‘Stranger Things’ Creators on “Insane” Season 5: “There Was So Much Crying”
The Stranger Things team is once again teasing a colossal final season.
At Netflix‘s Next on Netflix press event, creators the Duffer Brothers discussed the eagerly anticipated fifth season, which is debuting later this year and marks the first new episodes of the coming-of-age sci-fi hit in three years.
“We spent a full year filming this season,” Ross Duffer said. “By the end, we’d captured over 650 hours of footage. So, needless to say, this is our biggest and most ambitious season yet. It’s like eight blockbuster movies. It’s pretty insane.”
Matt Duffer added, “At the same time, we think it’s our most personal story. It was super intense and emotional to film — for us and for our actors. We’ve been making this show together for almost 10 years. There was a lot of crying. There was so much crying. The show means so much to all of us, and everyone put their hearts and souls into it. And we hope — and believe — that passion will translate to the screen.”
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The Duffers also teased upcoming projects in the Stranger Things universe, not all of which have been announced.
“There are more Stranger Things stories to tell and in the works,” Matt said. “It’s a bit early at this point to talk about them, but we’re deeply involved in every one — it’s very important to us that anything with the Stranger Things name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitive — that it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path. And also, it needs to basically just be … awesome. Or we need to think it’s awesome. And there are a lot of what we think are awesome things in the pipeline.”
One project — the West End play Stranger Things: The First Shadow — is a prequel that’s currently being staged.
The Duffers also talked about their other upcoming Netflix shows, The Boroughs and Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, which the duo are executive producing via their company Upside Down Pictures.
“Both shows encompass what we feel is at the core of Stranger Things and that is they’re stories about ordinary people who encounter the extraordinary,” Ross said. “They play in a genre sandbox, but they’re always grounded in a reality that audiences can relate to … Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, a series that follows a bride and groom in a chaotic, anxiety-filled week leading up to their wedding. It dives into the horror and dread that often comes with making a lifelong commitment to someone — something that anyone who’s ever been in a relationship can definitely relate to. We don’t want to say too much more about the story yet — but the title is accurate. Bad things do happen.”
“Of the two projects, The Boroughs probably shares the most DNA with Stranger Things because it’s about a group of misfits who fight an otherworldly evil,” added Matt. “Only unlike Stranger Things, it’s set in a retirement community, so that’s something different. This time our misfits are a little on the older side. They ride golf carts, not bikes. It stars Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman, and a host of other screen icons who we’re obsessed with. We’ve seen the first three episodes, and we’re really pumped about it. It’s fun, scary, and touching too, and we can’t wait for you to see it.”
While there is no date yet announced for Stranger Things season five, the last two seasons were released during the summer, so that seems like a good bet. Season four was also split into two halves which, again, seems likely as Netflix will want to maximize the show’s rollout.
For more, here is everything we know about Stranger Things‘ final season.
