Duffer Bros. declare Stranger Things isn’t going anywhere—including season 5—without its writers
Unlike some big-budget shows, production on the Netflix streaming juggernaut's final season has been delayed until the writers strike is resolved
Aux News Stranger Things
As the Writers Guild Of America’s strike continues into next week—and then god knows how far beyond that—it’s quickly becoming clear that responses from the TV and film production side of things are going to vary pretty widely. We’ve already seen examples of some shows—including several of the biggest on TV, like House Of The Dragon and Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings series Rings Of Power—decide to essentially just power through the strikes with already-completed scripts, neglecting the usual practice of having writers on-set to re-write lines and help filming flow more smoothly.
But not so for that other streaming juggernaut: Netflix’s Stranger Things, with series creators Matt and Ross Duffer announcing today—via the official Twitter account of the show’s writers room—that production on the show’s final season will be delayed, rather than trying to muscle through without writers on hand. “Writing does not stop when filming begins,” the brother duo begins. “While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out.” The message ended with a single hashtag: “#wgastrong.”
(The writers room account also “liked” a tweet showing a picket sign declaring “Pay us or Steve Harrington is toast,” which is very funny.)
As noted by Variety, it’s believed that the scripts for Stranger Things’ fifth season are written, so the Duffers and their teams could hypothetically make like Dragon and Rings and push forward. but have opted not to. One open question here is how much pressure Netflix (which hasn’t responded to requests for comments on the announcement as of yet) is exerting on the show. Warner Bros. and Disney have both issued memos this week (acquired by The Holllywood Reporter) requesting that showrunners—who operate in a hybrid space between producers and writers—continue to do production duties on their shows, even if they’re not writing. The Duffers, at least, have made their stance on that idea pretty clear: No writers, no show. Given that we’re talking about one of the biggest streaming shows on the planet—and the ways streaming residuals form a large portion of the complaints the WGA is striking to address—it feels like a pretty potent shot across the bow.
Filming on the show’s final season was set to begin this month. Meanwhile, the WGA held a meeting earlier today at which many of the most prolific showrunners in the industry—David E. Kelley, Damon Lindelof, Bill Lawrence, and many others among them—showed up for a strategy and information session, with WGA committee co-chairs reportedly encouraging showrunners to take a hardline stance, even in the face of so-called “scary letters” from the studios. “We are at war with the studios” one attendee described the guidance to Variety. “We can’t be at war one day and be their partners the next.”
23 Comments
This wouldn’t be an issue if they just ended the show when they had the perfect opportunity last season.
I’m glad it is an issue. Doing this helps writers on other shows, too.
This wouldn’t be an issue if writers didn’t get fucked by greedy, conniving execs.
Frankly, if the Duffer Brothers *do* have all the scripts completely and are simply postponing production in order to use Stranger Things as leverage to help the protesting writers, my respect for them has reached its fucking peak. Good for them. And it might work, too, given how enormous the show is. This is a fantasy show that ensnared my Dad as one of its viewers – now that’s power. xD
I think they’re also one of the few showrunners who don’t have to worry about their show being cancelled and could spark a bidding war between streamers. They have the clout where Stranger Things isn’t proceeding without them. At least not without a lot of negative press and fan revolt.
You hear that, Hollywood? Every minute you delay is a minute the Stranger Things kids get older and older. At this rate they’re going to look so old by the time filming starts that you’ll have to set the final season in 2024. Give the writers what they want or no more 80’s references on your monster show.PS:
I think the getting older thing has long sailed away. But all those great 80s movies always starred Teenagers played by 2o something so it still fits the genre.
Coming soon! Stranger Things 5: Teenage Menopause.
Honestly I’m surprised to hear Stranger Things has writers. I figured the Duffer Bros just mostly worked of “Only 80s kids remember” lists from Buzzfeed to shoot episodes. I kid, I kid. It’s good they are taking a stand.
There it is. Was looking for the lazy “What this show has writers? I thought is waz just 80s the tv show” comment. Surprised I didn’t see it right away.There are dozens and dozens of products capitalizing on nostalgia but very few hit like this. The WRITING of the story but more importantly the characters, are what keep drawing people in. Half the people watching have zero nostalgia for the shit they are referrecing.
I literal said I was making a joke at the end of my comment and praised them for standing with the WGA. Relax man
Literally doesn’t negate what I said and it doesn’t make going for the low hanging fruit any less annoying by throwing I kid on it
No, that’s Ready Player One.
Maybe they will finally stop experimenting on Eleven and those other poor children
Sometimes I worry that, in terms of formative childhood trauma, Eleven ain’t got nothing on Millie Bobby Brown.
Wait…”Rings of Power” had writers!?!
Good for them. Although the Big Bad in S5 is likely going to be male pattern baldness.
how . . . strange.
“You’ve got mail…PATTERN BALDNESS” as they show kids in the early days of the internet…
“You’ve got mail…PATTERN BALDNESS” as they show kids in the early days of the internet…
I hadn’t realized just how one-sided the income stream was for those that actually create the material vs. the studios.
I saw that the WGA was striking for what they estimated was about $343m more a year than the studios were willing to give on their proposal chart (their demands would be worth $429m / year while studios are offering equivalent of $86m / year). If that is an accurate estimate, it’s incredibly ridiculous this has even came to a strike given the spending that had happened in recent years on content. It’s a couple of pennies per month per subscriber that these studios have…