Why we’re still obsessed with STRANGER THINGS
The new season of the iconic Netflix series is set to be the biggest and best yet
We’ve seen the new series of Stranger Things and it is scary. And funny. And emotional. And actionpacked. In other words, it’s more of what made it an instant pop-culture phenomenon when it arrived in 2016. But more so. Now on its long-awaited fourth season – which Netflix is splitting into two halves (the first load of eps airing Friday 27 May, followed by the rest in July) – the show has won 65 awards, including Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAS and People’s Choice Awards, and it’s one of the streaming service’s most-watched titles, with season three getting 582million viewed hours. It’s now the second-most popular English-language series in the Netflix Top 10, after a little show called Bridgerton. Yet the two shows could not be more different. So, what makes Stranger Things such an extraordinary success?
THE INFLUENCES
This is a show whose style and tone is every bit as important as its storyline. When creators The Duffer Brothers first conceived it, they had in mind a mini-series titled Montauk, which would be, according to their initial pitch document, “a love letter to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and
Stephen King – a marriage of human drama and supernatural fear”. In the end, they decided to create a fictional midwestern town rather than set it in the real Long Island, New York town of Montauk, but the importance of ’80s Spielberg films like ET, Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and legendary Stephen King adaptation Stand By Me, was palpable from the very first episode. The genius of those classic movies is they mix sci-fi, fantasy, adventure and horror elements with teen drama and romance, all of which end up as key ingredients in the Stranger Things mix.
THE CAST
It’s no exaggeration to say that this project has created a whole new generation of acting stars, as well as a bunch of multimillionaire teenagers. In a move that’s surprisingly rare for shows about highschoolers, the producers actually cast real teenagers in Stranger Things. The core characters that make up the gang of nerdy kids – Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will – are played by Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb Mclaughlin and Noah Schnapp, who were all around 13/14 when they filmed season one. And the mysterious, supernaturally gifted Eleven, who changed their lives when they met
‘It feels like it was made in the ’80s’
her in that first run, is of course played by Millie Bobby Brown, who was only 12 when she joined the show. They’re all now multi-millionaires, earning $250,000 per episode, while experts estimate Millie, now 18, is already worth $10million. The show also catapulted its slightly older cast into the limelight, too, with Charlie
Heaton, Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery all becoming movie stars. As for the genius decisions to bring in the great Winona Ryder as the show’s mother figure, and David Harbour as Chief of Police Jim Hopper, have both paid off massively. David, who married Lily Allen in 2020, is so important to the show, he seems to have defied certain death at the end of season three.
THE NOSTALGIA
Perhaps the key element that makes the show so appealing to different generations of viewers is the warm glow of its nostalgic ’80s setting. The series is so wedded to its ’80s influences that the makers give the episodes a grainy look to match the visuals of those Spielberg movies. They also deploy a superb mix of original songs from the era, with key sequences soundtracked to the likes of New Order, The Bangles, Peter Gabriel, and even Foreigner, who they’ve helped make cool somehow. As well as the authentic costumes and hairstyles, the producers also litter the show with visuals from the decade. When we were lucky enough to visit the set when they were filming season three, the production designer explained that they used ebay to find genuine ’80s objects from the period to make the whole show feel authentic.
Stranger Things actually feels like it was made in the ’80s, as well as being set then. And from what we’ve seen of the new episodes, the look of the show and its scarier, more horrorinflected tone (think Friday The 13th, Halloween etc), are going to make for the most stunning season yet. ■
Stranger Things Season Four Volume One arrives 27 May on Netflix