96-604: Stranger Things is an American television series created by the Duffer Brothers for Netflix . Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment , the first season was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016. The second and third seasons followed in October 2017 and July 2019, respectively, and the fourth season was released in two parts in May and July 2022. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things
192-642: A "lot of heated arguments" over this final title. To pitch the series, the Duffer Brothers showcased images, footage and music from classic 1970s and 1980s films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Poltergeist , Hellraiser , Stand by Me , Firestarter , A Nightmare on Elm Street and Jaws , in order to establish the tone of the series. The idea of Stranger Things started with how
288-552: A body double for Nancy was present. Chelsea Talmadge, who portrays the recurring character Carol, was also present. None of the new cast members were spotted, but the names Max and Billy were seen on the cast trailers, implying that newcomers Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery were present that day. By early April, the final two episodes had commenced filming, shooting scenes in Woodland, Georgia seen previously in Season 1. Filming for
384-479: A chance. The brothers started casting and brought Levy and Cohen in as the other executive producers to discuss storylines, with Levy also directing for the show. Montauk is an eight-hour sci-fi horror epic. Set in Long Island in 1980 and inspired by the supernatural classics of that era, we explore the crossroads where the ordinary meet the extraordinary...emotional, cinematic and rooted in character, Montauk
480-584: A gateway between Earth and the Upside Down. The ensemble cast includes Winona Ryder , David Harbour , Finn Wolfhard , Millie Bobby Brown , Gaten Matarazzo , Caleb McLaughlin , Natalia Dyer , Charlie Heaton , Cara Buono , Matthew Modine , Noah Schnapp , Sadie Sink , Joe Keery , Dacre Montgomery , Sean Astin , Paul Reiser , Maya Hawke , Priah Ferguson , Brett Gelman , Jamie Campbell Bower , Eduardo Franco , Joseph Quinn , and Amybeth McNulty . The Duffer Brothers developed Stranger Things as
576-488: A horror film as soon as the monster was introduced and abandon the characterization. Within the eight episodes, the brothers aimed to make the first season "feel like a big movie" with all the major plot lines completed so that "the audience feels satisfied", but left enough unresolved to indicate "there's a bigger mythology, and there's a lot of dangling threads at the end", something that could be explored in further seasons if Netflix opted to create more. Regarding writing for
672-450: A lot" of how the titles related to the plot of the season. In early October 2017, the Duffer Brothers revealed the final titles for the first six episodes of the season. In October 2016, it was announced that Schnapp and Keery had been promoted to the main cast for the second season, after each recurring in the first season, and that Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery would join the main cast as Max and Billy, respectively. In order to get
768-458: A missing Eleven , must join forces to contain the threat. With the critical and viewership success of Stranger Things after its first season 's release in July 2016, speculation on a possible second season was raised. The Duffer Brothers initially intended for Stranger Things to either be a standalone miniseries or an anthology series . They also considered the possibility of setting
864-406: A mix of investigative drama and supernatural elements portrayed with horror and childlike sensibilities, while infusing references to the popular culture of the 1980s. Several thematic and directorial elements were inspired by the works of Steven Spielberg , John Carpenter , David Lynch , Stephen King , Wes Craven and H. P. Lovecraft . They also took inspiration from experiments conducted during
960-428: A new title for the series under direction from Netflix's Ted Sarandos so that they could start marketing it to the public. The brothers started by using a copy of Stephen King's Firestarter novel to consider the title's font and appearance, and came up with a long list of potential alternatives. Stranger Things came about as it sounded similar to another King novel, Needful Things , though Matt noted they still had
1056-433: A nostalgic sweetness against a growing horror that's all the more effective thanks to the show's full-bodied characters and evocative tone." On Metacritic, the second season has a normalized score of 78 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In a review for Rolling Stone , journalist David Fear praised the second season's character development, going so far as to say it shined more than
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#17327936504021152-533: A part-time real estate broker, and Allen P. Duffer Jr., a film buff and Research Triangle Institute Project Director. They began making films in the third grade, using a Hi8 video camera that was a gift from their parents. They attended the Duke School for Children from grades K-8, a private suburban school, and then the Charles E. Jordan High School , a large Durham public school. They were accepted at
1248-462: A pool party that Steve, Nancy, and Barbara are holding. The writers stated that "no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited", including this scene. The first season of Stranger Things was released on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack exclusively to Target retailers on October 17, 2017, and the same for the 4K/Blu-ray combo pack on November 15, 2017, both of which includes vintage CBS-FOX VHS-inspired packaging. The second season received
