The Duffer Brothers sued for allegedly stealing the idea of Stranger Things

July 17th 2020, 2:45pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The Duffer Brothers are no strangers to controversy when it comes to their hit Netflix show STRANGER THINGS. In 2018 a man named Charles Kessler sued them by alleging that the duo stole his idea after he pitched the idea to the brothers at a Tribeca Film Festival party. While that claim was dropped before going to trial, a new claim is alleging that The Duffers stole their idea for STRANGER THINGS from the screenplay TOTEM by writer Jefferey Kennedy, according to The Wrap.

Kennedy claims that took Duffers took "plot, sequence, characters, theme, dialogue, mood, and setting, as well as copyrighted concept art" from TOTEM, and that they are connected by Aaron Sims, "who worked closely with Kennedy during its development. Sims, the lawsuit says, was hired to create the concept art for the first two seasons of STRANGER THINGS".

For instance, the lawsuit states:

In “Totem,” one of the characters is a little girl named Kimimela or “Kimi” for short who has supernatural powers. Kimimela helps her friends find the portal gate to an alternate supernatural plane and helps them battle the plane’s inhabitants; a dark spirit named Azrael and his army of Blackwolf.

By comparison, the lawsuit describes STRANGER THINGS by saying:

In “Stranger Things,” one of the characters is a little girl name Eleven or “El” for short who has supernatural powers. Eleven helps her friends find the portal gate to an alternate supernatural plane and helps them battle the plane’s inhabitants; a Shadow Monster and his army of Demogorgon.

Of course, Netflix has repsonded to the allegations, by declaring:

Mr. Kennedy has been peddling these far-fetched conspiracy theories for years, even though Netflix has repeatedly explained to him that The Duffer Brothers had never heard of him or his unpublished script until he began threatening to sue them. After we refused to give in to his demands for a payoff, he filed this baseless lawsuit. There is no shortage of people who would like to claim credit for creating ‘Stranger Things.’ But the truth is the show was independently conceived by The Duffer Brothers, and is the result of their creativity and hard work.

Obviously, only time will tell about that.

Meanwhile, STRANGER THINGS season 4 is still currently shuttered due to Covid-19, but we'll keep you updated when we get confirmation that it's officially started up again!

So what do you guys think? Believe there might be some validity to the claims? Either way, sound off below!