This article is about the television series.

For other uses, see Stranger Things

(disambiguation).
Stranger Things
"Stranger Things" text written in red neon on a black background
Genre
Science fiction
Horror
Mystery
Drama
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Starring
Winona Ryder
David Harbour
Finn Wolfhard
Millie Bobby Brown
Gaten Matarazzo
Caleb McLaughlin
Natalia Dyer
Charlie Heaton
Cara Buono
Matthew Modine
Noah Schnapp
Sadie Sink
Joe Keery
Dacre Montgomery
Sean Astin
Paul Reiser
Maya Hawke
Priah Ferguson
Brett Gelman
Jamie Campbell Bower
Joseph Quinn
Eduardo Franco
Amybeth McNulty
Composers
Michael Stein
Kyle Dixon
Country of origin United States
Original language English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 34 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
The Duffer Brothers
Shawn Levy
Dan Cohen
Brian Wright
Cindy Holland
Jessica Mecklenburg
Matt Thunell
Karl Gajdusek
Iain Paterson
Curtis Gwinn
Cinematography
Tim Ives
Tod Campbell
Lachlan Milne
David Franco
Ricardo Diaz[1]
Caleb Heymann[2]
Brett Jutkiewicz[3]
Editors
Dean Zimmerman
Kevin D. Ross
Nat Fuller
Katheryn Naranjo
Running time 42–139 minutes
Production companies
21 Laps Entertainment
Monkey Massacre Productions
Upside Down Pictures (season 5)[4]
Budget $270 million (season 4)[5]
Original release
Network Netflix
Release July 15, 2016 –
present
Stranger Things is an American science fiction horror drama television series
created by the Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions
and 21 Laps Entertainment, the first season was released on Netflix on July 15,
2016. The second and third season followed in October 2017 and July 2019
respectively, and the fourth season aired in two parts in May and July 2022. In
February 2022, Stranger Things was renewed for a fifth and final season.

Set in the 1980s, the series centers around the residents of the fictional small
town of Hawkins, Indiana, as they are plagued by a hostile alternate dimension
known as the Upside Down, after a nearby human experimentation facility opens a
gateway between Earth and the Upside Down. The ensemble cast includes Winona Ryder,
David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb
McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp,
Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin, Paul Reiser, Maya Hawke, Priah
Ferguson and Brett Gelman.

The Duffer Brothers developed Stranger Things as a mix of investigative drama and
supernatural elements portrayed with horror and childlike sensibilities, while
infusing references to the popular culture of the 1980s. Several thematic and
directorial elements were inspired by the works of Steven Spielberg, John
Carpenter, David Lynch, Stephen King, Wes Craven and H. P. Lovecraft. They also
took inspiration from experiments conducted during the Cold War and conspiracy
theories involving secret government programs.

One of Netflix's flagship series, Stranger Things has attracted record viewership
on the streaming platform. It has been received positively for its
characterization, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages
to 1980s films. It has received numerous nominations and awards. An animated spin-
off series, developed by Eric Robles and produced by Flying Bark Productions, is in
development.[6]

Overview
Stranger Things is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the
1980s. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific
research for the United States Department of Energy but secretly experiments with
the paranormal and supernatural, sometimes with human test subjects. They have
inadvertently created a portal to an alternate dimension they refer to as the
Upside Down, whose presence begins to affect the residents of Hawkins in calamitous
ways.[7][8]

The first season begins in November 1983. Will Byers is abducted by a creature from
the Upside Down. His mother, Joyce; the town's police chief, Jim Hopper; and a
group of volunteers search for him. A young psychokinetic girl named Eleven escapes
from the laboratory and is found by friends of Will. Eleven befriends and assists
them in their efforts to find Will.[9]

The second season is set a year later in October 1984. Will has been rescued, but
he begins having premonitions of the fall of Hawkins caused by a creature in the
Upside Down. When it is discovered that Will is still being possessed by an entity
from the Upside Down, his friends and family learn that there is a larger threat to
their world.[10]

The third season is set several months later, in the days leading up to the Fourth
of July celebration in 1985. The new Starcourt Mall has become the center of
attention for Hawkins residents, putting the majority of other local stores out of
business due to the mall's popularity. Hopper becomes increasingly concerned about
Eleven and Mike's relationship and becomes very protective of his daughter.
Unbeknownst to the town, a secret Soviet laboratory underneath Starcourt seeks to
open the gateway to the Upside Down. Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer uses mind control
to make Billy do his bidding.[11][12]

