In August we told you how Netflix had renewed Stranger Things for a third season, with a fourth and final year all but guaranteed. However that no longer sounds like the case. But before you start staring us down like Eleven being denied Eggo waffles, this is good news for those of us who want to spend more time in the Upside Down, because it looks likely the show will end with a fifth season.
Executive producer Shawn Levy told Entertainment Weekly there were some broken hearts and frantic phone calls from actors’ agents after the four-season finish was first reported, but it now seems the show will have a later end date. “The truth is weâre definitely going four seasons and thereâs very much the possibility of a fifth,” Levy said. “Beyond that, it becomes, I think, very unlikely.”
The show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, said they were worried about stretching credibility with a story where big, horrible things happen to everyone. “I think thereâs going to come a point where ‘why arenât these people leaving Hawkins?'” said Ross Duffer.
So if they are now likely to do one more season, what might that mean for where the story ends up? We know season two takes place one year after the first, which puts the kids in the 13/14 range in 1984/85. If the show follows that timeline for each season, they’ll be 16 or 17 when it ends, making them juniors in high school at the end of the ’80s.
But what if they skip more time? That could bring them to college in the ’90s, and potentially far away from Hawkins.
We’ll have a better idea of what the future might hold after watching season two (debuting on Netflix this month on October 27th), but if the Duffer Brothers worry about people wondering why anyone would stay in Hawkins, our bet is we’ll see the story move away from that little town.
Either way, we’re just happy we’ll be getting more Stranger Things, even if it is weird how much time we want to spend in the Upside Down.
Where do you think the story could end up? Tell us your best theories in the comments below.
Images: Netflix
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