Stranger Things is about to get more epic than ever before when it returns for its much-anticipated fourth season. Fans of the Netflix phenomenon have been waiting for this one for a long time, as filming began on season four back in early 2020 before the pandemic caused it to continue on and off until late 2021. But the long delay will hopefully prove worth it, as the next batch of episodes is set to be the longest of the lot.
Creators the Duffer brothers have confirmed that season four will be twice the length of previous runs, with each episode clocking in at an hour or over. With this extended runtime comes a larger scope and scale to the storytelling, as well. Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Television conference, the Duffers revealed they like to compare this season to Game of Thrones.
“We kind of jokingly call it our Game of Thrones season because it’s so spread out, so I think that’s what’s unique or most unique about the season,” Matt Duffer said. Ross Duffer, meanwhile, added that GoT wasn’t actually the original inspiration for the longer episode lengths. This was just a consequence of wanting to finally answer some long-held questions about the show’s mythology.
“Game of Thrones is one thing we’ve referenced, but also for us really what it’s about is revelations, in that we really wanted to start giving the audience some answers,” said Ross.
Game of Thrones is obviously famous for following various different plot-threads. Sure enough, Stranger Things season four will do the same, with the brothers going on to tease that the next run will have three major storylines, each of which sport a unique tone.
“This season, we really wanted to really get into it and [revealing] some of those answers. But to do that properly, we needed time, so it just became bigger and bigger,” the brothers said. “We have these three storylines, are all connected and kind of interwoven together, but it’s just very different tones.”
Season four is so ginormous, in fact, that it’s being split up into two segments. The first half of the nine-part season is set to hit Netflix on May 27, with the second batch arriving five weeks later on July 1. Remember, this isn’t the end for Stranger Things, however, as a fifth and final season has been announced to follow this one. Who knows, maybe season five could be even longer and more epic than four.
