The Duffer Brothers Reveal Season Two Details

Creators talk new characters, setting and movie sequels

Right after season two was confirmed with a trailer yesterday, the Duffer Brothers revealed details about the season's setting, new characters and the sequels they're looking to for inspiration.

The trailer revealed that season two will have a similar length to the first and consist of nine episodes. Matt Duffer said they're "letting the story dictate it... We want to make sure it’s manageable and we want to be able to tell a movie-like story where it’s never treading water. We want it to have the same feel and pacing as season 1. I think if we extend it too much, it will have a very different feel."

Regarding the 1984 setting, they had initially talked about a "larger time jump where the kids are older now and it’s a different decade," but there is still more story to explore in the 1980's. The story will still be set in Hawkins, but Matt revealed it "will venture a little bit outside of Hawkins," and said the opening scene will take place outside Hawkins.

The Upside Down is another location they will return to, with Ross elaborating "We obviously have this gate to another dimension, which is still very much open in the town of Hawkins. And a lot of questions there in terms of, if the Monster is dead, was it a singular monster? What else could be out there? We really don’t go in there much until they go in to find Will at the end. So we’ve opened up this doorway, and to us it’s exciting to talk about, like, what else is behind there? There’s a lot more mystery there to be solved."

As for characters, the main cast are expected to return, and they revealed that there are four new characters popping up in season two, Matt Duffer saying “There’s going to be a lot of new and interesting dynamics that we didn’t see in season 1.” As for Eleven's fate, they remain tight-lipped and "leave that up in the air."

Just like season one was heavily influenced by the films the Duffers grew up on, season two will be modeled as a blockbuster sequel. "I know movie sequels get a lot of shit, but the ones we look up to aspire to pivot and do something different," said Matt.

He specifically named James Cameron's sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2 (1991), saying "he's brilliant. And I think one of the reasons his sequels are as successful as they are is he makes them feel very different without losing what we loved about the original. So I think we kinda looked to him and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work."

Source: Entertainment Weekly