![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cBang!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tInside a dark military lab, a booming voice announces an unseen explosive event, and Millie Bobby Brown falls to the floor, a drop of blood trickling from her nose. Sirens flash above her as she curls up amid piles of shattered glass and smashed equipment, signs of a recent, violent struggle. She cries out in pain, and the disembodied voice speaks once more.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou hear footsteps coming from behind the door,\u201d says Matt Duffer, his direction piped in from a hidden speaker. \u201cCloser. Closer. Door opens. You see something! Get up. Cut!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Pfluger for Variety<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s July 2024, and Matt and his twin brother, Ross Duffer, are on the Atlanta set of the fifth and final season of \u201cStranger Things<\/a>,\u201d the television phenomenon they created that propelled Netflix<\/a> from an upstart streamer into a transformative force in the entertainment industry. They\u2019re in the middle of directing the show\u2019s feature-length fourth episode, \u201cSorcerer,\u201d and today\u2019s scene, Day 131 of the yearlong shoot, places Brown\u2019s psychokinetic teenage heroine Eleven at the precipice of a game-changing revelation. (Fear not: This story will be spoiler free.)<\/p>\n \n\tMatt Duffer (he\u2019s the chattier one, with longer, unkempt hair, a streak of which is white above his forehead)\u00a0and Ross Duffer (he\u2019s the quieter one, with shorter hair and a perpetual enigmatic smile) sit at the nearby monitors. While the crew prepares to shoot what happens once Eleven passes through that mysterious door, Brown wanders over to watch playback of what she\u2019s just filmed.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI need to pee so badly, but I really want to see it,\u201d she says. \u201cDid you like the last one? The one before?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRoss shrugs and laughs. \u201cI don\u2019t know. There were a lot of good ones!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ll just focus on my performance, like when I was 12,\u201d she says, with a dramatic sigh. \u201cI peaked at 12.\u201d She cackles as she passes by a reporter. \u201cYou can write that in Variety. I peaked at 12 and it\u2019s been downhill ever since!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLater in the day, the brothers sit down in the elaborate green room on Stage 16 of the 35-acre production facility. Alongside a ping pong table and the \u201cStranger Things\u201d pinball game, a re-creation of the show\u2019s famed Christmas lights alphabet from Season 1 is on display \u2014 a reminder of how far the pair have come since the show first premiered in 2016. When they started, they were unknown 30-somethings with few credits to their name. Now, at 41, they\u2019re certified star-makers, having supercharged the careers of the cast (Brown, David Harbour, Sadie Sink, Joseph Quinn \u2014 the list goes on!), not to mention reasserting the pop-culture bona fides of \u201980s icons like Winona Ryder, Paul Reiser and Sean Astin. And now, with a lucrative new four-year deal for film and TV at Paramount for their production company, Upside Down Pictures, they\u2019re primed to become the crown princes of Hollywood.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u201cWe took very little time off, very little time for ourselves. The break between seasons was almost non-existent.\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Pfluger for Variety<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe are more confident and knowledgeable than we were back then,\u201d Matt says, taking a deep breath. \u201cBut there\u2019s all these other added pressures now. It feels like there\u2019s the Eye of Sauron on you, a lot of people watching, lots of expectations. A lot of money is being spent.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLike \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d and \u201cLost\u201d at their height, \u201cStranger Things\u201d has seized the public\u2019s imagination by blending a deep ensemble of richly drawn characters with dazzling \u2014 and expensive \u2014 genre storytelling on a cinematic scale. Like those earlier shows, too, \u201cStranger Things\u201d has woven a knotty mythology\u00a0\u2014 in this case, involving a phantasmagorical alternate dimension called the Upside Down that\u2019s populated with ferocious supernatural entities, along with a nefarious government program bent on weaponizing children with psychic abilities. The stakes of \u201cStranger Things\u201d are no less than the end of the world, all taking place within the bucolic 1980s suburban setting of fictional Hawkins, Indiana. The young stars have spent literally half their lives on this show, their characters\u2019 fierce and hard-fought bonds creating a found family that fans have devoured with ever-increasing popularity. The series has hit the Netflix Top 10 in all 93 countries that the company measures; Season 4 was the first-ever English-language series to cross 1 billion hours streamed on the platform, and continues to be the streamer\u2019s third-most-popular English-language TV title.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd now the Duffers must somehow resolve all of these plot threads, along with the storylines of a massive cast (with 21 series regulars for Season 5) \u2014 a daunting undertaking, especially considering how many prior hits haven\u2019t stuck the landing.