1344-435: A potential second season (which they referred to as a "sequel") in the early 1990s and featuring an older version of the characters, along with all-new characters, who are drawn back to Hawkins after supernatural events begin occurring again. However, following the release of the first season, they realized that the likability of the characters – especially the children – was key to the series' success, and they decided to set
1440-444: A similar release on November 6, 2018. Netflix did not initially reveal subscriber viewership numbers for their original series, and Symphony Technology Group compiled data for the season based on people using software on their phones that measures television viewing by detecting a program's sound. According to Symphony, within the first 35 days of release, Stranger Things averaged ratings of around 14.07 million adults between
1536-402: A twist". Reiser's son was a fan of Stranger Things , and gave his father an early appreciation of the series so that when the production called his agent about the role, Reiser was excited for the part. Joining them in recurring roles are Linnea Berthelsen as Kali / Eight and Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman. In the first week of November 2016, table reads for the season started. The season
1632-491: Is a love letter to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King – a marriage of human drama and supernatural fear. — The Duffer Brothers' original pitch for Montauk The series was originally known as Montauk . The setting was then Montauk, New York , and nearby Long Island locations. Montauk figured into a number of real world conspiracy theories involving secret government experiments . The brothers had chosen Montauk as it had further Spielberg ties with
1728-434: Is expected to be released in 2025. The show is known for its cast of characters, plot, nostalgic tones, and mix of the horror , drama , science-fiction , mystery , and coming-of-age genres. Set in the 1980s, the series centers on the residents of the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana , as they are plagued by a hostile alternate dimension known as the Upside Down, after a nearby human experimentation facility opens
1824-399: Is in an overall deal with Netflix . They are identical twin brothers and have had a close relationship since childhood. They work on all their projects as a pair. After the brothers had written and directed several short films, their script for the post-apocalyptic horror film Hidden was acquired by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2011. The brothers would go on to direct Hidden , which
1920-498: Is in development. Stranger Things is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana , in the 1980s. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy but also secretly experiments with the paranormal and supernatural, sometimes with human test subjects. They have inadvertently created a portal to an alternate dimension they refer to as
2016-405: Is set eleven months later, in October 1984. Will has been rescued, but he begins having premonitions of the fall of Hawkins caused by a creature in the Upside Down. When it is discovered that Will is still being possessed by an entity from the Upside Down, his friends and family learn that there is a larger threat to their world. The third season is set nine months later, in the days leading up to
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#17327936504022112-1069: Is the godmother. Stranger Things season 2 The second season of the science fiction television series Stranger Things , marketed as Stranger Things 2 , was released worldwide on the streaming service Netflix on October 27, 2017. The series was created by the Duffer Brothers , who also serve as executive producers along with Shawn Levy , Dan Cohen and Iain Paterson. This season stars Winona Ryder , David Harbour , Finn Wolfhard , Millie Bobby Brown , Gaten Matarazzo , Caleb McLaughlin , Noah Schnapp , Sadie Sink , Natalia Dyer , Charlie Heaton , Joe Keery , Dacre Montgomery , Cara Buono , Sean Astin and Paul Reiser . Brett Gelman , Linnea Berthelsen , Matthew Modine , and Priah Ferguson also appear in recurring roles. The season received highly positive reviews, particularly for its story, character development, production values, visual effects, performances (particularly those of Harbour, Brown, Schnapp, Keery, and Astin), and darker tone compared to
2208-570: The COVID-19 pandemic . Production resumed in September 2020. Filming of the fifth season of Stranger Things was expected to start filming in June 2023, according to David Harbour . The Duffer Brothers stated over Twitter that the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike has delayed filming for the fifth and final season. To create the aged effect for the series, a film grain was added over
2304-534: The Cold War and conspiracy theories involving secret government programs. One of Netflix's flagship series, Stranger Things has attracted record viewership on the streaming platform. It has been received positively for its characterization, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to 1980s films. It has received numerous nominations and awards . An animated spin-off series, developed by Eric Robles and produced by Flying Bark Productions ,
