Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Netflix’s smash hit series Stranger Things, recently sat down with Variety and had some pretty, pretttty interesting thins to say about the upcoming second season.
The duo have just returned from Atlanta, where they were filming season two, which they assure is “big in scope.” Both of them acknowledged the pressure in delivering a satisfying sophomore run after the first season emerged as last summer’s breakout series.
“There was pressure going into Season 1, too,” Ross said. “We were just worried no one was going to watch it. Now the pressure is we know people are going to watch it. It’s trying to make something that we think they’re going to like. … We’ve tried in the writers’ room to go, ‘OK, what do we want to see?’ And hopefully people will respond to that as well.”
Matt added, “A lot of the story for Season 2 was figured before the show had come out, so we had the big beats figured out already. It was almost scarier last year.”
The brothers were surprised with the overwhelmingly positive reaction to season one, but they didn’t want that to impact their writing this time around.
“Some of the stuff that fans had been asking for, we wanted the same stuff,” Matt said. Ross added, “But the point is not to give everyone what they think they want. Because I don’t think they really know what they want.”
And that’s a key lesson learned from season one as well as what is needed to play to the strengths of the cast.
“We don’t have the element of surprise on our side this time, but we execute it better,” says Ross. “But I think we screwed up less this year.”
Sadly, the pair refrained from dropping any juicy spoilers, but they did say that Millie Bobby Brown will (unsurprisingly) return, that season two follows Noah Schnapp’s Will and that new monsters will be coming to a streaming service near you.
“Hiding the monsters can be more effective than seeing it, so restraint can be a good thing,” admits Ross. Adds Matt, “I can’t talk too much about them, but they’re cool.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
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'Stranger Things' Creators Say They're Going 'Big' In Season 2
