Stranger Things Cast Grew Up and Made This '80s Movie Inspiration No Longer Relevant
Ever since Stranger Things first premiered on Netflix it was no secret that creators The Duffer Brothers were inspired by classic 80s movies. Built into the DNA of the film was the works of Steven Spielberg like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, John Carpenter's The Thing and Halloween, but other movies like The Goonies, Firestarter, and Ghostbusters were also clearly baked into the show's DNA. As the series has continued however, and its stars have grown, some of these influences have been forced to fall by the wayside since its child stars are no longer helpless little kids.
Speaking in a new interview for the Present Company With Krista Smith podcast, Ross Duffer said that The Goonies is not really what they're drawing from as much anymore, specifically because their cast has aged out of it. "When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are...The Goonies in E.T.," Ross said. "That's their storyline. And the adults are in Jaws and Close Encounters and then the teens are in Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween. But, this year, we don't have the kids. We can't do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we're leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change."
One major place that the new season of Stranger Things will lean into its horror movie inspirations is in a new location which comes coupled with a new character. PRevious teasers for the new season revealed The Creel House, a location reportedly haunted and the sight of a grizzly murdered, this naturally is paired with new character Victor Creel, played by none other than Freddy Krueger actor himself Robert Englund.
Very little has actually been released about the plot for Stranger Things season 4, but we do know that it will begin six months after the events of season three and that the cast will largely be fractured, split across multiple locations. While much of the cast remains in Hawkins, Indiana, the Byers family and Eleven have moved off to California, not to mention Chief Hopper is stuck in the wintery cold of Russia.
When announcing the premiere date for Stranger Things 4, Netflix confirmed a first for the series, revealing that the fourth season will be split into two volumes of episodes. The first batch of these will be released on May 27th with Part II of the season arriving on July 1. The streamer also used their time in making this announcement to confirm that the series will officially wrap up with its fifth season, a timetable for that season however wasn't confirmed.