Netflix has any number of successful original series available on their streaming platform, but easily the most talked-about this year has been Stranger Things, the 80s homage mystery series that centered on a group of charismatic kids, one of their missing friends, diabolical otherworldly research, and the arrival of a super-powered girl who may be the key to solving everything. There was no surprise that a second season would be on the way, but that renewal comes with its own set of complications for the Stranger Things team.

Shawn Levy, who produced the series through his 21 Laps banner, recently visited with the fine folks of Southern California Public Radio to talk about the success of Stranger Things and the impending production of another season. Though he didn't give up any solid plot details, we do have a promise that Season 2 will attempt to encompass the things we loved about the first season while pushing the crazy level to new heights, yet it will stay honest to the young cast that fans have come to know and love. A tough task for sure, but Levy, the Duffer Brothers, and the capable cast are surely up to the challenge.


Image via Netflix[/caption]

Here's what Levy had to say on the pressures of pulling off a successful second season:

Yes, the pressure is on. It would be so blatantly disingenuous of me to say differently. It's scary to have people love something this much. It becomes impossible to banish all thoughts of not wanting to disappoint. This has been the challenge of it: on the one hand as we've see in the movie world, to do a follow-up that feels like the same thing is disappointing to an audience; to abandon things or change things [from the original], that disappoints the audience.

 

A lot of Season 2 is next-level, some crazy stuff, but we must service these characters who are now beloved, who are known to the audience.

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Image via Netflix

On the difficulties of their young cast's age difference:

We had dinner with the kids. We could see it right in front of us. They are not the same. They are still, thank God, charming and authentic, but it is a different form of those things.

Levy mentioned how the Duffer Brothers don't write characters in a way that forces an actor to wedge themselves into the role, but rather they write characters based on what they see in an actor. For the young cast who will be at least a year older in the new season, that's a particularly tough challenge that the Duffer Brothers seem ready to tackle, as Levy said:

I think we're going to stay honest with these kids by growing with them.


Image via Netflix[/caption]

Be sure to check out Steve's chat with Levy and Dan Cohen regarding Season 2 of Stranger Things here, and for more from Stranger Things, check out these recent links:

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