- A key Stranger Things actor has already guessed a big detail about one of its spin-offs
- Finn Wolfhard is the only person who’s worked out the outline of its live-action offshoot
- It’s been described as “like David Finch’s Twin Peaks“
The final season of Stranger Things‘ mainline show isn’t out yet, but one of its key cast members has already worked out what its live-action spin-off is about.
Speaking as part of a Variety profile piece on Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler in the popular Netflix show, its creators Ross and Matt Duffer revealed Wolfhard had correctly guessed what said offshoot’s premise entails.
First, a bit of background on that untitled project: in late 2022, Netflix revealed that the Duffer brothers were developing two spin-offs of their massively successful supernatural sci-fi horror series via their Upside Down Pictures production company. One of those, titled Tales From ’85, is an animated project that’ll tell an original story between Stranger Things‘ third and fourth seasons, and feature many of the show’s primary cast. It’s unclear if they’ll be voiced by the same actors who played them in the main series, though.
However, confirmation that the other project is a live-action one notwithstanding, we’ve heard nothing else about one of the best Netflix shows‘ other offshoots. Well, until today (August 5), anyway.
So, what is it? The Duffers didn’t provide any answers when asked by Variety, but did admit that Wolfhard had perfectly surmised what the siblings were planning to do from a storytelling perspective.
“Nobody – not Netflix, not any of the producers, not any of the directors, not any of the actors – nobody else has figured out what the spinoff is,” Ross Duffer said. “Finn figured it out, which is pretty remarkable. We’ve mind-melded with this kid a bit.”
Interviewed as part of the same Variety article, Wolfhard was a bit more forthcoming on one of the projects that’ll follow in Stranger Things season 5‘s footsteps. Indeed, while he didn’t state what the Duffers were planning, he gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the kind of story – or, rather, stories – they’re looking to tell.
“[It’s] like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks,” the young star teased. “Sort of an anthology and different tones, but similar universe or same universe. I think [it’ll be] set in different places and all tied together through this mythology of the Upside Down. Don’t even talk about Hawkins [and] don’t have any mention of our characters.
“They were toying around with ideas in case Netflix wanted them,” he continued. “I’m sure they do and I’m sure it will happen, but there’s nothing official. I think the coolest way, the way that I would do it, there has to be labs everywhere. If there was one in Hawkins, there’s one in Russia. Where else could they be?”
An anthology series set in the Stranger Things universe with a ‘new weird’ genre vibe similar to that of one of the best shows of the last 40 years? Sign me up.
As for the fifth and final season on Netflix’s incredibly popular TV Original, its launch is only a few months away now. Indeed, Stranger Things season 5’s trio of release dates were revealed in June, and its first volume, which comprises four episodes, will debut on one of the world’s best streaming services this November.
More recently, we were finally treated to the first official trailer for Stranger Things season 5, which only heightened my excitement for its last hurrah. After a three-and-a-half year wait for it, here’s hoping Stranger Things 5 lives up to the hype.