The fourth season is set several months later, in March 1986. Joyce, Will, Eleven,
and Jonathan have moved to Lenora, California for a fresh start. In California,
Eleven struggles with the loss of her powers and being bullied in school.
Meanwhile, in Hawkins, a being from the Upside Down—an entity later dubbed Vecna—
begins killing the residents of Hawkins, opening new gates between the two worlds
in the process. Planning to stop Vecna, Dr. Sam Owens takes Eleven to a facility to
help her regain her powers. Simultaneously, Joyce and Murray fly to Russia to
rescue Hopper from the Gulag in Kamchatka.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Stranger Things characters

The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy and the main cast of season 2 of Stranger Things at
the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International
Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers,[13] the mother of Will and Jonathan Byers. She is
divorced from Lonnie Byers, the father of Will and Jonathan. In season two, she
dates her old high school classmate, Bob, until his death later in the season. She
and Hopper have feelings for each other.
David Harbour as Jim Hopper,[13] chief of Hawkins Police Department. After his
young daughter Sara died of cancer, Hopper divorced and lapsed into alcoholism.
Eventually he grows to be more responsible, saving Will Byers after he is taken in
season 1, as well as taking Eleven as his adopted daughter. He and Joyce have
feelings for each other.
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler,[14] middle child of Karen and Ted Wheeler, brother
of Nancy and Holly, and one of three friends of Will Byers. He is an intelligent
and conscientious student and is committed to his friends. He develops romantic
feelings for Eleven and later dates her.
Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper ("El"),[14] a teen girl with telepathic
and psychokinetic abilities, a result of being one of Dr. Brenner's subjects from
Hawkins National Laboratory. She escapes the lab and eventually becomes an adoptive
daughter to Jim Hopper taking his surname, and adjusts to living a normal life with
the help of Mike (whom she later dates) and his friends.
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson,[14] one of Will Byers' friends. His
cleidocranial dysplasia causes him to lisp. In the second season, he is proud of
his new front teeth and is attracted to Max. In season 3, he gets a girlfriend,
Suzie (portrayed by Gabriella Pizzolo), whom he met at Camp Know Where prior to the
start of the season.
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair,[14] one of Will's friends. He is wary of Eleven
but later befriends her. In season two, he is one of Max's love interests and
eventually becomes her boyfriend in season three. He becomes more popular in season
4 as a result of joining the Hawkins High basketball team, which briefly puts him
at odds with his regular friend group.
Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler,[14] daughter of Karen and Ted and older sister of
Mike and Holly. Studious and rule-abiding, Nancy finds another side of herself
while investigating the Hawkins Lab and the death of her friend Barbara. In the
first two seasons, she is the girlfriend of Steve Harrington but breaks up with him
and then dates Jonathan Byers. She is an aspiring journalist.
Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers,[14] the older brother of Will Byers and the son
of Joyce Byers. He is a quiet and kind-hearted teenager, an outsider at school, and
an aspiring photographer. He is close with his mother and brother, and he becomes
the boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler.
Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler (seasons 1–3; also starring: season 4),[15] mother of
Nancy, Mike, and toddler Holly. Karen has a brief fling with Billy in season 3.
Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner (seasons 1 and 4; recurring: season 2),[16] the
scientist in charge of Hawkins Laboratory and training Eleven. Manipulative and
remote, he and his team are searching for Eleven in season 1 after she escapes. He
is referred to as "Papa" by Eleven. In season 4, he returns to help Eleven gain her
powers back and protects her from the government agents hunting her down.[17]
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers (season 2–present; recurring: season 1),[14] the son of
Joyce Byers and younger brother of Jonathan Byers. He is captured by a monster from
the "Upside Down", an alternate dimension discovered by Hawkins Laboratory
scientists in season 1. He later develops a connection to the upside down and the
Mind Flayer due to his capture.[18][19]
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield (season 2–present), Billy's younger stepsister, and a
tomboy who catches the attention of both Lucas and Dustin, eventually dating Lucas.
In season 4, she is one of the teens that is targeted by Vecna.[19]
Joe Keery as Steve Harrington (season 2–present; recurring: season 1), a popular
high school student and the boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler. He ostracizes Jonathan
Byers but later comes to befriend him. He and Nancy later break up in season two
but remain friends. He is known as the "babysitter" of the group since he is often
left to look after the kids.[20][19]
Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove (seasons 2–3; guest: season 4), Max's violent,
unpredictable, and abusive older stepbrother. He challenges Steve's popularity. In
season 3, he is controlled by the Mind Flayer and later sacrifices himself to
protect the kids.[19]
Sean Astin as Bob Newby (season 2; guest: season 3), a former schoolmate of Joyce
and Hopper who runs the Hawkins RadioShack[21] and is Joyce's boyfriend, putting
him at odds with Hopper. He dies at the end of season 2 after being attacked by
Demodogs.[22]
Paul Reiser as Sam Owens (seasons 2 and 4; guest: season 3), a Department of Energy
executive who replaces Brenner as director of Hawkins Laboratory. He is stubborn
and committed to scientific research, yet empathetic to the residents of Hawkins
and helps Hopper adopt Eleven as his legal daughter. He returns with Brenner in
season 4 to help Eleven gain back her powers and protects her from the government
agents hunting her.[21]
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley (season 3–present), a girl who works alongside Steve at
the ice cream store in the mall who later comes out as a lesbian. She and Steve
Harrington are close friends, having worked together at the Scoops Ahoy ice cream
shop and later the video store.[23]
Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair (season 3–present; recurring: season 2), Lucas's
10-year-old sister who helps the group. She is revealed to be very smart and have
avid interest in D&D.[23]
Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman (season 4; recurring: seasons 2–3), a conspiracy
theorist, private investigator, and longtime friend of Hopper's who helps Nancy and
Jonathan in season 2 and Hopper and Joyce in seasons 3 and 4.
Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel / One / Vecna (seasons 4–5), a murderous
psychic being from the Upside Down revealed to have created the Mind Flayer. He was
born as a human named Henry Creel with psionic abilities. After murdering his
family and falling into a coma, he was put under the care of Dr. Brenner.
Flashbacks in season 4 reveal he was sent to the Upside Down by Eleven when she was
nine years old, where he was disfigured by lightning, causing his appearance as
Vecna. After exploring the Upside Down, he created the Mind Flayer and took control
of the dimension.[24]
Episodes
Main article: List of Stranger Things episodes
Season Episodes Originally released
1
8 July 15, 2016
2
9 October 27, 2017
3
8 July 4, 2019
4
9 7 May 27, 2022
2 July 1, 2022
5
8[25] 2025[26]
Production
Development

