After months of teases and awesome trailers Stranger Things 4 has officially dropped on Netflix, with Volume 2 set to premiere in the Netflix schedule this July. With Season 5 confirmed to be the final ride for the Hawkins kids, it’s surprising that Netflix has yet to announce a spinoff for the popular series. That being said, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer were recently asked if they have one in mind. It turns out they do have an idea and Finn Wolfhard is the evidently the only one so far that has sussed it out.
The Duffer brothers revealed to Variety that they are planning a spinoff following the conclusion of Stranger Things, but they have managed to keep their plans pretty secret from most. Finn Wolfhard, who portrays Mike Wheeler on the sci-fi/horror series, is the one other person who has figured out what's in the works:
We do have an idea for a spinoff that we’re super excited about … but we haven’t told anyone the idea yet, much less written it. We think everyone — including Netflix — will be surprised when they hear the concept, because it’s very, very different. But somehow, Finn Wolfhard — who is one crazy smart kid — correctly guessed what it was going to be about. But aside from Finn, no one else knows!
The story of Stranger Things is far from over, and there are plenty of potential spinoff opportunities that could be seen from the series as it exists. However the show ends, there are bound to be even more stories that could spring from its core cast, premise or lore. It’s not surprising to hear that someone in the cast figured out the plans, and that someone being Finn Wolfhard. It also seemingly means that it could be centered around something that’s already been established, given it was able to be guessed.
This isn’t the first recent talk of a Stranger Things spinoff. Earlier this year, Gaten Matarazzo, who portrays Dustin, was open to the possibility of a Dustin and Steve spinoff. The two characters quickly went from enemies to a complete bromance, with some even saying that Steve is like the mother of the group. While Matarazzo didn’t think that a “full spinoff is sustainable,” he did mention that it could work as a web series on YouTube or something similar.
The spinoff talks have been in in the air as early as Season 2. In 2017, CinemaBlend sat down with the Duffer brothers and brought up a potential Kali-centric spinoff (the girl that Eleven got mixed up with and who brought her into her murderous band of misfits). The episode “The Lost Sister” felt like a backdoor pilot, but the brothers mentioned it was just about Eleven’s journey.
Stranger Things has grown beyond Eleven and the Upside Down, digging deeper into other characters while still keeping the focus on whatever the kids have to go up against. While it’s going to be sad to say goodbye to the series in the near future, knowing that there’s a spinoff in the works makes it an easier pill to swallow. We’ll hopefully get more information about it soon, but I expect a spinoff of one of the best shows on Netflix will be great no matter what.
The first seven episodes of Season 4 of Stranger Things are streaming now on Netflix. Episodes 8 and 9 are set to drop on July 1.