2400-587: The Duffer Brothers , are both American film and television writers, directors, and producers. Best known as the creators, directors, and executive producers of the Netflix science fiction horror drama series Stranger Things , they also wrote and directed the 2015 psychological horror film Hidden and wrote and produced episodes for the Fox mystery -science fiction series Wayward Pines . They established their own production company Upside Down Pictures, which
2496-660: The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts , but were not willing to be educated separately. They toured New York University Tisch School of the Arts Department of Cinema Studies and USC School of Cinematic Arts but were not accepted, but someone they met introduced them to someone, who suggested Chapman University 's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts for film study and they relocated to Orange, California , where they graduated in 2007. Matt has one child; Winona Ryder
2592-480: The Fourth of July celebration in 1985. The new Starcourt Mall has become the center of attention for Hawkins residents, putting the majority of other local stores out of business due to the mall's popularity. Hopper becomes increasingly concerned about Eleven and Mike Wheeler's relationship and becomes very protective of his daughter. Unbeknownst to the town, a secret Soviet laboratory underneath Starcourt seeks to open
2688-616: The 1980s, to develop the appropriate filters for the rendering software. The individual episode title cards used a "fly through" approach, similar to the film Bullitt , which the producers had suggested to the studio. Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band Survive have composed the original soundtrack for the show, including the show's theme song. It makes extensive use of synthesizers in homage to 1980s artists and film composers including Jean-Michel Jarre , Tangerine Dream , Vangelis , Goblin , John Carpenter , Giorgio Moroder , and Fabio Frizzi . According to Stein and Dixon,
2784-559: The Bangles , Foreigner , Bon Jovi , The Police , Echo and the Bunnymen , Peter Gabriel , and Corey Hart , as well as excerpts from Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, and Vangelis. Some songs have been used as narrative elements, such as The Clash 's " Should I Stay or Should I Go " within the first season, and Kate Bush 's " Running Up That Hill " in the fourth. Some of these licensed songs saw subsequent resurgence on sales charts after
2880-501: The Black Rainbow and D.A.R.Y.L. , discovered by reviewing fan feedback on the series. Several websites and publications have found other pop culture references in the series, particularly references to 1980s pop culture. The main villain for the last seasons was inspired by the villains that scared the brothers when they watched the movies and miniseries as children: Freddy Krueger , Pinhead and Pennywise . With Netflix as
2976-481: The Duffer Brothers had been fans of Survive's music since the 2014 film The Guest . Once the series was green-lit, the Duffer Brothers contacted Survive around July 2015 to ask if they were still doing music; the two provided the production team with dozens of songs from their band's past to gain their interest, helping to land them the role. In addition to original music, Stranger Things features period music from artists including Joy Division , Toto , New Order ,
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3072-549: The Duffers for additional films and television shows over the coming years. In March 2021, the duo announced they will team up with Spielberg to adapt Stephen King's and Peter Straub 's The Talisman as a Netflix series. They will both be executive producers via Amblin Partners and Monkey Massacre and have hired Curtis Gwinn, who worked as a writer-executive producer on Stranger Things , to act as writer and showrunner of
3168-1061: The Hawkins National Laboratory site, Bellwood Quarry , and Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia , for the middle and high school scenes. Emory University's Continuing Education Department, the former city hall in Douglasville, Georgia , the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Georgia , the probate court in Butts County, Georgia , Old East Point Library and East Point First Baptist Church in East Point, Georgia , Fayetteville, Georgia , Stone Mountain Park, Palmetto, Georgia , and Winston, Georgia . Set work
3264-529: The Upside Down, whose presence begins to affect the residents of Hawkins in unusual ways. The first season begins in November 1983 when Will Byers is abducted by a creature from the Upside Down. His mother Joyce, Police Chief Jim Hopper, and a group of volunteers search for him. A young psychokinetic girl named Eleven escapes from the laboratory and is found by friends of Will. Eleven befriends and assists them in their efforts to find Will. The second season
3360-459: The actors' takes on the roles to reflect into the script. The casting of the young actors for Will and his friends had been done just after the first script was completed, and subsequent scripts incorporated aspects from these actors. The brothers said Modine provided significant input on the character of Dr. Brenner, whom they had not really fleshed out before as they considered him the hardest character to write for given his limited appearances within
3456-405: The actual teens who were in the audience watching it and dreaming." Linda Holmes of National Public Radio also praised the season's character development, saying in her review, "There is much to be grateful for in the work given to the returning cast. Dustin and Lucas have the opportunity to be fleshed out a bit more — which is especially welcome with Lucas, who wasn't given a lot of solo time in