Ross (left) and Matt Duffer, the creators and showrunners of the series
Stranger Things was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the
Duffer Brothers,[27] who also serve as showrunners and head writers and direct many
of the episodes. They wrote and produced their 2015 film Hidden, in which they
emulated the style of M. Night Shyamalan. However, due to changes at Warner Bros.,
its distributor, it did not see wide release and the Duffers were unsure of their
future.[28] To their surprise, television producer Donald De Line approached them,
impressed with Hidden's script, and offered them the opportunity to work on
episodes of Wayward Pines with Shyamalan. The brothers were mentored by Shyamalan
during the episode's production so that when they finished, they felt they were
ready to produce their own television series.[29]

The Duffers prepared a script[when?] similar to the series' eventual pilot episode,
along with a 20-page pitch book to help shop the series to networks.[30] They
pitched the story to about 15[31] Cable networks, all of whom felt a plot with
children as leading characters wouldn't work, and asked the brothers to either make
it a children's series or drop the children and focus on Hopper's investigation
into the paranormal.[29]

In early 2015, Dan Cohen, the VP of 21 Laps Entertainment, brought the script to
his colleague Shawn Levy. They subsequently invited the Duffer Brothers to their
office and purchased the rights for the series, giving the brothers full
authorship. After reading the pilot, the streaming service Netflix purchased the
whole season for an undisclosed sum,[32] and in April of the same year, the series
was announced for a 2016 release.[33]

The Duffer Brothers stated that at the time they pitched to Netflix the company had
already been recognized for its original programming in shows such as House of
Cards and Orange Is the New Black, with well-recognized producers behind them, and
were ready to start giving upcoming producers like them a chance.[30] The brothers
started casting and brought Levy and Cohen in as the other executive producers to
discuss storylines, with Levy also directing for the show.[34]

Montauk is an eight-hour sci-fi horror epic. Set in Long Island in 1980 and
inspired by the supernatural classics of that era, we explore the crossroads where
the ordinary meet the extraordinary...emotional, cinematic and rooted in character,
Montauk is a love letter to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King – a
marriage of human drama and supernatural fear.

