Stranger Things: Art Department Used Pool Noodles, Bubble Wrap, and More to Create the Upside Down

At the end of last month, Volume One of Stranger Things‘ fourth season hit Netflix, and fans are eagerly awaiting Volume Two, which will include a finale that is set to be over two hours. A lot of excitement went down during the first part of the long-awaited new season, including Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), and Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) getting stuck in the Upside Down. Their journey into the alternate dimension allowed fans to get a closer look at the scary parallel to Hawkins, Indiana. In honor of the Upside Down’s extra screentime, the official account for the Stranger Things writer’s room shared some fun facts about how the art department created its look. 

“To create the Upside Down our art department used: 63,432 lbs of urethane resins, 272,500′ of rope, 18,300 pool noodles, 78,000 sq ft of bubble wrap,” the Stranger Things account shared. You can check out a behind-the-scenes photo below:

To create the Upside Down our art department used:
63,432 lbs of urethane resins
272,500’ of rope
18,300 pool noodles
78,000 sq ft of bubble wrap pic.twitter.com/DfQLdwnIfJ

— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) June 14, 2022

Earlier this month, Netflix released a sneak peek for the upcoming Volume Two of Stranger Things‘ new season. 

“A lot of it had to do with the fact that we had characters spread out in three locations and we had a lot more plot. It must be quadruple the plot we had in Season 3,” Matt Duffer previously explained to TheWrap. “That was our fun blockbuster season. This season we knew that Season 5 was going to be our last, we had to start revealing a lot.”

“The more we were writing, the more we realized we need more time in order for these reveals to land, in order for these storylines to work,” Matt pointed out. “Partway through we knew we needed to ask Netflix for nine episodes instead of eight and as we started shooting we realized, ‘Oh these are mega-long episodes.’”

Stranger Things 4 stars Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Robert Englund (Victor Creel), and Jamie Campbell Bower. 

Volume One of Stranger Things‘ fourth season is now streaming on Netflix with Volume Two dropping on July 1st.