3552-429: The aftershow are composed of cast and crew from the series, including the Duffer Brothers and the series' stars, to discuss the development and behind-the-scenes production of the series and its larger mythology. Unlike previous after-shows created by Embassy Row , such as Talking Dead and Talking Bad , Beyond Stranger Things is intended to be watched after a screening of the entire current season. The second season
3648-620: The ages of 18 and 49 in the United States. This made it the third most-watched season of Netflix original content in the U.S. at the time behind the first season of Fuller House and fourth season of Orange Is the New Black . In a September 2016 analysis, Netflix found that Stranger Things "hooked" viewers by the second episode of the first season, indicating that the second episode was "the first installment that led at least 70 percent of viewers who watched that episode to complete
3744-565: The area would work well with the narrative shift to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. The filming of the first season began in November 2015 and was extensively done in Atlanta, Georgia, with the Duffer Brothers and Levy handling the direction of individual episodes. Jackson served as the basis of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Other shooting locations included the Georgia Mental Health Institute as
3840-400: The brothers felt they could take the concept of the 2013 film Prisoners , detailing the moral struggles a father goes through when his daughter is kidnapped, and expand it out over eight or so hours in a serialized television approach. As they focused on the missing child aspect of the story, they wanted to introduce the idea of "childlike sensibilities" they could offer, and toyed around with
3936-454: The brothers to either make it a children's series or drop the children and focus on Hopper's investigation into the paranormal. In early 2015, Dan Cohen, the VP of 21 Laps Entertainment , brought the script to his colleague Shawn Levy . They subsequently invited the Duffer Brothers to their office and purchased the rights for the series, giving the brothers full authorship. After reading the pilot,
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4032-485: The cast as Karen, followed by Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner a month later. Additional cast who recur include Noah Schnapp as Will, Shannon Purser as Barbara "Barb" Holland, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, and Ross Partridge as Lonnie, among others. Actors auditioning for the children roles read lines from Stand by Me . The Duffer Brothers estimated they went through about a thousand different child actors for
4128-491: The children characters of the series, the Duffer Brothers considered themselves as outcasts from other students while in high school and thus found it easy to write for Mike and his friends, and particularly for Barb. Joyce was fashioned after Richard Dreyfuss ' character Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind , as she appears "absolutely bonkers" to everyone else as she tries to find Will. In June 2015, it
4224-504: The end of the first season. The brothers had wanted to avoid any computer-generated effects for the monster and other parts of the series and stay with practical effects , so they created an animatronic to play the part of the Demogorgon. However, the six-month filming time left them little time to plan out and test practical effects rigs for some of the shots. They went with a middle ground of using constructed props including one for
4320-406: The entire first season of a show". For the third season, Netflix revealed that the show had broken viewing records for Netflix, with 40.7 million households having watched the show in its first four days, and 18.2 million already watched the entire series within that timeframe. Within its first month, the third season was watched by 64 million households, setting a new record for
4416-403: The episode's production so that when they finished, they felt they were ready to produce their own television series. The Duffers prepared a script similar to the series' eventual pilot episode, along with a 20-page pitch book to help shop the series to networks. They pitched the story to about 15 cable networks, all of whom felt a plot with children as leading characters wouldn't work and asked
4512-506: The episodes. They wrote and produced their 2015 film Hidden , in which they emulated the style of M. Night Shyamalan . However, due to changes at Warner Bros. , its distributor, it did not see wide release and the Duffers were unsure of their future. To their surprise, television producer Donald De Line approached them, impressed with Hidden ' s script, and offered them the opportunity to work on episodes of Wayward Pines with Shyamalan. The brothers were mentored by Shyamalan during
4608-400: The film Jaws , where Montauk was used for the fictional setting of Amity Island. After deciding to change the narrative of the series to take place in the fictional town of Hawkins instead, the brothers felt they could now do things to the town, such as placing it under quarantine, that they really could not envision with a real location. With the change in location, they had to come up with
4704-519: The first episode titled "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club". Filming for the season was slated to begin in January 2020 and to last through August. With the release of a February 2020 teaser for the fourth season, the Duffers confirmed that production had started. Some filming for the fourth season took place at Lukiškės Prison and nearby in Vilnius , Lithuania. In March 2020, production was stopped due to
