The creators of Stranger Things insist there's plenty more to come—well, kinda.
Matt and Ross Duffer, the minds behind the Netflix smash hit, still have their eyes on a spin-off once the show wraps with season five, but don't get your hopes up about seeing any familiar faces.
"I've read these rumors that there's gonna be an Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) spin-off, that there's gonna be a Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) spin-off or that it's another number," the Duffer Brothers said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast July 4. "That's not interesting to me because we've done all that. We've spent I don't know how many hours exploring all of that. So it's very different."
Instead, Matt and Ross suggest the spin-off will be attached to the original series by "storytelling sensibility" and that not even Netflix knows what they have planned.
One person who does know what the Duffer Brothers are up to is Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, who was able to guess the spin-off idea, Matt and Ross revealed in May.
"Aside from Finn," they said, "no one else knows!"
Talk about a powerful secret.
While the Duffers will be heavily involved, the duo indicated they want to team up with another creative visionary to make the spin-off come to life.
"The idea, ultimately, is to pass the baton to someone else, someone who's hopefully really talented and passionate," Matt said. "Even the idea of Ross and I, say, doing a pilot and leaving it, it just feels silly to me. You really need to be there from the beginning to end. I think we need to find a partner to help us with that."
Before we arrive at this new show, of course, the Stranger Things saga must conclude. The Duffer Brothers suggested that fans feeling burnout from the super-sized fourth season will be relieved when season five eventually premieres—at least initially.
"The only reason we don't expect it to be as long is because if you look at it, it's almost a two-hour ramp-up before our kids really get drawn into the supernatural mystery," Matt said about season four. "You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, what they're struggling with, adapting to high school, and so forth. Steve's trying to find a date, all of that. None of that obviously is going to be occurring in the first two episodes of [season five]."
All four seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream on Netflix.
For everything we know about season five, keep reading!
While Max's fate is still up in the air, Matt and Ross Duffer told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) is dead "for real this time." As they said, "He's toast."
Same goes for Eddie (Joseph Quinn), who sacrificed himself to the Demobats to buy time for the rest of the kids fighting. Joseph told E! News he's still hoping to reappear in the show, saying, "I'd be very up for it. But yeah, let's see."
As for Max (Sadie Sink), the brothers aren't giving up on her just yet. "She's brain dead, but yeah, she's alive," they said. "She's blind and all of her bones are broken."
While Max is technically still alive, there's no knowing if she'll ever wake up from her coma. "I have no idea what's coming in five and what that looks like," Sadie said in an interview with Deadline. "Max's storyline is very up in the air, 'cause obviously she's in a coma and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) can't find her in the void. So who knows where she is and what state she's in."
Even Natalia Dyer is confused about who Nancy belongs with. On one hand, she thinks Nancy and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are a good match, but she also sees that Steve (Joe Keery) has grown up. And there's a part of her that thinks Nancy shouldn't be with either one of them. "It's really tough," she told Variety. "I don't know. It feels like she's been in a relationship for a while so maybe she needs some self discovery time."
She continued, "Whatever happens, I would hope that she does it with integrity. I personally had some crunchy feelings about how the whole Jonathan thing started sort of behind Steve's back. I can't believe she did that. I mean, I can."
In the season finale, Will (Noah Schnapp) confirmed he and Vecna are still connected after they were linked to each other in season two. When asked if fans will see the two characters interact in season five, Jamie Campbell Bower told E! News, "We all know by now that Vecna and Will have history. So it would be a joy to to get back in there, as I'll gently put it."
In fact, Jamie remained secretive throughout the entire interview, but promised the Duffers have got it all thought out. "My lips are sealed," he said. "You'll have to wait and see. I think Matt and Ross got something beautiful cooking and they'll let us know in good time."
While Joyce (Winona Ryder), Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) initially sought to start anew in California, it seems the Byers family is missing Hawkins and their hometown friends. So, they're leaving their California home and returning to Indiana, alongside Hopper and Eleven, in season five.
"It's mostly in Hawkins, and there's a lot obviously in the Upside Down," Matt Duffer told Collider about their season five plans. "But this is about everyone finally coming back. Coming back together, coming back to Hawkins.
The Duffer Brothers have mostly planned out season five, the final installment, but there's no knowing when filming will begin.
"This last season took two years in total, so who knows how long season five will take," Sadie Sink told Deadline. "The Duffers definitely know the fans will be eagerly awaiting a fifth season, but I don't think they're gonna rush it. They wanna make the best final season that they could possibly make."
They may not rush the process, but it seems they're cutting down on the amount of scenes in the final season. The Duffer Brothers promised the upcoming episodes will be slightly shorter, though they anticipate the finale is going to be another feature-length episode.
"The only reason we don't expect to be as long is, this season, if you look at it, it's almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery," Matt Duffer told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they're struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve's trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5]."
Production is Officially Underway
On Jan. 8, Netflix confirmed that production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is underway by sharing a sweet group photo of the Hawkins crew.
"THIS IS A CODE RED," the streaming service announced on social media. "STRANGER THINGS 5 production has officially begun!!!"
In an exclusive interview with E! News, Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy promised that season five "will answer all remaining questions," adding, "we are in the business of satisfying viewers."
On Nov. 6, fondly known as Stranger Things Day, Netflix revealed that the first episode of the final season will be titled, "Chapter One: The Crawl."
It appears that Will Byers will be the key to how Stranger Things wraps up its run on Netflix. On what fans can expect from the final season, star Noah Schnapp teased to Forbes, "I think they did a great job with Will's character this season, and beautifully addressed everything they needed to. The way they closed the show is just perfect—the story started with Will, and it'll end with Will."