Stranger Things Star Down for a Spinoff

Gaten Matarazzo, the young actor who portrays Dustin Henderson on Stranger Things, is open to the idea of a spinoff — something that has been rumored, and which fans have embraced as a great way to continue the franchise. Rumors online have centered on the idea of a spinoff that would feature Dustin and Steve (Joe Keery) is something that he admits is appealing — although it’s unlikely to be a long-running, full-fledged series. Instead, the actor suggested, it could be a self-contained story that could play out over the course of a handful of episodes, a la WandaVision or other single-season prestige miniseries.

Speaking in support of his Netflix series Prank Encounters, Matarazzo can’t help but be asked a million Stranger Things question. One has to imagine that he’s at least pretty happy talking about a prospective spinoff, because it doesn’t invite him to spoil anything about the hugely-anticipated fourth season, which is expected to drop on Netflix soon.

“I think a Dustin-Steve spinoff would be good if it were in, like, a weird niche format. Like, they didn’t do a full show of it,” Matarazzo told ET Online. “…like a WandaVision type thing or like a web series type thing where on YouTube, there’s weekly episodes of little hijinks they get into, like every now and again, like a skit show. That’d be great. You kind of break that format….I don’t know if a Dustin and Steve full-series spinoff is sustainable. What are they going to do for a whole season, just them?”

In an interview last year, producer Shawn Levy teased that season four could be the show’s best yet considering the pandemic gave the writers extra time to work on the scripts.

“I’ll just say the pandemic definitely massively delayed shooting and therefore the launch of our current Season Four, date still TBD,” Levy shared with Collider. “But it impacted very positively by allowing the Duffer brothers, for the first time ever, to write the entire season before we shoot it and to have time to rewrite in a way that they rarely had before so the quality of these screenplays are exceptional, maybe better than ever.”

Stay tuned for more details on Stranger Things’ upcoming fourth season.