4800-400: The first season to demonstrate exactly what role he plays in what Dustin calls the "party" made up of the boys and Eleven. Perhaps the most unexpectedly successful move on this front, though, is to continue to build out Steve beyond Obstacle Boyfriend, in part by giving him some contact with people besides Nancy to work with." Holmes also expressed misgiving, noting that the narrative structure
4896-603: The footage, which was captured by scanning in film stock from the 1980s. The Duffer Brothers wanted to scare the audience, but not to necessarily make the series violent or gory, following in line with how the 1980s Amblin Entertainment films drove the creation of the PG-13 movie rating . They said such films were "much more about mood and atmosphere and suspense and dread than they are about gore", though they were not afraid to push into more scary elements, particularly towards
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#17327936504024992-665: The gateway to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer uses mind control to make Billy do his bidding. The fourth season is set eight months later, in March 1986. Joyce, Will, Eleven, and Jonathan have moved to Lenora, California for a fresh start. In California, Eleven struggles with the loss of her powers and being bullied in school. Meanwhile, in Hawkins, a being from the Upside Down—an entity later dubbed Vecna—begins killing
5088-488: The idea of a monster that could consume humans. The brothers thought the combination of these things "was the best thing ever". To introduce this monster into the narrative, they considered "bizarre experiments we had read about taking place in the Cold War" such as Project MKUltra , which gave a way to ground the monster's existence in science rather than something spiritual. This also helped them to decide on using 1983 as
5184-474: The monster whenever they could, but for other shots, such as when the monster bursts through a wall, they opted to use digital effects. Post-production on the first season was completed the week before it was released to Netflix. The title sequence uses closeups of the letters in the Stranger Things title with a red tint against a black background as they slide into place within the title. The sequence
5280-649: The most-watched original Netflix series. The series is the most followed TV show on social media app TV Time ' s history, with over 5 million followers. Rotten Tomatoes gave the show an overall score of 92%, while Metacritic gave the show an overall score of 74. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season an approval rating of 97% based on 92 reviews and a weighted average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary, Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage 1980s television ." The New York Times has compared
5376-650: The narrative. The brothers had desired to film the series around the Long Island area to match the initial Montauk concept. However, with filming scheduled to take place in November 2015, it was difficult to shoot in Long Island in the cold weather, and the production started scouting locations in and around the Atlanta , Georgia, area. The brothers, who grew up in North Carolina, found many places that reminded them of their own childhoods in that area, and felt
5472-561: The narrative: "...By the time you get to the John Hughes finale, in which the school's winter dance ties up numerous loose ends, you realize that Stranger Things 2 has not only been crafting a story about kids fumbling through and finding their way into young adulthood, but that those parts feel more interesting than any Upside Down, et al. shenanigans ... if the second season has anything on the first, it's that these characters now feel less like they stepped out of E.T. outtakes and more like
5568-449: The platform, the Duffer Brothers were not limited to a typical 22-episode format, opting for the eight-episode approach. They had been concerned that a 22-episode season on broadcast television would be difficult to "tell a cinematic story" with that many episodes. Eight episodes allowed them to give time to characterization in addition to narrative development; if they had less time available, they would have had to remain committed to telling
5664-526: The previous season, but criticized the Lost Sister plotline. In the fall of 1984, one year after his disappearance, Will Byers finds himself the target of the Upside Down as a large tentacled entity called the "Mind Flayer" possesses him and "Demogorgon dogs" or "Demodogs" terrorize the citizens of Hawkins. Will's family and friends alongside Jim Hopper , Mike's sister Nancy , Nancy's boyfriend Steve Harrington , Californian newcomer Max Mayfield and
5760-736: The producers had faith she could pull off the difficult role. The Duffer Brothers had been interested in Harbour before, who until Stranger Things primarily had smaller roles as villainous characters, and they felt that he had been "waiting too long for this opportunity" to play a lead, while Harbour himself was thrilled by the script and the chance to play "a broken, flawed, anti-hero character". Additional casting followed two months later with Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Millie Bobby Brown in an undisclosed role, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan. In September 2015, Cara Buono joined