— The Duffer Brothers' original pitch for Montauk[35]

The book cover the Duffer Brothers created to pitch Montauk. For this, they took
inspiration from Stephen King book covers such as Firestarter.
The series was originally known as Montauk. The setting was then Montauk, New York,
and nearby Long Island locations. Montauk figured into a number of real world
conspiracy theories involving secret government experiments.[33][36] The brothers
had chosen Montauk as it had further Spielberg ties with the film Jaws, where
Montauk was used for the fictional setting of Amity Island.[37] After deciding to
change the narrative of the series to take place in the fictional town of Hawkins
instead, the brothers felt they could now do things to the town, such as placing it
under quarantine, that they really could not envision with a real location.[37]

With the change in location, they had to come up with a new title for the series
under direction from Netflix's Ted Sarandos so that they could start marketing it
to the public. The brothers started by using a copy of Stephen King's Firestarter
novel to consider the title's font and appearance, and came up with a long list of
potential alternatives. Stranger Things came about as it sounded similar to another
King novel, Needful Things, though Matt noted they still had a "lot of heated
arguments" over this final title.[38]

To pitch the series, the Duffer Brothers showcased images, footage and music from
classic 1970s and 1980s films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, Poltergeist, Hellraiser, Stand by Me, Firestarter, A Nightmare
on Elm Street and Jaws, in order to establish the tone of the series.[35]

Writing
The idea of Stranger Things started with how the brothers felt they could take the
concept of the 2013 film Prisoners, detailing the moral struggles a father goes
through when his daughter is kidnapped, and expand it out over eight or so hours in
a serialized television approach. As they focused on the missing child aspect of
the story, they wanted to introduce the idea of "childlike sensibilities" they
could offer, and toyed around with the idea of a monster that could consume humans.
The brothers thought the combination of these things "was the best thing ever".[29]

To introduce this monster into the narrative, they considered "bizarre experiments
we had read about taking place in the Cold War" such as Project MKUltra, which gave
a way to ground the monster's existence in science rather than something spiritual.
This also helped them to decide on using 1983 as the time period, as it was a year
before the film Red Dawn came out, which focused on Cold War paranoia.[29]
Subsequently, they were able to use all their own personal inspirations from the
1980s, the decade in which they were born, as elements of the series,[29][39]
crafting it in the realm of science fiction and horror.[40]

Other influences cited by the Duffer Brothers include: Stephen King novels; films
produced by Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, David Lynch, Wes Craven,[41][42][43]
[44] and Guillermo del Toro;[38] films such as Star Wars, Alien, and Stand by Me;
[38][42][45] Japanese anime such as Akira and Elfen Lied;[38][41] and several video
games including Silent Hill, Dark Souls and The Last of Us.[46][47][41] The Duffer
Brothers believe that they may have brought influences from other works
unintentionally, including Beyond the Black Rainbow and D.A.R.Y.L., discovered by
reviewing fan feedback on the series.[37] Several websites and publications have
found other pop culture references in the series, particularly references to 1980s
pop culture.[48][49][50][51] The main villain for the last seasons was inspired by
the villains that scared the brothers when they watched the movies and miniseries
as children: Freddy Krueger, Pinhead and Pennywise.[52]
With Netflix as the platform, the Duffer Brothers were not limited to a typical 22-
episode format, opting for the eight-episode approach. They had been concerned that
a 22-episode season on broadcast television would be difficult to "tell a cinematic
story" with that many episodes. Eight episodes allowed them to give time to
characterization in addition to narrative development; if they had less time
available, they would have had to remain committed to telling a horror film as soon
as the monster was introduced and abandon the characterization.[30] Within the
eight episodes, the brothers aimed to make the first season "feel like a big movie"
with all the major plot lines completed so that "the audience feels satisfied", but
left enough unresolved to indicate "there's a bigger mythology, and there's a lot
of dangling threads at the end", something that could be explored in further
seasons if Netflix opted to create more.[53]