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey have had their hearts broken by shows that they loved that failed fans in the end,\u201d says \u201cStranger Things\u201d executive producer Shawn Levy, who first championed the show (and the Duffers) through his company, 21 Laps, and brought it to Netflix in 2015. \u201cThey did not want, and do not want, and refuse to be one of those shows.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Duffers are acutely aware that the way they conclude \u201cStranger Things\u201d matters more than any other creative decision they\u2019ve made over the past decade. They\u2019ve been almost monomaniacally determined to deliver a climactic final eight episodes that provide not only a feeling of resolution, but of satisfying inevitability. So that, as Ross puts it, when future Netflix subscribers binge the entire series, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like we dropped a storyline \u2014\u00a0it all connects.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe do every last remaining thing we wanted to do with the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer and Vecna and the Upside Down and Hawkins and these characters,\u201d adds Matt. \u201cThis is a complete story. It\u2019s\u00a0done.\u201d (As for how much money they\u2019ve spent along the way, the Duffers decline to elaborate; all Netflix\u2019s chief creative officer Bela Bajaria will say is, \u201cWe want to spend as much money as it is to realize the vision of what\u2019s on the page, and this season is no different.\u201d A Puck report puts the budget at $50 million to $60 million per episode.)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u201cIt feels like a lightning-in-a-bottle situation. Which freaks us out, because it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, can we do that again?\u2019\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Pfluger for Variety<\/p>\n \n\tFor Netflix, \u201cStranger Things\u201d represents the first time the streamer learned how to be Netflix as we know it today. The company developed its now-robust consumer products division because of this show, and has partnered with brands ranging from Nike and Coca-Cola to Lego and Williams Sonoma to promote it. Funko, the show\u2019s first licensing partner, has sold an astonishing 14 million Pop figures, including 1 million Demogorgons, according to Netflix. Nor is merch the only brand extension: The prequel play \u201cStranger Things: The First Shadow\u201d has been running in the West End (since December 2023) and on Broadway (since April), and has won two Olivier and three Tony awards.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s no surprise that Netflix is expecting the show to dominate the holiday season: The first four episodes premiere over Thanksgiving, the next three at Christmas and the finale on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen we finish a season, there\u2019s always the safety net of \u2018Oh, we get to go back to these characters,\u2019\u201d says Ross. \u201cThat is going to be the hardest thing to adjust to, when it\u2019s January 1 and it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, we don\u2019t have that!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThese final months were always going to be bittersweet for the Duffers, but the Paramount deal, landing right as Netflix is about to crank up the volume on its global campaign for their show, has made this time even more dramatic. They still have business at the only home they\u2019ve ever really known, including (among other projects) an as-yet undetermined \u201cStranger Things\u201d spinoff series. But when their deal there concludes in April, the Duffers will abandon the \u201ccrazy creative leash we have at Netflix,\u201d Matt says, for a wide-open future that won\u2019t be governed by streaming algorithms or defined by their single, and singular, success.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cStranger Things\u201d made its debut amid the fevered first waves of Peak TV, when two guys with no track record could be afforded the creative freedom and gargantuan resources to tell their story their way. \u201cIt feels like a lightning-in-a-bottle situation,\u201d says Matt. \u201cWhich freaks us out, because it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, can we do that again?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBack on the set, Matt and Ross are standing with their crew, planning the next extremely spoiler-y sequence. A last-minute suggestion from Brown has turned the Duffers\u2019 careful plans for it, yes, upside down.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRoss and I will talk about how we\u2019re going to cut it together,\u201d Matt announces as his brother, nervously chewing on a pen cap, stands next to him. Minutes later, they walk back to the monitors to have that conversation, watching on Ross\u2019 phone footage that they\u2019ve already shot, their heads inches apart, their voices murmuring barely above a whisper.<\/p>\n \n\tThis, it turns out, is as close to a moment of discord as the Duffers ever have in public.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere was a small disagreement there,\u201d Matt says later, his eyes shooting to his brother.<\/p>\n \n\tRoss smiles. \u201cWe prefer not to disagree in front of groups of people.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEveryone thinks Ross and I always agree on everything,\u201d Matt adds. \u201cIt\u2019s just not true. We do a good job of hiding it.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tNoah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Ross and Matt Duffer on the set of Season 5 of \u201cStranger Things\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAtsushi Nishijima\/Netflix<\/p>\n \n\tSince their childhood in Durham, North Carolina as wholehearted film nerds seeing movies with their father whenever they could, the Duffers have lived inside what Levy affectionally calls a \u201cbubble of twinship.