The Stranger Things team has admitted that their immense, international Netflix hit series may indeed go beyond four seasons.
Why is this news? Earlier in the year, Ross Duffer, who created Stranger Things with his brother, Matt, had a conversation with New York Magazine in which he told them “We’re thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out.” Of course, this caused a minor explosion on the internet, and saddened many of the show’s most passionate fans.
But recently, the Duffers, whose openness was likely tempered by the presence of executive producer Shawn Levy, admitted that plans may have changed in that regard. Specifically, Levi said “Hearts were heard breaking in Netflix headquarters when the Brothers made four seasons sound like an official end, and I was suddenly getting phone calls from our actors’ agents. The truth is we’re definitely going four seasons and there’s very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely.”
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The intervention of the producer in such a manner of course, could be cause for alarm; after all, when he discusses the negative reaction of those whose livelihoods are directly affected by the show ending, it sounds like such a decision has less to do with the quality of the show and more to do with keeping the Stranger Things cash flow running.
However, the Duffer Brothers themselves have tried to allay this concern before it even had time to arise, stating, “It’s not wrapped up this season. I think [season 2] will be a satisfying end but there’s still danger out there. There’s too much to deal with in one more season. If we’re able to, there will be at least four, there could be more. I think there’s going to come a point where why aren’t these people leaving Hawkins? Like we’re going to stretch credibility. It wasn’t intended to be a seven-season thing.”
Matt then contributed that, “It’s not built to sustain that as a narrative. After it became successful, we had one of those big meetings with Netflix over dinner and they were like ‘We don’t want this going on that long.’ They were very supportive of it. It’s stupid to put an end date on it right now because we don’t know.”
Hopefully the showrunners continue to prioritize the quality of Stranger Things over how much money it rakes in for Netflix. This should go without saying, but considering how many changeups there have been with showrunners at Netflix, such talk isn’t always encouraging.
