Will really has gone through a lot but he hasn't got anybody to really talk to, right?" adds Robles. "Mike is caught up in the relationship with El right now. Lucas and Max are dealing with their own drama at the same time and Dustin's out for the next big adventure, right?
"There just wasn't somebody that Will could really connect to in that way. So we liked the idea of bringing somebody in who's never gonna judge [him], and just look at him like, 'Zombie Boy is an awesome nickname. Are you kidding me? Own that, dude'. That idea of somebody giving him that strength was really great and allowed us to give him someone to talk to and grow from."
Robles concludes by suggesting that Nikki is retroactively "the catalyst" for Will stepping into himself in Stranger Things' later seasons – and finding the strength to stand up to big bad Vecna. "He really evolved and we're just hoping that a little bit of that came about because Nikki was in his life," he smiles. Cute, or what?
Stranger Things: Tales From '85 premieres on April 23. While we wait, check out our picks of the best Netflix shows for some watchlist inspiration.
