MediaHounds - Podcast Break

Netflix confirms many “Things” coming after ‘Stranger Things’ season five 

INTERVIEWER: So, my first question, what motivated you to continue the show past what was set to be its last season?

Ross Duffer: Well, Netflix had us sign a billion year contract for our rights. They really wanted to keep us because, their words, not mine, “Stranger Things totally blew up Netflix”, and they think if we can recapture that season one magic, we can blow it up again. We actually got this sick suite for signing. Epic, right? It kinda echoes in here though.

Matt Duffer: But we can’t leave. My brother and I are now intellectual property of Netflix, so they can legally starve us and do whatever else. We only get a morsel of ‘food’ every time we finish a page of script.

R: We have the next 30 seasons planned so far, and we’re not just rehashing the Upside Down. Each season has a host of wholly new locations, such as the Sunny-Side up, the Twist and Shout, and the Knick-Knack, Paddy Wack, give a Dog a Bone; just the works, honestly.

INTERVIEWER: What inspired you to switch to a vertical style of filming for season six?

R: Well, in this world of TikTok and Reels, we needed to up our viewer engagement, so we made Stranger Things something you could scroll. Get ready for engaging exposition with Minecraft parkour and death scenes synced up to viral TikTok sounds such as DJ Snake and Justin Bieber's ‘Let Me Love You’

INTERVIEWER: Many fans, critics, and ex-actors have spoken out against the cloning experiments performed without the cast’s knowledge. Season six’s plot seems to be based on the story of these clones’ creation, causing even more uproar. Care to comment?

R: Season six is about those real life “successes”, as I would call them. We are the first show in the history of the world that is able to keep our cast eternally youthful, which is integral to our plans. The only reason they’re upset is because they’ve been phased out. Additionally, our Tony-winning musical now has rentable clone casts, only 500 million a showing. Experience the musical like never before, alone in your mansion.

M: And it’s scary, dude, these aren’t like partial clones either, they have their memories and everything. And thinking about it makes it pretty apparent we’re clones too.

INTERVIEWER: What was that, Matt?

M: It would be crazy if we weren’t clones. Whenever I put my ear to the wall, I can hear another version of ourselves and their shittier music taste; no one bothered to soundproof it. Also, this room is tiny; it’s like a dorm room. There are probably hundreds of us in this one building.  

INTERVIEWER: I think we should stay on topic, Matt.

M: Man, no way you are getting paid enough for this to care. Do you know when they plan to let the show die? God, I would love nothing more than the show to be cancelled at this point. 

INTERVIEWER: Ahem. A lot of noise has been made about the decision to set the new seasons back in the 80s—

M: They made us do that because we were getting too close to the present. No one really likes the present. There’s probably not gonna be a lot of nostalgia for the tens or the twenties. The eighties had glitz and glam, we have rot and empire. I don’t even want to dwell on the future. Who wants to live in a world like that?