NetflixCould Stranger Things get even stranger?
If Netflix orders a second season, it sure sounds like it.
While the creators Matt and Ross Duffer crafted the first season of their Winona Ryder-starring love letter to all things '80s cinema to have have a sense of resolution, they've got plenty on tap to continue the wider story of just what's going on in Hawkins, Indiana.
"We wanted to feel like a big movie, so we wanted to solve that main tension of where Will went and what happened to him," Matt explained to reporters during their Summer TCA Press Tour presentation. "But then there's the bigger mythology behind what happened, so there's definitely a lot of dangling threads at the end…if people wanted it and Netflix wanted it, we could explore it and continue the storyline."
While the the people clearly seem to want it (just check out the buzz for the show on Twitter), the question stands: Does Netflix want more Stranger Things?
Just prior to the show's panel, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos was questioned about the future of the spooky little series in a panel of his own—and he was predictably cagey in his response. "We always want to take some time to be thoughtful about the process," he said. "When we first come out of the gate with something, we usually have a pretty good idea of where it's going to go, but it's sensible for us to take a little bit of time and let the show breathe. And with so many really falling in love with season one, and people who haven't really seen episodes of season one just yet, let's focus on season one right now."
As Ross pointed out, they might not want to wait too long to decide. "We've been talking a lot about Harry Potter," he said, referencing the growth spurts that franchise's actors experience between films. In other words? Don't expect season two to pick up just a day or two after the events of the first season. As young star Gaten Matarazzo (who steals scenes as Dustin) made clear, "My voice has dropped like four octaves."
So, what would a second season of Stranger Things look like? For starters, don't expect the same threat as before. As the brothers explained, it's not just about facing another monster, "its a bigger, badder monster." The goal is to keep the episode count down (season one had only eight episodes) to ensure the series still feels tonally similar to the movies it draws inspiration from, however, "structurally, it's going to have a very different structure," they teased.
Building off the idea that it would be impossible to continue the story from directly where it left off, the brothers explained that season two would feel more like a sequel to a film. "In terms of the tension…when Will goes missing, it's like Caroline goes missing in Poltergeist, then you get Caroline back, that to me is a movie. In the sequels, you're still following that family as terrible things happen, but it's a different tension and characters are dealing with different things, and that season will entirely be about resolving that tension," they said. "It is scary though, because we start talking about sequels, and there aren't a ton of good ones, so that's scary."
Are you hopeful that Netflix orders a second season?
All eight episodes of Stranger Things season one are available for streaming now on Netflix.