Production on the sequel to Netflix’s smash hit Stranger Things is currently underway outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Stranger Things 2 will pick up a year after the events of season one in the fall of 1984. The second season will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ time spent in the upside down and will deal with the interdimensional portal that is still open at the department of energy. Recently, executive producer Shawn Levy teased the characters will be struggling with the desire for a return to normalcy and the impossibility of it.
Thanks to Chief Hopper himself, actor David Harbour has shared a photo of himself suited back up in uniform and having a cigarette. The photo caption is a nod to the iconic line from Chinatown, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown”. Could Harbour be drawing influence from Jack Nicholson in the season two? The actor has said before that he looks to leading male actors of the seventies such as Harrison Ford and Roy Scheider for inspiration. His character is an amalgamation of Indiana Jones and Chief Brody from Jaws.
Stranger Things 2 stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb Mclaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Noah Schnapp.
You can check out some other set photos from the production snapped last week here.
According to The Wrap, the series has officially added Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings) and Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You) into the mix.
With production officially underway on the sequel to this past summer’s smash hit Stranger Things, news about the follow-up is beginning to trickle out. So far all we have seen are a few images teased by Netflix and the cast including a photo from last Friday’s table read confirming Millie Bobby Brown‘s official return to the show along with a Snapchat photo of her co-star Finn Wolfhard back in the Wheeler’s basement, as well as an photo posted to Instagram photo of David Harbour suiting back up as Chief Hopper.
According to The Wrap, the series has officially added Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings) and Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You) into the mix.
Astin will play Bob Newby, a kindhearted former nerd who went to high school with Joyce and Hopper and now manages the local Hawkins RadioShack.
Everyone’s favorite company man, Reiser, will play Dr. Owens, a high-ranking member within the Department of Energy on a “clean-up” assignment, tasked with containing the events of last year.
In addition to Astin and Reiser, the series has also cast Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, whose character named Roman was previously announced but now we have an actual character description. Roman is an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab.
Season two will also feature Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) and broadway stars Sadie Sink as step-siblings, Billy and Max. Max is a tough tomboy who rides her skateboard everywhere she goes. Her complicated past has made her suspicious of those around her. Billy is a typical 80’s jock who steals girlfriends out from their boyfriends and drives a black Camaro while he isn’t busy playing drinking games. Underneath he is said to be violent and unpredictable.
Season two will pick up a year after the events of season one and deal with the portal that is still open to the upside down as well as the consequences of Wills week spent in the nether.
It’s happening! For most people, this is nothing of importance so don’t get too excited but for someone who is counting down the seconds until The Duffer Brothers call action on set, this has me pretty pumped.
Thanks to Reddit user mondaymillionare, we have a look at the trailers set up ready to host the actors as they create what will hopefully be another magical experience for audiences. The photo was taken today in Jackson, Georgia which serves as the fictional settings of Hawkins, Indiana.
What we know:
The second season will pick up a year post the events of season one in the fall of 1984 and will feature the return of the entire original cast plus several new additions, two of which were recently announced. The story will deal directly with the portal that is still open to the upside down and how Will has been affected by his time spent there. Things are still up in the air with the return of Eleven but she’s definitely returning. You don’t create an iconic character like that and kill her off after one season. Plus if she was gone for good, I think the Duffers would be pretty up front about that. Their reluctance whether or not to tell us if Eleven is returning signals to me that we will see her again.
Oh, but Barb is dead. Seriously, she is not coming back, however. The show will deliver some form of ‘Justice For Barb’ to satisfy audiences frustrations with the lack of acknowledgment over the loss of Barb in the first season.
The second season begins production sometime in the next two weeks.
Stranger Things 2 will hit Netflix sometime in 2017.
The Netflix smash hit Stranger Things rolls into production on the sequel in about three weeks. When the second season was announced it was revealed that the new season would see three new characters added to the mix — one for each generation of characters.
The Netflix smash hit Stranger Things rolls into production on the sequel in about three weeks. When the second season was announced it was revealed that the new season would have three new characters added to the mix — one for each generation of characters.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Sadie Sink and Dacre Mongtomery will be joining the cast as series regulars.
Sink will play Max, a tough tomboy who rides her skateboard everywhere she goes. Her complicated past has made her suspicious of those around her.
Montgomery, star of the upcoming Power Rangers reboot will play Max’s older step brother Billy — a typical 80’s jock who steals girlfriends out from their boyfriends and drives a black Camaro while he isn’t busy playing drinking games. Underneath he is said to be violent and unpredictable. Sounds like Steve’s former buddy Tommy has found his new best friend.
The new characters are said to be compelling but first and foremost in service of the core group of characters introduced in season one.
Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery have also been upgraded from their recurring roles to series regulars.
The second season will pick up with the original cast a year later and deal with the portal that is still open to the upside down.
On Sunday, the American Film Institute welcomed artists of the 3rd Annual White House Student Film Festival to premiere over 700 short films all centered on one theme: The World I Want to Live In. The students were joined by special guests by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Executive Producers Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, and cast member Millie Bobby Brown.
On Sunday, the American Film Institute welcomed artists of the 3rd Annual White House Student Film Festival to premiere over 700 short films all centered on one theme: The World I Want to Live In. The students were joined by special guests Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Executive Producers Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, and cast member Millie Bobby Brown.
