Stranger Things was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, known
professionally as the Duffer Brothers,[34] 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.[35] 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.[36]
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.[37] They pitched the story to about 15 cable networks, [38] all of
whom felt a plot with children as leading characters would not 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. [36]
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, [39] and
in April of the same year, the series was announced for a 2016 release. [40]
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.[37] 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. [41]
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[42]
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 several real-world conspiracy theories involving secret
government experiments.[40][43] 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.[44] 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.
[44]
With the location change, 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. [45]
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, to establish the tone of the series.[42]
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". [36]
To introduce this monster into the narrative, they considered "bizarre
experiments we had read about taking place in the Cold War" such
as 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. [36] 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, [36]
[46]
crafting it in the realm of science fiction and horror. [47]
Other influences cited by the Duffers include: Stephen King novels; films
produced by Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, David Lynch, Wes Craven,
[48][49][50][51]
and Guillermo del Toro;[45] films such as Star Wars, Alien,
and Stand by Me;[45][49][52] Japanese anime such as Akira and Elfen Lied;[45]
[48]
and several video games including Silent Hill, Dark Souls and The Last
of Us.[53][54][48] The Duffers 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.[44] Several websites and publications have found other pop culture
references in the series, particularly references to 1980s pop culture. [55][56]
[57][58]
The primary antagonist for the final two seasons, Vecna, was inspired
by the villains that scared the brothers when they watched the movies
and miniseries as children: Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, and Pennywise.[59]
With Netflix as the platform, the Duffers 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 make it
difficult to "tell a cinematic story". 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.[37] 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 chose to greenlight more.[60]
Regarding writing for the children characters of the series, the Duffers
considered themselves outcasts from other students while in high school
and thus found it easy to write for Mike and his friends, and particularly for
Barb.[45] Joyce was fashioned after Richard Dreyfuss' character Roy Neary
in the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as she appears
"absolutely bonkers" to everyone else as she tries to find Will. [61]
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 the unnamed chief of police, respectively.
[23]
Ryder's sole condition to the Duffers in accepting the part was that, if a
sequel to Beetlejuice (1988) ever materialized as she and Tim Burton had
been discussing since 2000, they had to let her take a break to shoot it, a
condition the Duffers agreed and ultimately proved to work out
when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) was greenlit.[62] 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 1980s
films.[36]
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. [63] 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".[45][64]
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.[24] In September 2015, Cara Buono joined the cast as
Karen,[25] followed by Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner a month later.
[26]
Additional cast who recur include Noah Schnapp as Will,[24][29] Shannon
Purser as Barbara "Barb" Holland,[65] Joe Keery as Steve Harrington,[30]
[29]
and Ross Partridge as Lonnie,[66] among others.
Actors auditioning for the children's roles read lines from the 1986
film Stand by Me.[36] The Duffers 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.[37]
As casting had begun immediately after Netflix greenlit the series, and
prior to the scripts being fully completed, this allowed some of the actors'
takes on the roles to reflect on 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.[60] 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.[61]
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.[44]
Filming for 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.[67] Jackson served as the basis of the
fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.[68][69] 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.[70]
Filming locations also included 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.[71] Set work was
done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta[71] and the first season was filmed
with a RED Epic Dragon camera.[61][72] Filming for the first season
concluded in early 2016.[68]
After the third season finished filming, producers considered the idea of
keeping the Starcourt Mall set as a permanent attraction for fans to visit,
but ultimately decided against it.[73]
Filming for the fourth season was slated to begin in January 2020 and to
last through August.[74] With the release of a February 2020 teaser for the
season, the Duffers confirmed that production had started. [75] Some
filming for the fourth season took place at Lukiškės Prison and nearby
in Vilnius, Lithuania.[76] In March 2020, production was stopped due to
the COVID-19 pandemic,[77] and resumed that September.[78]
Filming for the fifth and final season was expected to start in June 2023,
[79]
before the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike delayed it to January 8,
2024.[80] Production began on that day and wrapped on December 20. [81]
Visual effects
To create the aged effect for the series, a film grain was added over the
footage, which was captured by scanning in film stock from the 1980s.
[61]
The Duffer Brothers wanted to scare the audience, but not to
necessarily make the series violent or gory, following in line with how the
1980s Amblin Entertainment films drove the creation of the PG-13 movie
rating. They said such films were "much more about mood and
atmosphere and suspense and dread than they are about gore", though
they were not afraid to push into more scary elements, particularly
towards the end of the first season.[61]
The brothers had wanted to avoid any computer-generated effects for the
monster and other parts of the series and stay with practical effects, so
they created an animatronic to play the part of the Demogorgon. [82]
[83]
However, the six-month filming time left them little time to plan out
and test practical effects rigs for some of the shots. They went with a
middle ground of using constructed props, including one for the monster
whenever they could, but for other shots, such as when the monster
bursts through a wall, they opted to use digital effects. Post-production on
the first season was completed the week before it was released to Netflix.
