So it's safe to say Stranger Things was the hit series of the summer and, at only eight episodes, there’s no excuse for you not to binge-watch the whole thing in two days. Alright, maybe one day.
Following creepy events surrounding the disappearance of young Will Byers, and his mother (played by Winona Ryder) and friends’ attempts to find him, Stranger Things creators Ross and Matt Duffer managed to pull off one of the most talked about shows of year.
But how much do you really know about the series other than the fact that it reminds you of every sci fi, horror or alien movie from the 80s?
We’ve pulled together some trivia that’ll enhance your viewing pleasure. Beware, though, there are a few spoilers ahead so probably don’t read on if you haven’t seen it. And hate spoilers.
Stranger Things season 2 is on the way
The way the first season was left implied that a second season was a-coming – not only did Detective Hopper leave an Eggo (Eleven’s favourite food) out in the woods, but the recently rescued Will Byers coughed up something decidedly nasty in what is supposed to be a scene of happy resolution. Not sure about you, but no happy moment in our lives involved coughing up a slug from a parallel universe.
And now it's been confirmed! Netflix have released a season 2 trailer.
What can we learn from it? Precisely diddly-squat. But still, it's enough to know it's on the way. For now.
There are a LOT of references. On purpose.
To help sell the show, creators the Duffer brothers edited a mock "trailer" full of combined clips from over 25 films we all recognise, including E.T., Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, Super 8, and Halloween.
That’s why the whole series feels like a familiar pastiche of pretty much every movie, TV show and book in the 80s. Even the title sequence borrows its graphics from those classic Stephen King horror paperbacks (and Choose Your Own Adventures – remember those? Oh god they were so fun), and have you ever seen The Goonies? Yep, missing boy Will Byers’ best mates who decide to solve the mystery of his disappearance are lifted straight from the movie.
More modern horrors get a nod too; the faceless monster is reminiscent of the faceless beast in Guillermo Del Torro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. But with more face flaps and less creepy eye illustrations. And Under the Skin, the Glasgow-based psychological thriller fronted by Scarlett Johansson, sees its weird black, watery scenes pastiched when Eleven goes inside her own brain to utilise her telepathic powers.
Oh, and if there are any Twin Peaks fans kicking about, you’ll appreciate the similarities; from the school scenes right through to the over-arching ‘small town, supernatural events nobody can explain’ vibe.
There’s a lot we don’t know about the Upside Down
If it gets made (who are we kidding, of course it’s going to get made; Marco Polo is on its third season) then the Duffer Brothers pretty much have to explore the alternate world they created.
Mainly because they made a 30-page document mapping it out, complete with details of where the monster came from, why there aren't more monsters, as well as the answers to pretty much all your Upside Down based questions. God, we'd love to have a look at that book.
"Even with the Upside Down, we have a 30-page document that is pretty intricate in terms of what it all means," Matt Duffer told Variety.
"And where this monster actually came from, and why aren’t there more monsters — we have all this stuff that we just didn't have time for, or we didn’t feel like we needed to get into in season one, because of the main tension of Will. We have that whole other world that we haven't fully explored in this season, and that was very purposeful."
Millie Bobby Brown is just 12 years old and REALLY wanted a lead part
While a lot of movies will use older actresses playing younger, star of the show Millie Bobby Brown, who plays the mysterious and troubled Eleven, really is just 12 years old. Having played parts in NCIS, Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy, she kept missing out on leading roles (like the BFG)… until now. Apparently Millie’s family sold everything to move to Hollywood and help her get into acting. Thankfully, it paid off!
For filming, Millie had to shave her head and, while she was a bit reticent at first, the crew reportedly showed her pictures of Charlize Theron in Mad Max which, for obvious reasons, made her change her mind pretty quickly. Furiosa rules.
The went through a lot of people before deciding on the final cast
And we mean a lot. In terms of the other cast members, they reportedly looked at 907 boys to find the leads before eventually giving the main part of Mike (best friend to the missing Will) to the superbly named Finn Wolfhard. And he’s not just an incredible name – 13 year old Finn will star in the upcoming Stephen King film IT.
Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) aged. A fair bit.
Cutest one of the gang, Dustin, who is played by Gaten Matarazzo, found that his voice had changed so much by the time production ended on the series that the sound team couldn’t use him for any addition dialogue after filming. Now that’s a fast voice-break.
Joe Keery (Steve) got written more scenes because of how cool he is
The award for most fun cast member (and the one with the highest hair) goes to Joe Keery who plays the loveable Steve. But did you know Steve wasn’t supposed to come back in the final episode and fight the monster with Nancy? It was only ‘cause he’s so likeable and awesome, they wrote him back in.
"A lot of credit goes to Joe Keery because he was much more likable and charming than we originally had envisioned," said Ross Duffer in a recent interview. "If you read the pilot, he’s the biggest douchebag on the planet. It’s not that he’s a flawless character, he’s flawed, but Joe was so good we started to fall in love with the idea that he has an arc himself."
Some of the Stranger Things cast had never had previous acting roles
Hey, remember Barb? She’s played by Shannon Purser who had never had an acting role before. Go Barb! We wish we had a friend called Barb.
Is Eleven dead at the end of Stranger Things season 1?
Well, nothing’s definite, but Detective Hopper does leave that Eggo. And Matt Duffer implied that there might be more to the story in a recent interview:
"Obviously something happened to her when she destroyed and killed that monster and we don’t know what she went."
That doesn’t sound very much like dying to us. As we know, there are other places the characters can go that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gone forever…
Roll on Season 2.