5856-430: The project. Following the premiere of the fourth season of Stranger Things in July 2022, the Duffers launched the production company Upside Down Pictures, for which they recommitted to Netflix with several new projects. Among these include a live-action series adaptation of Death Note and a series adaptation of The Talisman , in addition to their follow-up series to Stranger Things . In October 2023, Ross Duffer
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#17327936504025952-563: The residents of Hawkins, opening new gates between the two worlds in the process. Planning to stop Vecna, Dr. Sam Owens takes Eleven to a facility to help her regain her powers. Simultaneously, Joyce and Murray Bauman fly to Russia to rescue Hopper from the Gulag in Kamchatka . Stranger Things was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the Duffer Brothers , who also serve as showrunners and head writers and direct many of
6048-596: The respective seasons of Stranger Things aired, notably "Running Up That Hill" and Metallica 's " Master of Puppets " from the fourth season, and Limahl 's " The NeverEnding Story " from the third season. Soundtracks containing separately the original compositions and the licensed music for each season have been released by Lakeshore Records . The first season consisted of eight one-hour-long episodes which were released worldwide on Netflix on July 15, 2016, in Ultra HD 4K . The second season, consisting of nine episodes,
6144-500: The role, Sink told to the crew while auditioning that she knew about rollerblading and skateboarding ; Sink actually knew how to do the latter but not the former, reflecting years later during an appearance in Jimmy Kimmel Live why did she think lying would help her nail the part as the two things weren't quite the same as she thought. Ryder, Harbour, Wolfhard, Brown, Matarazzo, McLaughlin, Dyer and Heaton also return for
6240-429: The roles. They noted that Wolfhard was already "a movie buff" of the films from the 1980s period and easily filled the role, while they found Matarazzo's audition to be much more authentic than most of the other audition tapes, and selected him after a single viewing of his audition tape. As casting was started immediately after Netflix greenlit the show, and prior to the scripts being fully completed, this allowed some of
6336-431: The same name , which Dan Cohen eventually brought to Shawn Levy . Backed by Levy's 21 Laps production company, the show was quickly picked up by Netflix . The show is set in 1980s Indiana and is an homage to 1980s pop culture , inspired and aesthetically informed by the works of Steven Spielberg , John Carpenter , Wes Craven , Sam Raimi , David Lynch , Stephen King , and George Lucas , among others. It
6432-428: The season in the announcement teaser in order "to provide some hint of where we were going in season two without giving anything away," Matt Duffer stated that some of the titles would change since there were some things "we didn't want to put on there because we felt like it would give too much away," and because "people are smart on the fucking internet" with fan-created "videos analyzing the chapter titles... right on
6528-510: The season officially wrapped on June 3, 2017. The soundtrack album for the second season was released digitally on October 20, 2017, via Lakeshore and Invada Records. The soundtrack was composed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the electronic band Survive . On the soundtrack's composition, Dixon and Stein together said that the score for the season introduces "new styles of composition, while still revisiting old themes when appropriate ... We've created new elements that are necessary to support
6624-479: The season that took place on that day. The Duffers said in an interview that they could rectify the matter by changing its month, which they called "George Lucas-ing the situation", in reference to the canon changes that George Lucas had made to the original Star Wars trilogy to match what the prequel trilogy had added. Some viewers took this to imply that scenes from earlier seasons were also being edited, including one scene where Jonathan takes discreet pictures of
6720-517: The season. Sean Astin as Bob Newby and Paul Reiser as Sam Owens are also part of the main cast in the season. For Owens, The Duffer Brothers had referred to the character in their pitch to Netflix for the season as "Paul Reiser", and specifically alluded to Reiser's character Carter J. Burke in Aliens , with Ross referencing James Cameron 's casting choice for that film, saying, "[Cameron] thought people would inherently trust [Reiser] and it would be
6816-471: The second season in 1984 and focus on the same characters. By the end of July, the Duffer Brothers had outlined a plan for such a season if it was green-lit , and Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings said in early August that the company "would be dumb not to" renew Stranger Things for a second season. On August 31, 2016, Netflix announced it had renewed Stranger Things for a second season of nine episodes, to be released in 2017. The Duffer Brothers revealed that
6912-445: The second season should be treated more like a sequel rather than a continuation, and thus opted to call the second Stranger Things 2 . This approach had some trepidation from Netflix, since the company felt movie sequels typically have a bad reputation, but the Duffer Brothers pointed out that there had been many successful sequels that surpassed the original film, and felt confident with this name. Despite revealing episode titles for
