What Happens To Nikki From Stranger Things: Tales From '85? The Character's Fate, Explained

Contains spoilers for "Stranger Things: Tales from '85" Season 1, Episode 10 — "Chapter 10: Countdown"

Things get very hairy for Nikki Baxter (Odessa A'zion, known for playing Joey Del Marco in "Grand Army") at the tail end of "Stranger Things: Tales from '85," but, thankfully, both she and her plant-loving mom Anna (Janeane Garofalo) survive "Chapter 10: Countdown." The majority of the season concentrates on the search for Horde Prime, the name Dustin (Braxton Quinney) gives to the puppeteer behind the hive-minded vegetable creatures which keep attacking, consuming, and then holding their teachers and friends hostage as host bodies.

Dustin initially suspects Anna, but the real culprit turns out to be Daniel Fischer (Lou Diamond Phillips), a local grocery store clerk who's gotten close to the science teacher in recent weeks. Having stolen Anna's research, Daniel was able to produce a serum that resurrected one of the pumpkin-headed monsters as the plague queen. Though he claims his queen is docile, she ends up swallowing him alive. A battle ultimately ensues, with our favorite gang of monster hunters emerging victorious and restoring normality, leaving the creatures to rot far under the streets of Hawkins.

Interestingly, Nikki does not leave Indiana at the end of the episode. Instead, she and her mom decide to stick around permanently, ending a years-long pattern of brief teaching outposts for Anna and fleeting friendships for Nikki. The Party welcomes her into their Dungeons and Dragons group officially, giving her a handmade miniature crafted to look just like her. It's a sweet conclusion to the story, but it raises some questions about "Stranger Things" itself.

It's great seeing Nikki welcomed into the friendship circle at the end of "Stranger Things: Tales from '85," but it leaves viewers to wonder why she was absent from the "Stranger Things" timeline after that. Given what they all went through together in "Tales from '85," you would think that she'd be part of the team going forward, but she's nowhere to be seen as the gang uncover more secrets about the Upside Down and eventually face off against Vecna (played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who looks very different in real life).

Does that make her existence a big plot hole? Or might she show up in a future project that explains her absence? It seems odd that they would have her become part of the group only to seemingly vanish. Perhaps she'll resurface in her own play like Henry Creel did in "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," or maybe we'll get another animated series focused entirely on her. We'll have to wait and see. For now, fans can take comfort in the fact that she makes it through "Tales from '85" alive and well.