\u201d Sitting together in their postproduction offices in Los Angeles more than a year later, Matt goes bug-eyed when he\u2019s asked how often he and Ross are apart. \u201cWhen it comes to work, never, except when we\u2019re working on our individual computers \u2014\u00a0so what is that, five feet?\u201d he says with a laugh, bending his body into an awkward angle in his chair. \u201cThere have been a couple instances when Ross is not there, and it does cause quite a bit of panic for me. There was one time where he was gone for one shot and I did an obscene amount of takes, like 20 takes, just because I couldn\u2019t live with the idea that he was unhappy with how it turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWriting \u201cStranger Things\u201d makes their mind-meld, if anything, even stronger. \u201cRoss paces back and forth all day, and Matt sits in a chair, and they look very unhappy because their brains are going all the time,\u201d says writer Paul Dichter, who began as a writer\u2019s assistant on Season 1. \u201cAnd then when someone has a good idea \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey come alive,\u201d interjects fellow writer Kate Trefry (who also penned \u201cThe First Shadow\u201d). \u201cYou think they\u2019re not paying attention for the longest time, but they\u2019re just existing in a different dimension.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Duffers\u2019 bubble of twinship was already well established when M. Night Shyamalan began working with them as writers on the first season of his mid-2010s Fox series \u201cWayward Pines. \u201cIt was kind of unfair, because there\u2019s two of them,\u201d Shyamalan says. \u201cAnd they were going twice as fast. They were sharing a document, and they were working on different parts of the document at the same time, with their screens back-to-back. Obviously, that\u2019s unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShyamalan hired them on the strength of their screenplay for their feature directorial debut. They\u2019d shot \u201cHidden\u201d in 2012, and Warner Bros. eventually dumped it onto VOD in 2015. Convinced their filmmaking careers were over, they soaked up as much as they could about episodic television from \u201cWayward Pines\u201d so they would feel assured enough to begin pitching \u201cStranger Things.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLevy is still giddy recalling his experience of reading the pilot script for the first time. \u201cIt was breaking so many rules,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a show about kids that wasn\u2019t for kids. It was coming-of-age sweetness with horror-genre darkness. It transgressed with such assurance.\u201d And yet, from his first meeting with the brothers in March 2015 through production on the first season that fall, Levy was also struck by the contrast between the confidence of their writing and their shy real-life presentation.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy first impression was hair-twirling and gum fidgeting,\u201d he says. \u201cThey told me straight up: \u2018We don\u2019t do great talking about feelings. Our feelings are in our writing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey poured so much of themselves into the show\u2019s first season, from their cinematic obsessions with Steven Spielberg-like kidventure and Stephen King-inspired terror to their early adolescence as outcast geeks with a small, fiercely loyal circle of friends. \u201cWe were playing Magic: The Gathering and video games and making movies and having adventures in the woods,\u201d Ross says. \u201cA lot of the show, especially the early years, was us tapping into that feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tIn 2015, the Duffers with Millie Bobby Brown, Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard and McLaughlin<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurtis Baker\/Netflix<\/p>\n \n\tCrucially, they cast the series by seeking out young actors who captured that same misfit spirit: Noah Schnapp as the gentle, diminutive Will Byers, whose abduction into the Upside Down is the catalyst for the series; Finn Wolfhard, all sharp angles and gangly limbs, as the awkward group leader Mike Wheeler; Caleb McLaughlin as the steady, stalwart Lucas Sinclair, the coolest of the nerds; and Gaten Matarazzo as the bighearted and brash Dustin Henderson. The Duffers even wrote Matarazzo\u2019s cleidocranial dysplasia into his character.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI wasn\u2019t shy talking about it,\u201d Matarazzo, now 23, says. \u201cBut they asked specifically. They said they\u2019d cast the kids in the show because of their differences, and not in spite of them. It was more them prioritizing how comfortable I was going to be that really stuck with me \u2014 and still does.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMaya Hawke joined the cast in Season 3 as the motormouthed teenager Robin, and noticed that the character has evolved out of both the Duffers\u2019 writing and her own personality. \u201cRobin isn\u2019t me \u2014 but I think she\u2019s how Matt and Ross\u00a0see\u00a0me,\u201d she says. \u201cI was always like, \u2018Why is she always saying that she puts her foot in her mouth all the time?\u2019 They\u2019re like, \u2018Because you do that!\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I don\u2019t! I\u2019m 100% elegant, 100% of the time.\u2019 And they\u2019re like, \u2018Uh-huh.