7008-436: The series and come back with more input. Initially they had been working with various fonts for the title and used close-ups of the best features of these fonts, but near the end the producers wanted to work with ITC Benguiat , requiring them to rework those shots. The final sequence is fully computer generated, but they took inspiration from testing some practical effects, such as using Kodalith masks as would have been done in
7104-504: The series had been renewed for a second season before the first was released. Regarding the decision to wait more than a month after the first season was released to announce the renewal, Matt Duffer said, "it actually ended up working because it had built up to this fever pitch. I guess that's what [Netflix] were intending to do all the time." The success of the first season led the Duffers to let their writers' room propose any idea they could come up with out of desperation for ways to expand
7200-417: The show to Rob Reiner's Stand by Me , relating their nostalgic feel by "...finding that timeless moment where everything seemed tantalizingly, scarily new." Review aggregator Metacritic gave the first season a normalized score of 74 out of 100 based on 142 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Duffer brothers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer (born February 15, 1984), often credited as
7296-530: The show. However, Ross Duffer stated in the WGFestival 2022 that thanks to the writers proposing more ideas than necessary, they were forced to drop some. Several of the unused ideas for the season were later included in the fifth and final season . The Duffer Brothers wrote the second season to make the combined first and second season feel like a complete work, but set elements in place to go forward with additional seasons if they were green-lit. While most of
7392-526: The story for the second season had been decided before the first season aired, the Duffer Brothers took in the audience reactions from the first season to adjust some of the details within the second season. They knew they would not have the same element of audience surprise as when the series aired anew and were aware fans wanted to see certain elements, but Ross said "...the point is not to give everyone what they think they want. Because I don't think they really know what they want." The Duffer Brothers felt that
7488-468: The story, but still want to remain true to the sound of Season 1." The first track from the soundtrack, "Walkin' in Hawkins", was released on October 12. As was customary with the first season, the second season utilized period music primarily from the 1980s to evoke a sense of nostalgia amongst viewers while further solidifying the story's setting. In all, over fifty pieces of music were used for Stranger Things 2 , with release dates spanning from 1936 all
7584-522: The streaming service Netflix purchased the whole season for an undisclosed sum, and in April of the same year, the series was announced for a 2016 release. The Duffer Brothers stated that at the time they pitched to Netflix the company had already been recognized for its original programming in shows such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black , with well-recognized producers behind them, and were ready to start giving upcoming producers like them
7680-837: The time period, as it was a year before the film Red Dawn came out, which focused on Cold War paranoia. Subsequently, they were able to use all their own personal inspirations from the 1980s, the decade in which they were born, as elements of the series, crafting it in the realm of science fiction and horror . Other influences cited by the Duffer Brothers include: Stephen King novels; films produced by Steven Spielberg , John Carpenter , David Lynch , Wes Craven , and Guillermo del Toro ; films such as Star Wars , Alien , and Stand by Me ; Japanese anime such as Akira and Elfen Lied ; and several video games including Silent Hill , Dark Souls and The Last of Us . The Duffer Brothers believe that they may have brought influences from other works unintentionally, including Beyond
7776-404: The title credits of several 1980s films. Various iterations included having letters vanish, to reflect the "missing" theme of the series, and having letters cast shadows on others, alluding to the mysteries, before settling into the sliding letters. The studio began working on the title sequence before filming, and took about a month off during the filming process to let the producers get immersed in
7872-475: The titles, as well as the various book covers from King and other authors that they had used to establish the title and imagery, and were looking for a similar approach for the series' titles, primarily using a typographical sequence. They took inspiration from several title sequences of works from the 1980s that were previously designed by Richard Greenberg under R/GA, such as Altered States and The Dead Zone . They also got input from Dan Perri, who worked on
7968-420: The viewing behavior and activity of the company's U.S. members, factoring in the relative number of U.S. Netflix viewers who watched at least one episode of the season. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 94% based on 151 reviews and an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus states, " Stranger Things ' slow-building sophomore season balances moments of humor and
8064-434: The way until 1985. The second season, which consisted of nine one-hour-long episodes, was released worldwide on Netflix on October 27, 2017, in Ultra HD 4K and HDR. A teaser for the second season, which also announced the release date, aired during Super Bowl LI . With the release of the second season of the series, Netflix also released Beyond Stranger Things , an aftershow hosted by Jim Rash . The guests of
