Duffer Brothers rule out Stranger Things' sequel as gross cash grab'

"Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Duffer Brothers have effectively ruled out eventually revisiting Mike, Eleven and co. in a Stranger Things sequel as a gross cash grab, despite a spinoff of the Netflix hit on the horizon. Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter that there's no plan or intention to tell the story because it's a coming-of-age story. Ultimately, that's what it's supposed to be. That's what the show always was."

"Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) sacrificed herself to collapse the Upside Down and eradicate all the horrors that have to do with it. Eighteen months later, newly minted high school graduates Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Will (Noah Schnapp) play one last round of Dungeons and Dragons, during which Mike theorizes that Eleven faked her death and is in living somewhere remote and beautiful."

"Though Duffer acknowledged there could be a follow-up exploring a midlife crisis for the group, he decided it just sounds really uninteresting! [Laughs] Grandpa Hopper? I don't know how that would read as anything but a gross cash grab to me. Then again, there is a Stranger Things Broadway show whose lore contributes to the fifth and final season and a spinoff in the works, which Duffer said will center on new characters and a new mythology."

Plans to continue the original Stranger Things characters in a direct sequel have been ruled out, with the series framed as a coming-of-age story that ends as the characters move into adulthood. The finale features Eleven sacrificing herself to collapse the Upside Down and the remaining friends graduating and playing a final game of Dungeons and Dragons, suggesting emotional closure. A midlife-crisis follow-up was considered unappealing and potentially a gross cash grab. Separate projects are in development, including a Broadway show tied to the series lore and a spinoff that will focus on new characters and mythology.

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