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAs the show progressed, this kind of familial collaboration expanded the reach of the Duffers\u2019 bond into a far wider community to include the cast and crew, which numbered more than 2,800 for Season 5. \u201cWe do speak a certain language with each other,\u201d says Wolfhard. \u201cI don\u2019t talk to anyone the same way that I talk to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEven when stuff is going on in our personal lives, I never feel scared or judged by them, which is really comforting,\u201d says Schnapp. \u201cOnce you get to set, they just greet you with a smile and bring you right into what you need to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEverything\u2019s on them,\u201d says McLaughlin. \u201cThe actors, the producers, the PAs, ADs \u2014 everyone\u2019s \u2018Matt, Ross, do this, do that!\u2019 Like, I\u2019ve never seen them break. They\u2019ve kept their composure for so long. They\u2019ve been great role models in that way \u2014 as men, as creators \u2014 to be patient with your work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith success far from guaranteed and their careers on the line, their work on the early seasons of \u201cStranger Things\u201d was \u201cseven days a week,\u201d says Ross. \u201cWe took very little time off, very little time for ourselves. The break between seasons was almost non-existent.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRoss Duffer, Brown and Matt Duffer at the \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 premiere on July 11, 2016<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPenske Media via Getty Images<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cApart from their talent and their intelligence, they work really hard,\u201d says Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper, Eleven\u2019s adoptive father and Hawkins\u2019 former police chief. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen any two human beings work harder than they do, sometimes to the point where you want to go, like, \u2018Other people can do things for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAside from the delays caused by the pandemic and guild strikes, the Duffers admit their immersion was a problem of their own making. They were determined to direct as much of the show as possible \u2014\u00a0almost unheard of for showrunners working in genre TV. (Including the finale, they will have helmed 24 out of 42 episodes.) Their favorite filmmakers, such as Michael Mann, Peter Weir and David Fincher, \u201ctend to be obsessive,\u201d Matt says.<\/p>\n \n\tBut they also understand that it didn\u2019t have to turn out this way. \u201cPart of me regrets not having been able to tell more different stories over the course of 10 years,\u201d he continues. \u201cSometimes I wonder about that \u2014 because it ate up our entire 30s. I wish we had gotten it done a little faster, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe shoots a quick look at Ross, who jumps in. \u201cBut when we started, it was very early Netflix,\u201d he says, exuding a Zen-like calm in contrast to his brother\u2019s restlessness. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know how many more opportunities there are going to be to tell stories of this length on that size canvas. So whenever I have the regrets that Matt was saying, I\u2019m excited that we were able to take advantage of this very specific period of time in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTo go this long was our choice,\u201d Matt adds. \u201cWe could have jumped ship and done movies, and we elected not to \u2014 and I\u2019m glad we didn\u2019t. We finished telling this story, and luckily we weren\u2019t too old when we started it, so we\u2019re OK. I mean, Ridley Scott didn\u2019t start making movies until he was in his 40s.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShortly after Skydance Media\u2019s deal to buy Paramount Global closed on Aug. 7,<\/a> the Duffers heard from Cindy Holland, Paramount\u2019s recently installed head of direct-to-consumer content, who oversaw \u201cStranger Things\u201d when she was Netflix\u2019s head of original content. \u201cIt all happened very quickly,\u201d Ross says of Paramount\u2019s bombshell proposition. He\u2019s not exaggerating: One week later, Variety<\/a> reported that Paramount and the Duffers were in talks to move Upside Down Pictures from Netflix to Paramount. They officially signed the deal<\/a> on Aug. 19.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Duffers stress that they hadn\u2019t been looking to leave, but as they discussed their future throughout the making of Season 5, they realized that what they most wanted wasn\u2019t creating and running another series. It was to make their first theatrically released movie.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEven though I have a great projector in my house, I still take my 4-year-old to the theater,\u201d Matt says. \u201cWe get her a giant Icee and giant popcorn. It\u2019s just something that we\u2019ve always wanted to do. We\u2019ve never had that experience.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe\u2019re going to turn 42 soon,\u201d he continues. \u201cI was like, \u2018If we\u2019re going to do a movie for the theaters, let\u2019s go!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen asked whether they\u2019re concerned about any of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison\u2019s recent headline-grabbing moves that appear to telegraph the company\u2019s rightward tilt, they hesitate, exchanging sharp glances before answering. \u201cWe\u2019re used to having creative freedom to do what we want to do and what we want to tell,\u201d Ross says carefully. \u201cParamount\u2019s 100% behind it.\u201d He looks over to Matt.