Regarding writing for the children characters of the series, the Duffer Brothers
considered themselves as outcasts from other students while in high school and thus
found it easy to write for Mike and his friends, and particularly for Barb.[38]
Joyce was fashioned after Richard Dreyfuss' character Roy Neary in Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, as she appears "absolutely bonkers" to everyone else as she
tries to find Will.[54]

Casting

The Duffer Brothers cast David Harbour as Chief Hopper believing this was his
opportunity to portray a lead character.
In June 2015, it was announced that Winona Ryder and David Harbour had joined the
series as Joyce and as the unnamed chief of police, respectively.[13] The brothers'
casting director Carmen Cuba had suggested Ryder for the role of Joyce, which the
two were immediately drawn to because of her predominance in the films of the
1980s.[29] Levy believed Ryder could "wretch up the emotional urgency and yet find
layers and nuance and different sides of [Joyce]". Ryder praised that the show's
multiple storylines required her to act for Joyce as if "she's out of her mind, but
she's actually kind of onto something", and that the producers had faith she could
pull off the difficult role.[55] The Duffer Brothers had been interested in Harbour
before, who until Stranger Things primarily had smaller roles as villainous
characters, and they felt that he had been "waiting too long for this opportunity"
to play a lead, while Harbour himself was thrilled by the script and the chance to
play "a broken, flawed, anti-hero character".[38][56]

Additional casting followed two months later with Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Millie
Bobby Brown in an undisclosed role, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Caleb McLaughlin as
Lucas, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan.[14] In September
2015, Cara Buono joined the cast as Karen,[15] followed by Matthew Modine as Martin
Brenner a month later.[16] Additional cast who recur include Noah Schnapp as Will,
[14][19] Shannon Purser as Barbara "Barb" Holland,[57] Joe Keery as Steve
Harrington,[20][19] and Ross Partridge as Lonnie,[58] among others.

Actors auditioning for the children roles read lines from Stand by Me.[29] The
Duffer Brothers estimated they went through about a thousand different child actors
for the roles. They noted that Wolfhard was already "a movie buff" of the films
from the 1980s period and easily filled the role, while they found Matarazzo's
audition to be much more authentic than most of the other audition tapes, and
selected him after a single viewing of his audition tape.[30]

As casting was started immediately after Netflix greenlit the show, and prior to
the scripts being fully completed, this allowed some of the actors' takes on the
roles to reflect into the script. The casting of the young actors for Will and his
friends had been done just after the first script was completed, and subsequent
scripts incorporated aspects from these actors.[53] The brothers said Modine
provided significant input on the character of Dr. Brenner, whom they had not
really fleshed out before as they considered him the hardest character to write for
given his limited appearances within the narrative.[54]

Filming

Emory University's former Georgia Mental Health Institute served as the location of
Hawkins National Laboratory.
The brothers had desired to film the series around the Long Island area to match
the initial Montauk concept. However, with filming scheduled to take place in
November 2015, it was difficult to shoot in Long Island in the cold weather, and
the production started scouting locations in and around the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
The brothers, who grew up in North Carolina, found many places that reminded them
of their own childhoods in that area, and felt the area would work well with the
narrative shift to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.[37]

The filming of the first season began in November 2015 and was extensively done in
Atlanta, Georgia, with the Duffer Brothers and Levy handling the direction of
individual episodes.[59] Jackson served as the basis of the fictional town of
Hawkins, Indiana.[60][61] Other shooting locations included the Georgia Mental
Health Institute as the Hawkins National Laboratory site, Bellwood Quarry, and
Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia, for the middle and high school
scenes.[62]

Emory University's Continuing Education Department, the former city hall in

Douglasville, Georgia, the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Georgia,
the probate court in Butts County, Georgia, Old East Point Library and East Point
First Baptist Church in East Point, Georgia, Fayetteville, Georgia, Stone Mountain
Park, Palmetto, Georgia, and Winston, Georgia.[63][clarification needed] Set work
was done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta[63] and the series was filmed with a RED