‘Stranger Things 5’ involved ‘so much crying,’ say the Duffer brothers: ‘This is our biggest and most ambitious season yet’
After spending the last 10 years of their lives plotting and crafting Stranger Things, you can forgive Matt and Ross Duffer for getting teary-eyed while filming its final episodes. “There was a lot of crying,” Matt Duffer told journalists on Wednesday. “There was so much crying.”
The Duffers took part in the Next on Netflix event at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The theme of the morning was “you’re not ready for what’s next,” and those in attendance saw a special sizzle reel of Stranger Things 5, which featured behind-the-scenes moments of actors like Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard on the set, plus quick clips from the final season (yes, the Demogorgons are back!).
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“We spent a full year filming this season,” said Ross. “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.” For comparison’s sake, each Season 4 episode was longer than an hour, with the finale running for a whopping 2 hours and 30 minutes.
“At the same time,” Matt chimed in, “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. 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.”
Even though Season 5 is “the end of the story” for beloved characters like Mike (Wolfhard), Eleven (Brown), Hopper (David Harbour), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will (Noah Schnapp), “it’s not goodbye for Stranger Things,” Matt teased. “There are many more stories to tell. You can find one of those stories right now on the West End — an Olivier-winning play called Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which is a prequel about Henry Creel before he became Vecna.”
“The play is directed by Stephen Daldry, who is a straight up genius, along with Justin Martin, and it’s written by Kate Trefry, a brilliant writer who has been working on our show since Season 2,” added Ross. “They did an incredible job — it feels like a mega episode of the show unfolding live before your eyes. The stagecraft is groundbreaking. And in March, it’s coming to Broadway, which is … really surreal and just a dream come true for all of us.”
The Duffers declined to reveal anything about the other Stranger Things stories that are in the works, but they reiterated how important it is for them to be “deeply involved” in every offshoot. Anything with the Stranger Things name on it should be of “the highest quality and not repetitive,” said Matt. “It must have a reason to exist and always blazes its own path. And also, it needs to basically just be… awesome.”
Two of their upcoming TV projects — The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen — will air on Netflix via their production 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,” revealed Ross. “They play in a genre sandbox, but they’re always grounded in a reality that audiences can relate to.”
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Matt said, “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. Unlike Stranger Things, it’s set in a retirement community and 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.”
“Then there’s Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen,” explained Ross, “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.”
The Season 5 release date for Stranger Things is still TBD, and there’s no word yet on whether the eight episodes will be split into two parts (like Season 4), or if it’ll stream all on the same day. However it ends up being released, fans will enjoy “every second of it,” promised Bela Bajaria, chief content officer of Netflix.
Netflix
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