With Stranger Things Season 4 coming to Netflix on May 27, I recently got to speak to the creators of the series, Matt and Ross Duffer (the Duffer Brothers). During the brief but informative interview, they talked about how Season 4 became nine episodes instead of eight, how every episode is long but episodes seven and nine are like feature-length movies, why they’re happy Netflix made them write a 25-page bible about the Upside Down after Season 1, how Stranger Things Season 4 is going to be the most revelatory season, and how this season hints at some big events that are going to happen in Season 5.
In addition, unlike the previous seasons where the Duffer Brothers were trying to finish the scripts while they were shooting episodes, they had a six-month hiatus because of the pandemic where they used the time to write every episode in Season 4, and they also outlined all of Season 5. Matt Duffer explains:
“We had all the scripts before we started shooting, so we could look at the whole thing as a whole. And we outlined all of five. So it really is four and five or like of a piece, and this was due to the six-month hiatus that we had due to the pandemic. So we don't typically have as much time. It usually feels like the train is going down the tracks and Ross and I and our writers are just throwing down track as we're going, once we're halfway through the season. And for the first time ever, we were able to look at it globally, not just Season Four, but Season Five as well.”
I believe one of the reasons Season 4 is so good is due to the extra time spent on the scripts. Check out what the Duffer Brothers had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below.
Stranger Things Season 4 picks up six months after the events of the finale at the Starcourt Mall, and our main cast has been separated. We don’t know the fate of chief of police Jim Hopper (David Harbour), and the Byers family (including Noah Schnapp's Will, Winona Ryder's Joyce, and Charlie Heaton's Jonathan) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) have moved away from Hawkins, while Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), and Robin (Maya Hawke) try to carry on with their lives. It’s a time of peace. For now…
Additional cast members in Season 4 are Jamie Campbell Bower (Peter Ballard), Eduardo Franco (Argyle), Sherman Augustus (Lt. Colonel Sullivan), Mason Dye (Jason Carver), Nikola Djuricko (Yuri), Tom Wlaschiha (Dmitri), Myles Truitt (Patrick), Regina Ting Chen (Ms. Kelly), Grace Van Dien (Chrissy), Logan Riley Bruner (Fred Benson), Logan Allen (Jake), Elodie Grace Orkin (Angela), John Reynolds (Officer Callahan), Rob Morgan (Chief Powell), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie) and Robert Englund (Victor Creel).
Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 arrives May 27 and Volume 2 on July 1. Stranger Things is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions & 21 Laps Entertainment with The Duffer Brothers serving as executive producers, alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, Iain Paterson, and Curtis Gwinn.
COLLIDER: I just want to start with how much I loved the five episodes I've seen of this season.
ROSS DUFFER: Oh amazing.
MATT DUFFER: Thanks so much.
It's so good. How did you end up with, I believe it's nine episodes? How did you end up with nine? Did you ever consider eight? Did you ever consider like 12? How did the nine come about?
ROSS DUFFER: Eight was Season One, so that's the number we always start at. And that was this season. I think we were at least halfway, but I think probably over halfway through this season, were trying to squeeze the story in and we sat down with our writers, and we said, "I don't think this is feasible in eight episodes". So, we went to Netflix and said, "Hey, are you okay if we do one more episode?", and luckily they were very supportive of that, but that's how we ended up with that extra episode. But it was not originally planned that way. It wasn't outlined that way. It was always going to be eight. And then it just ended up being too much story.
MATT DUFFER: But it's not even like nine it's almost double the length of it's like 800 pages. It's just a really, really long season, which is why it took so long to get out. And it took us a while to realize that.
ROSS DUFFER: But episode seven and nine are very, very long episodes.
MATT DUFFER: Oh yeah. Those are full blown movies.
I was going to say because most of the episodes are like an hour and 15 minutes each, are you saying episode seven and nine are like an hour and a half or are they longer?
MATT DUFFER: Longer?
Okay, this explains a lot. You guys are in the end game of Stranger Things, and I'm curious when you were writing Season Four, how much have you guys actually figured out where it's all going and knowing when you were writing Season Four, you're building towards that?
MATT DUFFER: Well, we had this moment when we were working on Season One where Netflix, I'm really glad they made us do this, they go, "Can you please just sit down and write out all the mythology?" Because we would always be trying to explain the Upside Down, how it works to them. Because a lot in Season One is unknown, right? It's all mysterious, but they were like, "We would just like to know the logic behind the mythology". So, we sat down with our writers and we generated it. We still have it, it's like a 25-page bible all about the Upside Down. And Season One, we didn't want to reveal too much, but we knew five was going to be the last season and we're going, "We got to start showing some of our cards".
Season Three was more like, we're just kind of playing in the sandbox. That's what it felt like to me, it's like, "Oh, we got all our toys, let's play". Season Four, it's like, "Okay we got to start telling people, we got to start revealing". There's still more to reveal, but I think this season for sure is going to be the most revelatory season, that we hand out. There's still some unknowns.
ROSS DUFFER: There's a couple more big surprises I think, but we really wanted to go, "Okay, we're in end game territory now. So let's start showing our hand a little bit". So that was fun, but I think as we were writing, we realized, "Oh, to do this properly and to have these moments land properly, we just need time". And so that's one reason the episodes lengths are longer and that's one reason it's nine episodes.
MATT DUFFER: But it was nice because we were able for the first time ever to write all nine. We had all the scripts before we started shooting, so we could look at the whole thing as a whole. And we outlined all of five. So it really is four and five or like of a piece, and this was due to the six month hiatus that we had due to the pandemic. So we don't typically have as much time. It usually feels like the train is going down the tracks and Ross and I and our writers are just throwing down track as we're going, once we're halfway through the season. And for the first time ever, we were able to look at it globally, not just Season Four, but Season Five as well. And they really are of a piece.
ROSS DUFFER: And there's even stuff this season where they talk... We're able to actually really hint at some big events that are going to happen in Season Five. And that's a result of the pandemic and just us being able to sit down with the writers and really hammer out what five is going to be.
Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 arrives May 27 and Volume 2 on July 1.