Stranger Things was one of the most talked-about TV shows of the summer, so it’s no surprise the '80s-set Netflix thriller will return for a second season in 2017.
Since news of the renewal first broke, the show’s cast, creators, and producers have dropped quite a lot of info about what to expect —including select plot details, several new characters, and the answer to one of fans' biggest questions: Will Eleven be back?
Here’s what we know so far.
Eleven will definitely be back — and there's a cast photo to prove it
Following the announcement of the second season, Ross Duffer told EW in no uncertain terms that Eleven’s fate is still uncertain. "We don’t know about Eleven," he said. "We leave that up in the air."
But fans continued to hold out hope that the popular character, played by Millie Bobby Brown, would re-appear in season two, and their faith wasn't misplaced: TV Line reports that Eleven will definitely return in season two — and most likely as a series regular.
The production itself seemed to confirm as much: On November 4, a few days after the TV Line report, the Stranger Things Twitter account shared its first official season two cast photo. Although the photo is upside down in a cheeky homage to the show's "Upside Down" spirit world, Brown is shown in the center of the picture:
sƃuıɥʇɹǝƃuɐɹʇs#
ɹɐǝʎ ʇxǝu noʎ ǝǝs
uoıʇɔnpoɹd uı ʞɔɐq pic.twitter.com/jYd1tDsPRi
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) November 4, 2016
The entire ensemble cast is returning — two of them with bigger roles
Here's what that first cast photo looks like right-side up:
As you can see, Stranger Things' lovable ensemble of teens and pre-teens has returned in force, along with two new additions to the group: Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery who will play two new characters, are shown at opposite ends of the tableau. (More on them below.)
In addition to the new characters, two of our heroes will be enjoying more screen time in season two: Noah Schnapp, who plays season one Demogorgon-bait Will Byers, and Joe Keery, who plays Nancy Byers's boyfriend Steve, have been upgraded to regular status for season two.
Barb is dead, dead, dead
For the doubters in the room who've been holding out hope that fan-favorite character Barb will be back, Stranger Things' New York Comic Con panel, held on October 7, had disappointing news. David Harbour, who plays Chief Hopper, made it clear she won't return: "I can assure you that Barb is very much dead."
The Duffer brothers are sticking around
This one’s hardly a surprise. Stranger Things’ creative team, composed of '80s kids Matt and Ross Duffer, will be back for the new season, as will producers Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Levy and the Duffers have said that season two will be very similar to season one in aesthetic, tone, pace, and the way the show focuses on its characters. Several of the show's season one writers are also returning, so look for things to feel very much as they ever have.
Stranger Things season two starts one year after the events of season one
The new season will pick up in the fall of 1984, a year after the events of Stranger Things season one. There’s no word yet on what El’s been doing since she disappeared, but we can count on seeing plenty of '80s goodness no matter what.
One of the reasons the show is jumping forward in time is to keep up with the real-life growth of its younger actors. The result, according to Ross Duffer, is that "[t]hese characters have changed and the audience has to sort of fill in those gaps of what went on in that year."
The creators envision the next round of Stranger Things as a sequel rather than a second season — but some plot threads will continue
Though Netflix’s original renewal announcement touted a second season of Stranger Things, that season is being billed and marketed by Netflix as Stranger Things 2. This implies the second season is more like a second series.
That is, it’s more like a sequel than a continuation of season one. A recent logline for the new season (taken from a casting call discussed below) suggests that Stranger Things will be telling new stories with some of the same characters rather than necessarily picking up the old story:
"When terrifying supernatural forces once again begin to affect Hawkins, they realize Will's disappearance was only the beginning. And so the adventure continues..."
In an interview with /Film, Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy described the trajectory of season two as "continu[ing] with this set of characters while introducing a few critical key new ones next season" and "unearthing new problems."
But there will also be unanswered threads from the first season that the show continues to develop — including the following three, as gleaned from the creators in several recent interviews:
Why did Hopper get into that mysterious car in season one’s final episode?
What was Will coughing up in the bathroom?
Was the Demogorgon that Eleven defeated the only one of its kind, or are there more lurking in the Upside Down?
Stranger Things 2 will draw inspiration from George Lucas and James Cameron
The first season of Stranger Things notably drew inspiration from the works and ideas of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King. The second season, according to the Duffers, will draw inspiration from '80s action-adventure sequels — specifically, Temple of Doom, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and Terminator 2.
