Executive Producer Shawn Levy Talks Plans For Season Two

Talks progress, storylines and casting new characters

The much anticipated second season of Stanger Things was announced in a trailer on Wednesday. It was Netflix's idea to announce the second season using the iconic title sequence, but the idea to reveal the chapter titles came from the Duffers, which Levy says "was a genius idea" that "just further evidenced their instincts."

For the past month, the Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen have been doing a lot of brainstorming to figure out the season. At this point, Levy says they have mapped out the season and "know all of our big moves and our big ideas," with Cohen adding that the writers have a broad understanding of what the season will look like. As far as the actual writing goes, it's still very much in process.

Writers from season one were kept for season two, including Justin Doble and Jessie Nickson, while their writer's assistant was promoted to staff writer. Levy says "We've added really just a very little bit of fresh eyes and fresh blood, and it's already had tremendous benefit just getting a little bit of outsider perspective."

The scale of season two will escalate, but Levy says they're "very conscious of not increasing the scale at the expense of character" and will remain "very loyal to the tone and to the heart of the show people love." While not revealing too much, Levy says they will follow up on the loose ends left at the end of chapter eight, but also explore "new dark forces at play."

On characters, Levy says that there's a handful of new characters conceived for this season, but they're "servicing the core group first and foremost." The new characters are multigenerational and "really, really intriguing." None of them have been officially cast, but they have people in mind — "some of whom are names you might know, many of whom are names you won't know." Some famous actors have expressed an interest to be part of the show as well, but they won't be cast in order to remain true to the appeal of "unknown quotient" in the show's actors.

Like they viewed season one as more of an eight-hour movie than a TV show, they continue to view season two as a sequel. The Duffers have spoken about sequels that have worked, including Aliens, Terminator 2 and Empire Strikes Back.

As for the season's 2017 premiere, Levy has a "very good idea" but will not reveal anything specific, adding that "The secrecy is insane and really, really difficult for a motormouth like me. But I really believe it's a benign withholding. We're withholding information because we love our fans."

Source: The Hollywood Reporter