Stranger Things‘ final season will have to be spectacular to cap what has been one of the most well-received television series of the last decade. So how do you do that when there is so much to live up to? Simple, you take what worked from each element before and you bring it all together, which is what The Duffer Brothers have said will happen in season five.
Though the show has always had a central theme, an 80s sci-fi adventure show that paid homage to great directors and writers from the period, such as Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King, each season had its own specific influences. In the last season, they paid tribute to horror cult classics such as Hellraiser, Carrie, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, even including Freddy Kreuger himself in the form of the actor Robert Englund taking on the role of Victor Creel.
Moving forward though, as the show builds to its grand finale, the inspiration will come from everything they have done so far. Speaking at an FYC Panel for Netflix’s Tudum on Sunday, the brothers were asked about what inspiration they would use in season five. According to Deadline, Matt Duffer responded,
“(Season) 5, the way we see it, is kind of a culmination of all the seasons, so it’s sort of got a little bit from each, whereas before each season was so distinctly, you know, 3…is our big summer blockbuster season with big monsters, and 4 was the psychological horror, I think that what we’re trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit, in sort of the tone of 1. But also scale-wise, it’s more aligned with what 4 is. So, hopefully, it’s got a little bit of everything.”
Fans are left on tenterhooks for the final season, now that the evil that dwells beneath Hawkins has finally made itself known to the world, the tone will surely have to change. Talking about the time he pitched the fifth season to Netflix, Matt Duffer said he’d left the executives in tears, believing that “was a good sign,” before jokingly adding, “the only other time I’ve seen them cry is at budget meetings.”
Ross Duffer went on to discuss where they are with season five currently, confirming that the writing staff is “on to the second” episode. Netflix already has the first script and has since released the title for episode one, Chapter One: The Crawl. The team is on “full steam ahead” as they continue to unravel the remaining mysteries that were not answered in season four.
We cannot wait to see the final episode and see the fates of all these characters we have come to love so much since the first series was released in 2016, however, we do not yet have any date given for the final season so all we can do is sit on the edge of our seats gripping for dear life as we wait.