8160-516: The world in 2017 and is included in the 2019 edition of Guinness World Records . In August 2017, the marketing analytics firm Jumpshot determined the season was the seventh-most viewed Netflix season in the first 30 days after it was released, garnering slightly more than 20% of the viewers that the second season of Daredevil received, which was the most viewed season according to Jumpshot. Jumpshot, which "analyzes click-stream data from an online panel of more than 100 million consumers", looked at
8256-448: Was announced that Winona Ryder and David Harbour had joined the series as Joyce and as the unnamed chief of police, respectively. Ryder's sole condition to the Duffers in accepting the part was that, if a Beetlejuice sequel ever materialized as she and Tim Burton had been discussing since 2000, they had to let her take a break to shoot it, a condition the Duffers agreed and ultimately proved to work out when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
8352-413: Was at times copying from the first season's plot line, but overall found this iteration to be enjoyable despite its shortcomings. One of the most notable impacts of the series has been an increased demand for Eggo waffles, as they are shown to be Eleven's favorite food in several episodes and are seen as a representation of the series. The Kellogg Company , which manufactures Eggo, had not been part of
8448-405: Was created by the studio Imaginary Forces, formerly part of R/GA , led by creative director Michelle Doughtey. Levy introduced the studio to the Duffer Brothers, who explained their vision of the 1980s-inspired series, which helped the studio to fix the concept the producers wanted. Later, but prior to filming, the producers sent Imaginary Forces the pilot script, the synth-heavy background music for
8544-489: Was done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta and the series was filmed with a RED Dragon camera. Filming for the first season concluded in early 2016. After the third season finished filming, producers considered the idea of keeping the Starcourt Mall set as a permanent attraction for fans to visit, but ultimately decided against it. The fourth season of Stranger Things was expected to consist of eight episodes, with
8640-484: Was greenlighted. The brothers' casting director Carmen Cuba had suggested Ryder for the role of Joyce, which the two were immediately drawn to because of her predominance in the films of the 1980s. Levy believed Ryder could "wretch up the emotional urgency and yet find layers and nuance and different sides of [Joyce]". Ryder praised that the show's multiple storylines required her to act for Joyce as if "she's out of her mind, but she's actually kind of onto something", and that
8736-443: Was officially confirmed to be in production on November 4, 2016 in a social media post. It was accompanied by a photo of some of the cast members at a table read. Filming of the season started on November 7, 2016. On November 14, 2016 photos of the cast on set in Atlanta were published. Seen in the photos were the main cast of kids and teens from the previous season, minus Millie Bobby Brown and Natalia Dyer, though who appeared to be
8832-508: Was one of many working in the film and television industry that signed the open letter to President Joe Biden thanking him for his "unshakeable moral conviction" in supporting Israel with military funding and aid and petitioning the President to secure the release of more Israeli hostages. The Duffer Brothers were born and raised in Durham, North Carolina , the sons of Ann M. Christensen,
8928-524: Was released in 2015. Next the Duffer brothers were hired as writers/producers for the Fox television series Wayward Pines . As of 2024, they are also the executive producers of a Netflix show called The Boroughs , described as a supernatural drama set in a retirement community in the New Mexico desert. With experience in television, they began pitching their idea for television series adaptation of
9024-625: Was released on July 15, 2016, to overwhelming praise, specifically for its characterization, pacing, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to 1980s genre films . It began to develop a cult following online. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an approval rating of 95%, based on 82 reviews, with a weighted average score of 7.96/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary, Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage 1980s television ." On September 30, 2019, Netflix announced they had signed
9120-505: Was released on October 27, 2017, in HDR. The third season once again consists of eight episodes, and was released on July 4, 2019. The fourth season, consisting of nine episodes, was released in two volumes on May 27 and July 1, 2022, respectively. In February 2022, Netflix renewed the series for a fifth and final season. Shortly after the fourth season's release, viewers reported that Will's friends did not acknowledge his birthday in an episode of
9216-402: Was released on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack exclusively to Target retailers on November 6, 2018, in vintage CBS-FOX VHS-inspired packaging. Nielsen ratings records viewership data for those who viewed the series on a TV set, the data does not account for mobile, tablet or PC devices. The second season has been recognized by Parrot Analytics as the most in-demand digital original series of
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