Stranger Things Theories

For the season finale, Kyle and Mikey talk about media—-movies, shows, books, games, etc—-they can't stop returning to. From the best seasons of The Simpsons to the Hitman video games, this is a big ol' love fest. And, yes, even Die Hard and A Christmas Carol. Tis the season, after all.

With 2025 winding down, rather than rehashing what we've already talked about, we're looking ahead to things we haven't seen yet. Kyle welcomes Ro and Eric to talk about movies and TV shows—both new and returning—they're most excited for in 2026. Supergirl, The Rings of Power (we hope), and a new Resident Evil all get a shout.

As we kick off December, Kyle welcomes author and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse who has followed her essential folk horror documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, with a classic-style ghost story, The Occupant of the Room (now on Shudder). Kyle and Kier-La discuss making the short, adapting Algernon Blackwood, and why the holiday season is perfect for spookiness.

Once again, Kyle welcomes back Head Over Feels cofounder Sage Young to talk about The X-Files. This time, it's the end of the original era, with seasons 7, 8, and 9. Agent Doggett fans, let's hear from ya!

This week, Kyle welcomes an honest-to-goodness Gen Zer, Nerdist editorial intern Sarah Campbell, to discuss Stranger Things ahead of its final season. They talk about Sarah's current rewatch, what worked and didn't about the previous seasons, as well as wild internet theories for season 5 and place odds on who's gonna die. Not one mention of Eggos, though.

This week, Kyle welcomes back friend of the show Hector Navarro to take a look at the state of big comic book movies at the moment. 2025 had plenty of offerings, but none made the kind of money they once did. So what does that mean for next year? Does Avengers: Doomsday have a chance to break $1 billion? What about Supergirl?

This week, Kyle welcomes back Adam Murray to discuss another weird '90s movie from their childhood. This time it's arguably (although who would argue) the first actually good video game movie, 1995's Mortal Kombat. Why did it work? Does it hold up 30 years later? And where does it fall in the canon of video game flicks?

For the final episode of this spooky season, Kyle welcomes back Eric and Mikey to discuss the classic Universal Monsters movies. Eric and Kyle are big fans; Mikey has never seen a single one...until now! How well do these nearly 100-year-old movies fare to a brand new viewer in 2025? Is there a reason Halloween can't get enough of them? 

This week, Kyle welcomes back Lindsey Romain to talk about why and how horror media can be comforting and what specifically they look for in cozy horror watches. Get those pencils ready to write down the metric ton of titles they mention!

Kyle has some conflicted feelings about Peacemaker season 2, which just wrapped up on HBO Max. Joining him to parse out his thoughts is Popverse staff writer and friend of the show Jules Chin Greene. They also discuss the future of the DCU and the hopes for what's next.