Netflix’s hit science-fiction/horror series Stranger Things has become just the pop culture phenomenon the streaming giant needed to propel itself into its current industry-defining status. The premiere of Stranger Things was singularly responsible for a massive subscriber boost last year, and the highly-anticipated second season is expected to be just as successful as the first, if not more. In the build-up to October’s release of season two, series creators and twin brothers Ross and Matt Duffer have been making the rounds to discuss what Stranger Things has in store for the future. In a development that’s sure to excite fans, the Duffer brothers have hinted that the upcoming second season of Stranger Things will be far from the last.
In an exclusive interview with Vulture, the brothers confirmed that the hit series will in fact return for a third season, and likely a fourth. Ross says that the brothers want to make each new Stranger Things story more epic than the first, setting the bar high for future seasons. “If you have a successful movie, No. 2 is always a little bit bigger,” Ross told Vulture, “We’re thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out.” Still, Ross stated that the brothers prefer not to think of each season of Stranger Things in terms of typical television seasons, but rather as individual long-form films. “I don’t want to call it season two, I just want it to feel like a movie sequel,” Ross says.
It’s unlikely the series could go beyond four seasons – at least with the original cast intact. The series’ cast of child heroes is aging, both in the story and in real life. After four seasons, the characters will be college-aged and writing them into plots set in the characters’ hometown of Hawkins, Indiana could prove difficult. Even conceiving of four separate nightmare-inducing storylines is hard enough. “We just have to keep adjusting the story,” Matt says, “Though I don’t know if we can justify something bad happening to them once a year.”
Season two of Stranger Things premieres on Netflix on October 27.
