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The ending of ‘Stranger Things’ has already been decided

Published Jun 24th, 2020 7:09PM EDT
Stranger Things season 4 ending
Image: Netflix

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  • The creators of Stranger Things say that they already “have an ending in mind.”
  • Stranger Things season 4 was in the middle of shooting when the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the production to shut down, but they had finished “most of the season.”
  • For now, Stranger Things season 4 is still set to debut at some point in 2021.

If you had to pick a show that defines Netflix, and it had to be an original series (so you can’t pick The Office), there might not be a better choice than Stranger Things. Nothing else on the service has generated as many conversations over the course of multiple seasons as the throwback sci-fi horror series, and everyone has been desperate for news about the future of Stranger Things ever since season 3 ended with a cliffhanger.

With production on season 4 halted due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, we have no idea when we will be able to return to Hawkins, Indiana, but this week, the Duffer brothers — creators and showrunners of Stranger Thingssat down with Deadline to discuss the past, present, and future of the Netflix series.

If you’re a fan of the show, I highly recommend watching the full video at the bottom of this article, but one part of the conversation stood out, as Matt Duffer admits the ending of the show has been decided:

We’ve known the ending of the show for quite a while. The honest truth is we didn’t know if it would go beyond season 1, so we like the idea of season 1 that it could function basically as its own standalone piece, like almost as a limited series, but it had the potential to go beyond that. And if it were to go beyond that, we had an idea of where it would go. Yeah, and we have an ending in mind.

He added that he and his brother Ross have no interest in just “churning it out,” and is aware that as soon as the two of them lose interest in the show, the audience will as well. Unfortunately, no matter how excited anyone is to make or see more Stranger Things, production has yet to resume, although Ross said that they have finished filming “most of the season,” which hopefully implies that there won’t be much left to shoot when they do resume.

As for the inevitable and unstoppable growth of the young cast of Stranger Things, the brothers also admit that they may have to adjust the scripts in order to account for any unexpected changes to the actors that might have occurred while we were all quarantined for months on end. So if there’s a sudden flash-forward in the back half of the season, you might be right to be slightly suspicious. Watch the full interview below:

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.