{"id":300302,"date":"2025-11-22T00:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/300302\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T00:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:02:12","slug":"before-stranger-things-the-duffer-brothers-worked-on-an-underrated-sci-fi-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/300302\/","title":{"rendered":"Before Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers Worked On An Underrated Sci-Fi Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                                             &#13;<br \/>\n                                                    &#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/intro-1760229369.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.tvline.com\/2032002\/stranger-things-the-duffer-brothers-sci-fi-series-wayward-pines\/\" data-post-id=\"2032002\" data-slide-num=\"0\" data-slide-title=\"Before Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers Worked On An Underrated Sci-Fi Series: \" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" alt=\"The primary cast of \" stranger=\"\" things=\"\" stand=\"\" together=\"\" looking=\"\" down=\"\" with=\"\" steve=\"\" harrington=\"\" keery=\"\" wielding=\"\" a=\"\" chainsaw=\"\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    Netflix<\/p>\n<p class=\"disclaimer\">We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Stranger Things,&#8221; created by Matt and Ross Duffer, collectively known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvline.com\/interviews\/stranger-things-season-4-death-duffer-brothers-regret-1234836285\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Duffer Brothers<\/a>, has arguably been Netflix&#8217;s most popular franchise since its debut in 2016. Drawing heavy inspiration from the works of Stephen King and Steven Spielberg, who creatively dominated the 1980s, the series is a blend of different genres, with a focus on horror, sci-fi, and coming-of-age themes. It features an ensemble cast, many of whom have gone on to become some of Hollywood&#8217;s most in-demand stars.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Prior to their mainstream breakthrough with &#8220;Stranger Things,&#8221; the Duffer Brothers worked on another sci-fi series that stands out as one of the most underrated of the 2010s. Fox&#8217;s &#8220;Wayward Pines,&#8221; which was developed by Chad Hodge and is based on author <a href=\"https:\/\/r.bttn.io?btn_ref=org-225e4e0aac880b8f&amp;btn_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FThe-Wayward-Pines-Trilogy%2Fdp%2FB09W9X23Y4%2Fref%3Dbooks_amazonstores_desktop_mfs_kss_ap_sba_0%3F_encoding%3DUTF8%26pd_rd_w%3DfsX4q%26content-id%3Damzn1.sym.bf7e59dd-d1d3-451b-a33e-7309134bd912%26pf_rd_p%3Dbf7e59dd-d1d3-451b-a33e-7309134bd912%26pf_rd_r%3D130-6102860-8098659%26pd_rd_wg%3DhMMah%26pd_rd_r%3Da63ad38f-b7fd-406b-ba28-aa0d32354ba4%26tag%3Dstaticmedia-tvline-20&amp;btn_pub_ref=2032002-in_text-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\">Blake Crouch&#8217;s trilogy of novels<\/a>, was one of the first major productions in which they took part.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Wayward Pines,&#8221; which ran from 2015-2016, boasted a stellar cast that included Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard,\u00a0Carla Gugino, Toby\u00a0Jones and Jason Patric. Beginning with the disappearance of two\u00a0U.S. Secret Service Agents, the show&#8217;s plot follows a sprawling web of mysterious sci-fi intrigue that befalls a small Idaho town.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                Life before Hawkins, Indiana found the Duffer Brothers in Wayward Pines, Idaho<\/p>\n<p>                                             &#13;<br \/>\n                                                    &#13;<br \/>\n                            &#13;<br \/>\n                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/life-before-hawkins-indiana-found-the-duffer-brothers-in-wayward-pines-idaho-1760229371.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.tvline.com\/2032002\/stranger-things-the-duffer-brothers-sci-fi-series-wayward-pines\/\" data-post-id=\"2032002\" data-slide-num=\"1\" data-slide-title=\"Before Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers Worked On An Underrated Sci-Fi Series: Life before Hawkins, Indiana found the Duffer Brothers in Wayward Pines, Idaho\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" alt=\"The First Generation patrol the streets of the titular \" wayward=\"\" pines=\"\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    Fox<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Duffer Brothers&#8217; work on &#8220;Wayward Pines&#8221; was limited to the first season. Their first contribution was the fifth episode, titled &#8220;The Truth,&#8221; which they co-wrote with author Blake Crouch. The fifth episode concludes the arc based on Crouch&#8217;s first entry in the trilogy, &#8220;Pines,&#8221; which was published in 2012, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvline.com\/interviews\/wayward-pines-episode-5-secrets-revealed-carla-gugino-preview-618392\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">and gives viewers the ultimate revelation about the titular town in Idaho<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Duffer Brothers helped write three more episodes of &#8220;Wayward Pines.&#8221;\u00a0 These entries include the subsequent episode, &#8220;Choices,&#8221; and the final two episodes of the first season, &#8220;A Reckoning&#8221; and &#8220;Cycle.&#8221; The latter half of the first season adapt the events covered in Crouch&#8217;s next two novels, &#8220;Wayward&#8221; and &#8220;The Last Town.&#8221; Fox renewed &#8220;Wayward Pines&#8221; for a second season following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvline.com\/ratings\/wayward-pines-series-finale-ratings-629011\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">impressive ratings during summer 2015<\/a>, but the network ultimately cancelled the series.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0For fans interested in the Duffers&#8217; pre-Upside Down work, &#8220;Wayward Pines&#8221; is available to stream on Hulu.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Netflix We may receive a commission on purchases&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-300302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}