The first two of these films are famous sequels by Spielberg and his frequent '80s collaborator George Lucas. The others introduce a new influence in the form of James Cameron. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Matt Duffer elaborated:
I guess a lot of this is James Cameron. But he’s brilliant. And I think one of the reasons his sequels are as successful as they are is he makes them feel very different without losing what we loved about the original. So I think we kinda looked to him and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work.
In other words, it sounds like anyone looking wanting to know how Stranger Things season two will expand on season one should go watch Ridley Scott’s Alien — famed for its mysteries, cosmic horrors, and suspense with gory payoffs — and then compare it to Cameron’s Aliens. The beloved sequel opts for more blockbuster action sequences, more character development, and more focus on the corrupt corporation whose greed provoked the clash with alien life to begin with. If that sounds similar to the strange research facility doing barbaric science experiments and tampering with the Upside Down in Stranger Things season one, it should.
Stranger Things 2’s nine episodes already have titles
The adventure continues. Stranger Things 2 is coming 2017. pic.twitter.com/3H4WR3DGEj
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 31, 2016
In a video that Netflix released on August 31, fans were treated to a sneak peek at the episode titles for all nine episodes of Stranger Things 2, which will feature one more episode than the eight-episode first season:
"MadMax"
"The Boy Who Came Back to Life"
"The Pumpkin Patch"
"The Palace"
"The Storm"
"The Pollywog"
"The Secret Cabin"
"The Brain"
"The Lost Brother"
Most of these titles seem to bear directly on the plot. Mad Max refers to a new character (more on that below), while "The Boy Who Came Back to Life" refers to an in-show newspaper headline about Will Byers’s miraculous return from the Upside Down in season one.
What’s clear is that the titles seem to have the '80s theme firmly in mind, from the direct reference to the film franchise Mad Max to more oblique references to horror tropes found in slasher movies and films like Evil Dead — cabins in the woods, characters coming back from the dead, and scary things lurking in fields and fog.
The show plans to add four new characters — and we have descriptions for three of them
According to EW, Stranger Things 2 will expand the show’s season one cast by adding four new characters.
Meanwhile, a casting call obtained by the Hollywood Reporter revealed that two of these newbies will be series regular characters named Max and Roman, while a third is named Billy.
Max and Billy are step-siblings: Max, who will be played by Sadie Sink (American Odyssey), is a tough, tomboyish teenage girl, around age 13. Billy, who will be played by Dacre Montgomery, is her older brother, a rebellious, edgy 17-year-old who’s rumored to have killed someone in the past. He’s described as the kind of kid who drinks and drives a black Camaro.
Max, who’s pretty obviously the "MadMax" referenced in the title of Stranger Things 2’s first episode, is described as being "good on a skateboard" and having "a complicated history," in part because of her relationship with her brother, whose "violent and unpredictable nature" apparently comes out at home. Stranger Things 2 will undoubtedly explore their dynamic — though Billy, who’s reportedly only a potential series regular, may not be around that much.
It’s the third character, Roman, who’s really intriguing. Roman’s gender and ethnicity aren’t specified, meaning the part could pretty much go to anyone. The Hollywood Reporter cites the casting description as being quite vague, in keeping with the character’s cryptic, vengeance-driven purpose:
Roman, meanwhile, is described as a male or a female of any ethnicity between the ages of 30 and 38. After growing up homeless with a drug-addicted mother, he or she suffered a great loss at an early age and has been seeking revenge ever since. Roman is ultimately an outsider who doesn't understand how to connect with people.
This casting description has led some Stranger Things fans to speculate that the role is intended to be a kind of monster hunter archetype: a loner passing through town, seeking vengeance for a past transgression against his family. (Think Supernatural’s road-tripping brothers, but with less family drama and more monster killing.)
As for the unknown fourth character, fans have speculated that it might be the character revealed in the final episode title: "The Lost Brother."
Will's sexuality may remain an unanswered question
In Stranger Things' first season,12-year-old Will Byers was the frequent subject of homophobic harassment and schoolyard bullying. Though we don't know Will's orientation, much speculation and commentary has been devoted to this potential aspect of his character.
After watching the conversation build, the actor who plays Will, Noah Schnapp, who is also 12, decided to weigh in himself. In an Instagram post, he wrote that the character's sexuality was "beside the point," that hopefully everyone could "relate to being different," and that he hoped Stranger Things will never actually answer the question.
"A good book, or a good show leaves a lot of unanswered questions but makes you think," he said.
How Stranger Things got its retro title sequence