[36]
The title sequence uses close-ups of the letters in the Stranger Things title
with a red tint against a black background as they slide into place within
the title. The sequence was created by the studio Imaginary Forces,
formerly part of R/GA, led by creative director Michelle Doughtey.[84] Levy
introduced the studio to the Duffer Brothers, who explained their vision of
the 1980s-inspired series, which helped the studio to fix the concept the
producers wanted. Later, but before filming, the producers sent Imaginary
Forces the pilot script, the synth-heavy background music for the titles, as
well as the various book covers from King and other authors that they had
used to establish the title and imagery, and were looking for a similar
approach for the series' titles, primarily using a typographical sequence. [85]
They took inspiration from several title sequences of works from the
1980s that were previously designed by Richard Greenberg under R/GA,
such as Altered States and The Dead Zone. They also got input from Dan
Perri, who worked on the title credits of several 1980s films. Various
iterations included having letters vanish, to reflect the "missing" theme of
the series, and having letters cast shadows on others, alluding to the
mysteries, before settling into the sliding letters. The studio began
working on the title sequence before filming, and took about a month off
during the filming process to let the producers get immersed in the series
and come back with more input.[85]
Initially, they had been working with various fonts for the title and used
close-ups of the best features of these fonts, but near the end, the
producers wanted to work with ITC Benguiat, requiring them to rework
those shots. The final sequence is fully computer-generated, but they took
inspiration from testing some practical effects, such as using Kodalith
masks as would have been done in the 1980s, to develop the appropriate
filters for the rendering software. The individual episode title cards used a
"fly through" approach, similar to the film Bullitt, which the producers had
suggested to the studio.[85]
Music
Main article: Music of Stranger Things
Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band Survive have
composed the original soundtrack for the show, including the show's
theme song.[86] It makes extensive use of synthesizers in homage to 1980s
artists and film composers including Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine
Dream, Vangelis, Goblin, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, and Fabio Frizzi.
[87]
According to Stein and Dixon, the Duffer Brothers had been fans of
Survive's music since the 2014 film The Guest.[86][88][89] Once the series was
green-lit, the Duffer Brothers contacted Survive around July 2015 to ask if
they were still doing music; the two provided the production team with
dozens of songs from their band's past to gain their interest, helping to
land them the role.[86]
In addition to original music, Stranger Things features period music from
artists including Joy Division, Toto, New Order, the Bangles, Foreigner, Bon
Jovi, The Police, Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Iron
Maiden and Corey Hart, as well as excerpts from Tangerine Dream, John
Carpenter, and Vangelis.[90][91] Some songs have been used as narrative
elements, such as The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" within the
first season,[91] and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in the fourth and
fifth seasons.[92] Some of these licensed songs saw subsequent resurgence
on sales charts after the respective seasons they featured in aired, most
notably "Running Up That Hill" and Metallica's "Master of Puppets" in the
fourth season, and Limahl's "The NeverEnding Story" in the third season.
[93][94][95]
Soundtracks containing the original compositions and the licensed music
for each season have been released by Lakeshore Records.
Release
The first season consisted of eight episodes which were released
worldwide on Netflix on July 15, 2016,[96] in Ultra HD 4K. The second
season, consisting of nine episodes, was released on October 27, 2017, in
HDR.[97][98] The third season once again consists of eight episodes, [99] and
was released on July 4, 2019.[100] The fourth season, consisting of nine
episodes, was released in two volumes on May 27 and July 1, 2022,
respectively.[101] In February 2022, Netflix renewed the series for a fifth and
final season.[102] The fifth season, consisting of eight episodes, premiered
its first volume on November 26, 2025, the second on December 25,
2025, and the series finale on December 31.[103]
Shortly after the fourth season's release, viewers reported that Will's
friends did not acknowledge his birthday in an episode of the season that
took place on that day. The Duffers said in an interview that they could
rectify the matter by changing its month, which they called "George
Lucas-ing the situation", in reference to the canon changes that George
Lucas had made to the original Star Wars trilogy to match what the
prequel trilogy had added.[104] Some viewers took this to imply that scenes
from earlier seasons were also being edited, including one scene where
Jonathan takes discreet pictures of a pool party that Steve, Nancy, and
Barbara are holding. The writers stated that "no scenes from previous
seasons have ever been cut or re-edited", including this scene. [104]
Home media
The first season was released on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack exclusively
to Target retailers on October 17, 2017, and the same for the 4K/Blu-ray
combo pack on November 15, 2017, both of which includes vintage CBS-
FOX VHS-inspired packaging.[105][106] The second season received a similar
release on November 6, 2018.[107][108]
little time to plan out and test practical effects rigs for some of the shots.
They went with a middle ground of using constructed props, including one
for the monster whenever they could, but for other shots, such as when
the monster bursts through a wall, they opted to use digital effects. Post-
production on the first season was completed the week before it was
released to Netflix.[36]
The title sequence uses close-ups of the letters in the Stranger Things title
with a red tint against a black background as they slide into place within
the title. The sequence was created by the studio Imaginary Forces,
formerly part of R/GA, led by creative director Michelle Doughtey.[84] Levy
introduced the studio to the Duffer Brothers, who explained their vision of
the 1980s-inspired series, which helped the studio to fix the concept the
producers wanted. Later, but before filming, the producers sent Imaginary
Forces the pilot script, the synth-heavy background music for the titles, as
well as the various book covers from King and other authors that they had
used to establish the title and imagery, and were looking for a similar
approach for the series' titles, primarily using a typographical sequence. [85]
They took inspiration from several title sequences of works from the
1980s that were previously designed by Richard Greenberg under R/GA,
such as Altered States and The Dead Zone. They also got input from Dan
Perri, who worked on the title credits of several 1980s films. Various
iterations included having letters vanish, to reflect the "missing" theme of
the series, and having letters cast shadows on others, alluding to the
mysteries, before settling into the sliding letters. The studio began
working on the title sequence before filming, and took about a month off
during the filming process to let the producers get immersed in the series
and come back with more input.[85]
Initially, they had been working with various fonts for the title and used
close-ups of the best features of these fonts, but near the end, the
producers wanted to work with ITC Benguiat, requiring them to rework
those shots. The final sequence is fully computer-generated, but they took
inspiration from testing some practical effects, such as using Kodalith
masks as would have been done in the 1980s, to develop the appropriate
filters for the rendering software. The individual episode title cards used a
"fly through" approach, similar to the film Bullitt, which the producers had
suggested to the studio.[85]
Music
Main article: Music of Stranger Things
Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of the electronic band Survive have
composed the original soundtrack for the show, including the show's
theme song.[86] It makes extensive use of synthesizers in homage to 1980s
artists and film composers including Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine
Dream, Vangelis, Goblin, John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, and Fabio Frizzi.
[87]
According to Stein and Dixon, the Duffer Brothers had been fans of
Survive's music since the 2014 film The Guest.[86][88][89] Once the series was
green-lit, the Duffer Brothers contacted Survive around July 2015 to ask if
they were still doing music; the two provided the production team with
dozens of songs from their band's past to gain their interest, helping to
land them the role.[86]
In addition to original music, Stranger Things features period music from
artists including Joy Division, Toto, New Order, the Bangles, Foreigner, Bon
Jovi, The Police, Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Iron
Maiden and Corey Hart, as well as excerpts from Tangerine Dream, John
Carpenter, and Vangelis.[90][91] Some songs have been used as narrative
elements, such as The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" within the
first season,[91] and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in the fourth and
fifth seasons.[92] Some of these licensed songs saw subsequent resurgence
on sales charts after the respective seasons they featured in aired, most
notably "Running Up That Hill" and Metallica's "Master of Puppets" in the
fourth season, and Limahl's "The NeverEnding Story" in the third season.
[93][94][95]
Soundtracks containing the original compositions and the licensed music
for each season have been released by Lakeshore Records.
Release
The first season consisted of eight episodes which were released
worldwide on Netflix on July 15, 2016,[96] in Ultra HD 4K. The second
season, consisting of nine episodes, was released on October 27, 2017, in
HDR.[97][98] The third season once again consists of eight episodes, [99] and
was released on July 4, 2019.[100] The fourth season, consisting of nine
episodes, was released in two volumes on May 27 and July 1, 2022,
respectively.[101] In February 2022, Netflix renewed the series for a fifth and
final season.[102] The fifth season, consisting of eight episodes, premiered
its first volume on November 26, 2025, the second on December 25,
2025, and the series finale on December 31.[103]
Shortly after the fourth season's release, viewers reported that Will's
friends did not acknowledge his birthday in an episode of the season that
took place on that day. The Duffers said in an interview that they could
rectify the matter by changing its month, which they called "George
Lucas-ing the situation", in reference to the canon changes that George
Lucas had made to the original Star Wars trilogy to match what the
prequel trilogy had added.[104] Some viewers took this to imply that scenes
from earlier seasons were also being edited, including one scene where
Jonathan takes discreet pictures of a pool party that Steve, Nancy, and
Barbara are holding. The writers stated that "no scenes from previous
seasons have ever been cut or re-edited", including this scene. [104]
Home media
The first season was released on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack exclusively
to Target retailers on October 17, 2017, and the same for the 4K/Blu-ray
combo pack on November 15, 2017, both of which includes vintage CBS-
FOX VHS-inspired packaging.[105][106] The second season received a similar
release on November 6, 2018.[107][108]