Stranger Things
A flagship Netflix series blending 1980s nostalgia with supernatural horror.
Stranger Things is an American television series created by the Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the series premiered on July 15, 2016, and is scheduled to conclude with its fifth season in 2025. The show combines elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, coming-of-age, supernatural, and drama, set in the 1980s and centered on the residents of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, after a young girl with psychokinetic abilities named Eleven inadvertently creates a wormhole known as the Upside Down at a nearby secretive government research facility, connecting Earth to a hostile realm called the Upside Down.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Science fiction / Horror / Mystery / Drama / Supernatural / Epic / Coming-of-age
- Creator
- The Duffer Brothers
- Showrunner
- Karl Gajdusek / Matt Duffer / Ross Duffer
- Composer
- Michael Stein / Kyle Dixon
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Num Seasons
- 5
- Num Episodes
- 42
- List Episodes
- List of Stranger Things episodes
- Executive Producer
- Karl Gajdusek / Cindy Holland / Brian Wright / Matt Thunell / Shawn Levy / Dan Cohen / The Duffer Brothers / Iain Paterson / Curtis Gwinn
- Producer
- Lampton Enochs
- Cinematography
- Tim Ives / Tod Campbell / David Franco / Lachlan Milne / Ricardo Diaz / Caleb Heymann / Brett Jutkiewicz
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Stranger Things takes place in the 1980s, with the main setting being the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but also secretly experiments with the paranormal and supernatural, sometimes with human test subjects. They inadvertently create a portal to an alternate dimension referred to as the Upside Down, whose presence begins to affect the residents of Hawkins in unusual ways. The first season begins on November 6, 1983, when Will Byers is abducted by a creature from the Upside Down, dubbed the 'Demogorgon.' His mother Joyce, police chief Jim Hopper, and a group of volunteers search for him. A young psychokinetic girl named Eleven escapes from Hawkins Lab and is found by Will's friends, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair. Eleven befriends and assists them in their efforts to find Will. Will is eventually found alive, while Eleven disappears after killing the Demogorgon.
Reader's Guide
Stranger Things has received positive reviews throughout its run, with praise for its characterization, atmosphere, acting, direction, writing, and homage to 1980s cinema, making it a touchstone of 1980s nostalgia. It is a flagship series for Netflix, drawing record viewership with each season's release and garnering numerous accolades. The series has expanded into a media franchise, including an animated spin-off, Tales from '85 (2026), and a prequel stage play, The First Shadow (2023). It has also inspired several books, comics, tie-in media, a pop-up shop, and a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing starter set game based on the series. The Duffer Brothers developed Stranger Things as a blend of investigative drama and supernatural horror, infused with childlike wonder and references to the popular culture of the 1980s. Several thematic and directorial elements were inspired by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, David Lynch, Stephen King, Wes Craven, H. P. Lovecraft, and FromSoftware. The show also drew inspiration from Cold War-era experiments and conspiracy theories involving secret government programs.
Did You Know?
- The fifth and final season is scheduled for release in 2025.
- The show's ensemble cast includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, and Finn Wolfhard.
More in American dark fantasy television series 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced