Stranger Things is baaack
Let's return to the Upside Down
The legend goes that the creators of Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers, had initially pitched a remake of Stephen King‘s classic horror novel, It. After being rejected, they turned their ideas into an original property, and the rest is history. Stranger Things is one of the most binge-worthy shows on Netflix, with an addictive mix of horror, whimsy, adrenaline, and sentimentalism. The show is a love letter to pop culture of the 1980s, and wears its myriad influences on its sleeve. The works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King, and John Hughes are all key parts of the DNA of the show.
After blowing away all expectations in the show’s eight episodes last year, the stakes are sky-high for season two. The first time around, the Netflix audience was caught totally off-guard by the show’s sizzling mix of childhood fantasy and high-stakes tension. Now that the viewing public is thirsty for more, The Duffer Brothers have to deliver the goods, lest their show become a one-note fad.
To that end, Netflix is playing with their cards close to their chest, holding back on plot points while letting the hype build up on its own. Nevertheless, they’ve dropped some hints as to what revelations may be in store for year two. The setting is Halloween, 1984, and the boys are dressing up as Ghostbusters; the town is trying to return to normal after the universe-shaking events of season one, but a foreboding threat from the Upside Down is manifesting that threatens the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.
New cast members this year include more 80s throwback stars Paul Reiser (Aliens) as a government agent and Sean Astin (The Goonies) as an old friend of Joyce’s (Winona Ryder), who gets in the way of her would-be burgeoning romance with the fan-favorite Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour, who was just cast in the big-screen Hellboy reboot).
Meanwhile, all the kids are returning, including Millie Bobbie Brown as Eleven, who is missing, but not gone. Unlike Barb. Barb’s dead. She’s dead and we’ll never get over it.
Stranger Things: Season 2 arrives October 27 on Netflix.
