For the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” creators Matt and Ross Duffer (as they explained in interviews for VarietyThe October 15 cover story) didn’t want to leave any major plotlines or character arcs unfinished. “We’re doing everything we wanted to do with the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer and Vecna and Upside Down and Hawkins and those characters,” Matt Duffer said. “It’s a complete story. It’s do.”
That kind of definitive statement only makes the Duffers’ plans for a “Stranger Things” spinoff — first announced in summer 2022 after the release of “Stranger Things 4” — more intriguing, because whatever the spinoff, it won’t continue the story of any of the show’s characters. The brothers also don’t expect it to explore a broader narrative in the world of the first series, as the “Star Wars” TV series on Disney+ did.
“It’s so different from something like ‘Star Wars,’” Matt said. “It doesn’t really work like that.” Instead, the spin-off will be part of the show’s “brand” and “storytelling style” – “kids, adventure, sci-fi/fantasy, rather than expanding further and further into what could become an incredibly convoluted mythology.”
Regarding the main idea for the spinoff, as well as future ones, Ross said, “They’re going to live in a little bit of a different world. There’s going to be some connective tissue, but you’re almost doing an anthology. Because we’re not ‘Star Wars.’ We can’t say, ‘Oh, now we’re on this planet.’
“You’re just too locked in,” Matt added. “It’s starting to get frustrating from a storytelling perspective.”
The Duffers developed the spinoff while working on “Stranger Things 5,” and the process “has been so much fun,” Matt said. “You start with new characters, it’s like a clean slate. You’re not tied up in knots. There’s something refreshing about that.
“The hope is that you don’t do something just to do it,” he continued. “And Netflix has been surprisingly patient, although I think now I feel that patience is wearing thin a little bit with the show ending. But they’re understanding.”
The Duffers will create the spinoff series and will be “heavily involved creatively,” Ross said, and “help move it forward” — but they won’t be showrunners, as they launch their next era as filmmakers with their new deal with Paramount. “We hope, in the meantime, to write and direct something new.”
Asked about the fallout in an interview, Netflix chief creative officer Bela Bajaria responded, “Ooh, what did they say?” She said she knew the Duffers wanted to do “justice to the series and the title” and “it’s not just the idea of doing another one.”
The Duffers have kept the concept for the new series a secret. “They’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” Bajaria said. “So I’m excited about what it’s going to be, but I don’t know what it’s going to be yet!”
Although there doesn’t appear to be a timetable for the spinoff, Bajaria said with a laugh, “I’d still like more ‘Stranger Things.’ When they are ready, we will be ready.
In truth, Netflix and the Duffers are already well underway with other “Stranger Things”: the animated version “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85,” developed by showrunner Eric Robles (who created the Nickelodeon series “Fanboy & Chum Chum”), premiered at the Annecy Animation Festival in June. This series was the Duffers’ idea, Matt said, “because we grew up loving some of the cartoons based on movies that we loved, like ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Ghostbusters.’ They envisioned capturing the “retro” spirit of these series “in a more modern way” – similar to the live-action series’ embrace of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King films from the 1980s.
The series does not yet have a release date; when they spoke with Varietythe Duffers had seen a full episode. Robles “knocked it out of the park,” Matt said. “It really looks like the show.” The animation style is similar to Netflix’s Emmy-winning series “Arcane,” but “not as Dear like “Arcane,” Ross added.
“And that’s good, because kids can stay young forever,” Matt said. “We set it when they’re that perfect season 2 age.”
If “The Tales of 1985” or the spin-off series proves to be successful, then “Stranger Things” could last for some time on Netflix.
Shawn Levy, executive producer and director of Mothership, will also be involved in the future. “I’m excited to extend the narrative life of ‘Stranger Things.’ I’m not going to call it a ‘universe,’ because that would be obnoxious,” he said. He then paused. “The ‘STU’? Too soon? Damn, I know you’re going to use that!”
How the “Stranger Things” expanded universe will be known appears to be a matter of debate. “What do you call it that isn’t lame: a universe? A franchise?” Matt asked rhetorically. “We need something else.”
“The ‘Strangerverse’?” Ross suggested. “I don’t know.”
