Stranger Things Writers Debunk Rumors That Season 1 Jonathan Scene Was Edited Despite Fan Speculation

Ever since the series debuted, Stranger Things has sparked a number of passionate debates on social media among fans, covering all manner of subjects, though one topic has recently emerged that the official account of the series' writers jumped into in order to debunk. Some fans have begun claiming recently that Netflix went back into Season 1 and reedited a scene in which Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) was taking intimate photos of Nancy (Natalia Dyer) to make his character seem less creepy, yet the official account claims that not only has that scene not been edited, but no scenes in the series have been altered in any major way.

Earlier this week, the account tweeted, "PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be."

PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be. pic.twitter.com/H0j8JwidLs

— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) July 26, 2022

When one fan specifically asked, "So that also counts for the Jonathan spying on Nancy scene in S01, as many people believe?" the account confirmed, "Yes."

Various accounts on multiple different social media platforms have claimed that the change was made at some point, with the scene on Netflix showing Jonathan seeing Nancy getting undressed and opting to take a photo of Barb (Shannon Purser) instead. Multiple fans also claimed that the original scene still appears on the Blu-ray and DVD releases of the season, though there hasn't been any proof of the "original" scene shared online.

There are, however, various reaction videos that date back years in which the scene unfolds as it does now. While it's possible that the edits were made long ago, it seems unlikely. Additionally, while fans claim that the scene was edited to make Jonathan look less creepy, the next episode of the series confirms that he did take a photo of Nancy in a state of undress, which she herself inspected, as seen in the screenshot below.

One possible reason for fans to make claims about the scene being changed is that series creators the Duffer brothers have recently confirmed that they have "George Lucas-ed" sequences after they have already debuted on Netflix. While they specified that this was done to improve visual effects or color grading, it's easy to see how audiences could speculate that some scenes earned noticeable changes to the actual narrative. Additionally, Season 4 of the series referred to Will Byers' birthday by the incorrect date as previously established in the show, with the pair admitting that they intended to tweak this error to maintain continuity. 

Surely, if the pair were willing to change the dialogue to maintain consistency, some fans could think that small tweaks could come with major changes to character motivations, much like how George Lucas tweaked the showdown between Han Solo and Greedo to have Han fire defensively, effectively altering the notion that he could be a cold-blooded killer. However, this doesn't appear to be the case with Stranger Things quite yet.

All four seasons of Stranger Things are now streaming on Netflix.

What do you think of the situation? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!