Stranger Things season four volume one helped set up what’ll hopefully be a thrilling conclusion for Netflix’s powerhouse series — and its creators are well aware of the expectations. In an interview with TVLine, Matt and Ross Duffer provided an update on where they stand with setting the final season into motion.
“I’m not sure we’re ready to say yet a start date for shooting,” Matt Duffer told TVLine. “But a lot of it is pretty well mapped out.” That’s an awfully vague update (perhaps intentionally so?) for what’s to come following the two lengthy episodes that make up the later half of Stranger Things season four, which itself opened with a cluster of episodic chapters and I would argue the first of three movies. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Duffer Brothers opted to go for movie-length installments in season five, as opposed to the disjointed structure used in season four — a sticking point for many. “The ending is the hard thing,” Matt added. “That’s obviously the stressful thing. We really want to stick the landing.”
There’s also the small matter of addressing the obvious growth spurt among Stranger Things’ cast members. “I’m sure we will do a time jump,” Ross said. “Ideally, we’d have shot [seasons four and five] back to back, but there was just no feasible way to do that. So these are all discussions we’re going to have with our writers when we start the room up.”
There’s so much to wrap up and deliver — something the Duffers have been plotting for the past several years — and yet a big plan hasn’t been hammered down as the brothers are still focused on the cinematic conclusion to Stranger Things’ current instalment. “Believe it or not, we’re still working on season four. We’re trying to finish the final two episodes, they’re so massive,” Ross said.
Could this spell trouble for Stranger Things, a show with a binge release whose buzz could get minimized in favour of projects with weekly drops — and with a cast that’s started outgrowing their characters due to the shooting schedule? We’ll have to wait a bit longer (July 1 for the rest of season four, and TBD for season five) to see if the Duffers either “stick the landing” or fumble Netflix’s biggest title.
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