The month of September seems to be flying by, especially for hardcore TV viewers. The months has brought a bevy of season premiers, and last week's Emmy Awards honored the very best the small screen has to offer. But October will bring its own plethora of fall premiers, chief among them being Netflix's sci-fi period piece Stranger Things. The second season is arriving just before Halloween, and will finally bring back the beloved characters that became so popular last summer. But the Duffer Brothers are looking at the sophomore season more like a movie sequel, rather than a Season 2. Matt Duffer recently opened up about this approach, saying:
We're movie guys, and from the very beginning we thought of it as a sequel more than a television Season 2. That's why it's Stranger Things 2. It's building off a lot of the ideas we established in Season 1, but it's introducing new threats, new stakes and the idea is to resolve that more or less by the end of the season.
This comment, which comes to us from The Duffer Brothers' recent conversation with The Wrap, certainly does explain the show's promotional material. The trailers, posers, and images have all been titled with Stranger Things 2, rather than simply referring to the new episodes as Season 2.
It should be interesting to see how Stranger Things' second season compares to sophomore seasons of other shows, considering The Duffer Brothers' attitude about the project. The brothers seem to have a clear plan for the future of the series, which will likely end after its fourth season on Netflix. Therefore the narrative isn't open ended, but focused and methodically planned for the future. The second season of Stranger Things will tell a specific story that will build upon the world crafted in Season 1, while also doing setup for its final seasons.
The Duffer Brothers' plan for ending Stranger Things after a handful of seasons is a refreshing take on television production, and something that network TV producers might learn from. Since the entertainment business truly boils down to making money, many shows run far longer than they should have. This often results in the show suffering in regards to originality and quality.
But this decision may also be influenced by the cast's aging process. Stranger Things has a fantastic ensemble of child actors, so the show needs to be rapidly produced in order to avoid them getting too old for their roles. While The Duffer Brothers will likely combat this with some time jumps, the youthful energy of the series is dependent on the young actors. Keeping the show going for five years would result in the group quickly becoming teenagers, and likely ending their arcade and Dungeons and Dragons games in the process.
Stranger Things 2 will be released in its entirety October 27, 2017 on Netflix. In the meantime, check out our fall premiere list to plan your next binge watch.
