Tbh I wouldn't mind a spinoff about Joyce's Aunt Darlene...
ETA: I want to clarify that I share the franchise fatigue of many on this sub!! The only reason I'm pitching this is because it seems safe in the sense that it's far enough away from the main storyline and if Netflix is gonna milk the IP anyway, I may as well pitch something I'd be interested in watching XD
Idk if anyone's already thought of this but it could be a way for Netflix to lowkey stay connected to the OG storyline (if unrelated spinoffs don't generate the same hype) without touching the OG characters or contradicting the epilogue (personally I agree with the Duffers' stance on no direct spinoffs but that's irrelevant to this post haha)...
Remember in season 1 when Lonnie basically called Joyce crazy or implied she was like Schizophrenic with that throwaway line "remember your aunt Darlene?"
So the idea is it'd be set during the Great Depression (since Joyce was born in the early 1940s, her aunt might've been a teenager in the 20s-30s). Maybe Aunt Darlene ended up in Pennhurst Asylum because she encountered some freaky shit and ofc nobody believed her, and the story kinda adds to Joyce's family lore it could have parallels between Joyce and her Aunt Darlene, and if it's not too "on the nose" they should cast the actress who played Young Joyce in the 1950s scenes in season 5, I think her name is Birdy.
This is just an idea and I'm not claiming full credit because I kinda feel like I can't be the first person to think about the potential of the Aunt Darlene lore??? But yea if anyone likes this lmk...
ETA: I know Joyce said "this is NOT like that" but maybe it's revealed it WAS like that but it was covered up or something??? Like even her family down to Joyce all assumed Aunt Darlene was just crazy but maybe she wasn't. And the weird stuff in Hawkins didn't actually start with Henry Creel, he was just part of it. Idk hahaha