Recently, Ross and Matt Duffer – collectively known as The Duffer Brothers – sat down with Entertainment Weekly and shared with them some details regarding the highly anticipated second season of STRANGER THINGS. Of the many tidbits they spoke about, the first item to be shared was the duo's source of cinematic inspiration for the follow-up season.
While films like E.T., STAND BY ME and THE GOONIES were always at the backs of the Duffer Brothers minds when filming the debut season, Matt Duffer told EW that films like TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, ALIENS, TOY STORY 2 and GODFATHER PART II were each a source of inspiration for the sci-fi thriller's sophomore effort. This explains quite a lot about Netflix recently using old school poster art to promote the show to fans. In fact, director Shaun Levy had something to add with regard to the nostalgic promotional rollout, "Everything the way Netflix is approaching the marketing, the publicity, the licensing, the merchandising, those are all closer to a feature film tentpole franchise model than a second season of a television series.“
Shortly thereafter, Matt Duffer had stated, “The love for this show is so rabid. We want people to argue about what season is better. I want the Toy Story debate.” Something tells me that Matt won't have to worry about that. After all, the STRANGER THINGS audience is quite vocal, and I'm positive that a Toy Story-like debate will erupt in at least a few thousand of the program's message boards.
In addition to talking about what fueled the Brother's imaginations for the show, Ross Duffer explained away a bit about the character of Will Byer's in season two, and how his time in the Upside Down has led to the character having "PTSD-like visions" of a massive, shadowy arachnid-like creature in the sky. “It’s all connected to this singular threat, which is tied into this shape that Will sees in the sky,“ Duffer said.
When asked about his character's status after escaping the Upside Down, Will Byer's actor Noah Schnapp told EW, “It’s not like others have gone through this. No one has ever gone through this before,” explains Schnapp. “So [Will’s] confused, he’s scared, and he’s trying to cope with everything. You’ll learn in the second season how the Upside Down is affecting him and how it’s kind of changing him.”
As the interview continues on, Matt and Ross explained as to why they wanted to creator a bigger, more ominous threat than the Demogorgon featured in the first season. “Our big reference for [the demogorgon] season 1 was mostly Jaws,” says Matt. “It’s a shark and, the other dimension is the underwater. So there has to be something more sentient and that’s that big thing in the sky.” Ross then added, “I think the difference is you don’t really see how it’s all tied together until later. But it’s all connected to this singular threat which is tied into this shape that Will sees in the sky. Will is the way through which we’re able to understand what’s going on.”
The duo then revealed that inspiration for the gigantic beast came from old school horror classics. “There’s an H.P. Lovecraft sort of approach, this inter-dimensional being that is sort of beyond human comprehension. We purposely don’t want to go too much into what it is or what it wants.”
Along with their interview coverage, EW was also given a series of photos from the upcoming season that are bound to get the gears of the STANGER THINGS rumor mill churning:
STRANGER THINGS Season 2 starring Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour and new addition Sean Astin will returns to Netflix just in time for Halloween on October 27th.