Stranger Things has become not only one of Netflix’s biggest hits but has left quite an impact on people. However, for the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, the realization that they had made a hit came slowly. When season one aired, neither Matt nor his brother Ross Duffer understood social media, but there were a bunch of articles. Then enough people told them that no, this isn’t normal. The big one for the brothers besides Saturday Night Live was the phenomenon with Barb, who, besides Benny, was the first of many beloved supporting characters on the show.

Ross Duffer told IndieWire:

According to Ross Duffer, they are not only “very, very careful about who we’re introducing,” but also about the casting process. You can’t add someone that’s going to take away from the character if they’re not terrific, so they go through many edits. That’s been true for Joseph Quinn, Maya Hawke, and Sadie Sink. Matt Duffer added:

“Whenever we introduce a new character, we want to make sure that they’re going to be an integral part of the narrative. So that’s something with Eddie this season, where we go, ‘Well, we need a character here for this storyline to really work, and to give it the engine that is needed.’ But every time we do that, we’re nervous, because you go, ‘We’ve got a great cast of characters here, and actors, and any moment we’re spending with a new character, we’re taking time away from one of the other actors."

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After the extended break that occurred with season 4, Matt Ross said they would wonder, “Does anyone care anymore?” in dark moments. So their philosophy for the season became that if they put out something good, people would care, which seemed to work. So for Stranger Things 5, their priority will be to get it right, though they’re resisting the urge to add new characters.

“And it’s not like the actors don’t know [either]. They all know that they’re coming into a cast people love, and you’re introducing a new element. And you’ve seen it on shows go wrong, and so they’re all nervous, but like Ross said, with those particular three, and Dacre [Mongomery] as well, who played Billy, it was like, because these actors are amazing it’s just really fun. I just like shaking it up, so we shake it up by changing the plot or adding in a new monster."

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Matt Duffer said,

Unlike with season one, Ross Duffer said that they got some rapid, real-time feedback with season four. The people that were staying up for eight hours to watch Stranger Things 4. However, he said that while you can’t necessarily go off the reactions of the hardcore fanbase, he did remember being excited.

“I told Netflix it would appeal to everybody, but I was lying to them to get the show sold. We thought it would appeal to us, people who grew up on these movies, either watching them in the ’80s, or like us, steep[ed] in the VHS growing up. So that has been the biggest shock to me, that it has resonated as much as it had with preteens and teens who don’t have these references."

According to Matt Duffer, one of the big movies for him and his brother was Scream (1996). They weren’t allowed to see it in theaters, but they did rent the movie. It was their gateway drug to all these great horror movies. They hadn’t yet seen all the films Scream was referencing, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, or known anything about Wes Craven and John Carpenter. But they fell in love with Scream nonetheless.

“You could immediately see what was resonating, whether it was the Max stuff, and “Dear Billy…” and Kate Bush, or the twist in Episode 7. So there was a bit of a relief that, even in that early group of viewers it was resonating, at least those moments. Obviously, the Kate Bush thing gave us our feedback. Our barometer [was] going “Oh OK. This is penetrating culture in a way,” and that was really exciting to see."

“So that’s always been my hope with the show. If the people like us who grew up with it and love it, that’s great. But the younger audience, it’s exciting [what] we saw even with the music, discovering Kate Bush. That made me super excited. But also the idea of them discovering these movies that we grew up on. Can it do what Scream did for us for some other nerds out there? That would make me super happy."