The Duffers discussed the challenges they faced for years in Hollywood and how they eventually came to develop the pilot script for Stranger Things:
Matt:
You’re going to all these studios and these producers and you’re pitching. And you know, all we got was no, no, no… And people are super rude in Hollywood. There’s a ton of no’s and a lot of rejection. Because you come out really excited and it’s just doors getting slammed in your face over and over again and we started to freak out a little bit because it felt for a moment it felt actually impossible.
Ross:
We had like a month of money left. And we huddled in our small apartment and we decided to do something we haven’t done. Which is like, we’re just going to write something that we would want to see. Not what we think other people want or what other people think is cool, or what what’s the in-thing in the industry right now. We’re like lets just write something for ourselves.
It would still be some time before The Duffers would find success. Their passion project, Hidden was not received well by the studio resulting in The Duffers having to go back to the drawing board.
The Duffers went on to add that even after they developed the script, look book, and a fake trailer for Stranger (formerly known as Montauk), they still had a hard time getting network executives to see the project the way they saw it but the brothers didn’t give up.
Matt:
The reason we’re telling you all of this is to try, as much as possible, to tell stories that mean something to you. That matter to you. Tell stories that you want to see out in the world. And I know it sounds easy now but as you get out there in Los Angeles or New York, it’s very easy to kind of lose your way. I mean the phrase ‘chase your dream,’ I don’t think you should chase the dream at all. I think you should chase the feeling you have when you’re making these movies. The way that makes you feel when you’re making something that you love, you should chase that feeling. And I really believe if you do that and you stay true to yourself, and stay true to that then the dream will then follow.
The two then were joined by Executive Producers Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. The script resonated for Cohen immediately in the same way it did for audiences. Levy described what it was like when Cohen walked into his office with the script for Stranger Things:
You need to stop what you’re doing. You need to read this script. Because there is something special here. These are voices that need to be heard.
Last but not least, Millie Bobby Brown came on stage and talked about what it was it was like to play the intensely emotional character of Eleven with such little dialogue.
You have to express yourself without talking. There would be times where I didn’t know what to do with the scene. I couldn’t cry sometimes and I’d ask the Duffers to just tell me something to make me cry!
Levy also mentioned how Millie had the courage to ask to do another take after production had already began to move on from a scene:
Thats really rare. For an actor to have the kind of strength to stop and slow down the train to say ‘I think I can do better.’ But even at this young age Millie had a sense of her powers and her abilities as an actor and we who directed the show were smart enough to follow the talent and the instincts of the performer and those are the takes that ended up in the show.
Unfortunately, we didn’t learn any new information regarding Stranger Things 2 beyond what we already know. The story will take place a year later in the fall of 1984 and will deal with the portal that is still open to the upside down.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Noah Schnapp dishes on what it was like to film some of Wills biggest scenes, the fan response, and what he would like to see for Will in season two.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Noah Schnapp who played Will Byers in Stranger Things dishes on what it was like to film some of Will’s biggest scenes, the fan response, and what he would like to see for Will in season two.
My guess is that maybe he’s going to become evil in the next season. If he’s coughing up these baby Demogorgons, or eggs, or something, maybe he’s incubating or holding these eggs inside of him and he’s trying to fight his good side against his bad side in the next season. That would be cool to see, to see him become evil.
What do you guys think? Does Will have powers like Eleven? How long will it be before we see him use his powers? Or is it possible that we already did when the wall opened up revealing Will in the upside down?
Noah also spoke of his relationship with his co-stars and what it was like to work with Winona Ryder.
From the start, I knew she was a great person. There were so many moments where she was like my real mom. We were doing a CPR scene and she came up to me with a packet of gum. She gave me a piece, looked me right in the eye and said, “This is so our breath doesn’t smell bad.” Mr. [David] Harbour [who plays Chief Jim Hopper] had to push really hard on my chest, and she went up to my mom to make sure that it was okay. She was just really sweet.
In the weeks following its debut, Stranger Things rose to the top of the most popular shows on IMDB. The internet exploded with fan art, reaction videos on YouTube, and a plethora of unofficial T-shirts on sites like Teefury and TeePublic. Noah talked a little bit about what it’s like to now be recognized on the street. It’s so nice to see these little stars achieve their dreams while remaining humble and grateful for their early success.
When I’m with the other cast, going to interviews, like we did in New York City, people do recognize us. I like meeting fans. It’s amazing to me. Without them, the show wouldn’t be what it is. It’s amazing to meet them and see what they’re all like.
It will be a while before us fans have any concrete information regarding the next season. Stranger Things 2 is set to start filming towards the end of October, early November set for a release sometime in 2017.
In an interview posted this past Tuesday by Take Two, Executive Producer Shawn Levy discusses his experience producing the Netflix Original Series Stranger Things and why the show has become a pop-culture phenomenon.
In an interview posted this past Tuesday by Take Two, Executive Producer Shawn Levy discusses his experience producing the Netflix Original Series Stranger Things and why the show has become a pop-culture phenomenon.
The world felt safer. The world, and it breaks my heart to say this, but the world was safer. And I know that a lot of us yearn for the relative innocence of that– And I do think that the show transports us back to a cultural and global climate that was fundamentally more comforting. It was fundamentally less scary.
Levy also describes season two as “next level” but will still service the shows core characters. The show will grow along with its young cast.
It’s clear Levy was inspired by The Duffer Brothers and the pilot script for Stranger Things immediately. Inspiration seems to be the word coming from everyones mouth involved with the show. From the editors to the production designer, The Duffers brought out the best in everyone resulting in the magical experience that is Stranger Things.
To listen to the full interview head on over to Take Two.
Alternate World 