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt all comes down to relationships,\u201d Matt adds. Along with Holland, Matt Thunell, the new head of Paramount TV, was the executive on \u201cStranger Things\u201d until he left Netflix for Skydance in fall 2022. The Duffers had been with Thunell \u201csince the beginning of the show,\u201d Ross says, and \u201cwe\u2019ve kept in touch off and on with Cindy through the years \u2014 Cindy\u2019s incredible, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhatever\u2019s in the press is in the press,\u201d Matt says. \u201cI care about who I know \u2014 it\u2019s Cindy and Matt. I trust them completely.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRoss and Matt Duffer on the set of Season 5 of \u201cStranger Things\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClay Enos\/Netflix<\/p>\n \n\tThey decline to discuss their negotiations with Paramount or Netflix\u2019s counteroffer. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get into the specifics of it,\u201d Matt says. \u201cBut I will say the biggest draw to us was just to be able to do something theatrical, which is not something Netflix does.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBajaria \u2014 who replaced Holland after she was fired in 2020 \u2014 echoes that point. \u201cI knew that the very traditional theatrical release was important to them if they really wanted to start doing film,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tThe success of the \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d sing-along theatrical event in August, and the impending Imax release of Greta Gerwig\u2019s \u201cChronicles of Narnia\u201d adaptation, sparked a glimmer of hope for the Duffers that the \u201cStranger Things\u201d finale could be shown in theaters. \u201cPeople don\u2019t get to experience how much time and effort is spent on sound and picture, and they\u2019re seeing it at reduced quality,\u201d Matt says. \u201cMore than that, it\u2019s about experiencing it at the same time with fans.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Variety broaches with Bajaria the idea of putting the finale in theaters, however, she shoots it down. \u201cA lot of people \u2014 a lot, a lot, a lot of people \u2014 have watched \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 on Netflix,\u201d she says. \u201cIt has not suffered from lack of conversation or community or sharing or fandom. I think releasing it on Netflix is giving the fans what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs for the Paramount deal? \u201cI had a very honest conversation with them, right?\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve told them we\u2019d always be fans and friends. We\u2019re so proud of everything we\u2019ve built together.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIf Bajaria doesn\u2019t sound devastated about losing two of her company\u2019s top homegrown creators, perhaps it\u2019s because the Duffers will continue to build with Netflix. Two new shows from Upside Down Pictures will premiere on the streamer in the first half of 2026 \u2014 \u201cThe Boroughs\u201d (about seniors in a retirement community combating the supernatural) and \u201cSomething Very Bad Is Going to Happen\u201d (a horror-filled week leading up to a wedding) \u2014 which, if successful, would be ongoing series they\u2019d continue to executive produce. The animated offshoot \u201cStranger Things: Tales From \u201985,\u201d currently without a release date, is set during the winter after the events of the second season. That\u2019s ideal, Matt says, \u201cbecause the kids can stay young forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThen there\u2019s the spinoff. Matt reiterates that they have no desire to \u201cincreasingly expand what could become an insanely convoluted mythology\u201d after Season 5. Instead, another \u201cStranger Things\u201d show, Ross says, would \u201clive in a bit of a different world,\u201d but \u201cthere\u2019s going to be connective tissue.\u201d Yes, they\u2019ve been imagining that world\u00a0\u2014 but no, they aren\u2019t telling anyone, including their closest collaborators, about it yet.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey\u2019ve been very protective of spinoff talk, and\u00a0I understand that the Matt-Ross bubble is sacred,\u201d Levy says. \u201cI\u2019m excited to extend the storytelling life of \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 \u2014 I\u2019m not going to call it a \u2018universe,\u2019 because that would be obnoxious.\u201d He pauses. \u201cThe \u2018STU\u2019? Too soon? Shit, I know you\u2019re going to use that!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEven with the wait, however, \u201cNetflix has been surprisingly patient,\u201d Matt says. \u201cI feel that patience wearing thin a little bit, with the show coming to an end. But they\u2019re understanding.\u201d (After asking what the Duffers told Variety about the spinoff, Bajaria says there\u2019s no set timeline. \u201cI\u2019d always love more \u2018Stranger Things,\u2019\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cWhen they\u2019re ready, we\u2019ll be ready.\u201d)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRoss Duffer, David Harbour, Matt Duffer, Brown and Winona Ryder on the set of Season 5 of \u201cStranger Things\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAtsushi Nishijima\/Netflix<\/p>\n \n\tWhatever the spinoff turns out to be, the Duffers will no longer have the all-consuming jobs of being its showrunners. They\u2019ll be \u201cheavily creatively involved,\u201d Ross says. \u201cBut we\u2019ll, hopefully, be writing and directing something new in the meantime, helping shepherd it along.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Ross Duffer<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Matt Duffer<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n