stranger things 2 – Alternate World

‘Stranger Things’ Cast and Directors Tease Season Two

The cast and the creative team behind the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things were in attendance at the BAFTA Tea Party as well as the Golden Globes this weekend. While everyone was careful not to reveal anything about the upcoming sequel season which will drop on Netflix later this year, we did get a few interesting tidbits regarding the follow-up.

Executive Producer and Director Shawn Levy reiterated what we’ve already heard while promising Stranger Things 2 will continue to deliver the same magical Spielberg-like storytelling established in the first season telling Vanity Fair:

“Season 2 is bigger and potentially darker in its stakes. The threat, which in Season 1 was to Will Byers, has grown. That’s all I’m going to say! But, I will say Season 2 has a bigger cast and is definitely loyal to the kind of magical storytelling that we established in the first season. It’s character-based and still about our core group of characters.”

Finn Wolfhard, the brilliant 14-year old actor behind Mike Wheeler, talked about the advantage the actors now have knowing who their characters are and how growing up a little bit since the first season is going to help them evolve in season two:

“Now that we’ve done a season, we know exactly about our characters. We are very conscious of them and can take them to the next level. I think we’ve grown up a little bit, and our characters have too. They have been through a lot and have used those experiences to help them grow and to be stronger in Season 2.”

Possibly the most interesting bit of information came from The Duffer Brothers themselves. While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Matt Duffer revealed that one of the clues dropped in the announcement trailer for season two has changed:

“This is very cryptic but one of the clues in the teaser has changed because casting.”

My best guess is that the final episode of season two titled “The Lost Brother” is now “The Lost Sister” with the casting of Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, who plays Roman: 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. I’m probably wrong but my theory is that Roman was originally conceived of as a male character. Matt Duffer said the change came due to casting and other than “Mad Max”, “The Boy Who Came Back to Life”, and “The Pollywog”, there aren’t any other titles besides “The Lost Brother” that refer to a character. “The Pollywog” remains a mystery but it’s safe to say nothing has changed regarding the first two episode titles.

Stranger Things 2 picks up a year later in the fall of 1984 and will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down as well as the interdimensional portal which is still open at the Department of Energy. The characters are said to be struggling with the desire to return to a sense of normalcy and maybe the impossibility of it.

The series has added Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You), Linnea Berthelsen, Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers), broadway star Sadie Sink, and Brett Gelman (Jobs). You can check out descriptions of their characters here. The new characters are said to be compelling but first and foremost in service to the core group of characters introduced in season one.

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.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

#GoldenGlobes: @Stranger_Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer ✨ pic.twitter.com/4m9dBlBTmu

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 8, 2017

SOURCES: THR, VANITY FAIR

First Look at Brett Gelman in ‘Stranger Things 2’; Plus Chief Hopper and More Photos of the Kids

More Stranger Things 2 set photos have landed on JustJared. The photos give us our first look at Brett Gelman who plays Murray Bauman, a disgraced journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist who is investigating a cold case in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Bauman might just be the character the show needs to blow the lid off of the top-secret experiment gone wrong at the Hawkins national lab.

There are also more photos of the kids as well as some of everybody’s favorite cigarette smoking, beer drinking, pill popping, kid hating police chief, Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Production is currently underway on the second episode of season two in Atlanta.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCE: JUST JARED

The Boys Are Back On Their Bikes in New ‘Stranger Things 2’ Set Photos

Production is currently underway on the sequel to this Summers smash hit series Stranger Things in Atlanta, GA. The second season has been teased as a bigger, darker, yet familiar continuation of the horror mystery sci-fi adventure that will inject action into the series with Aliens and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom cited as major influences. Stranger Things 2 continues the adventure a year later in the fall of 1984 as the Byers family and Will’s friends struggle to reclaim a sense of normalcy after the events of season one. Season two will explore the consequences of Will’s time in the upside down while dealing with the portal which remains open at the Department of Energy.

Thanks to the DailyMail, a few new set photos have hit the web revealing the kids back on their bikes on the streets of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Another photo also reveals Lucas has his trusty binoculars from Vietnam on hand.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL

David Harbour Talks Chief Hopper; Teases Expansive ‘Stranger Things 2’ and Further Seasons To Come

Long gone are the days of leading male actors who were a bit rough around the edges. Today’s landscape requires a perfect face, complemented by great hair and a chiseled body. The problem for most ordinary men when it comes to entertainment is that we can sit back and admire the leading male characters of film and television but they have little chance of resonating with us. It prevents us from having a truly transformative experience because ordinary men can’t save the world in entertainment today, only superheroes can.

Maybe that’s why Chief Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour, became an overnight icon when the pop culture phenomenon of Stranger Things took the world by storm. Harbour reminded us that we all possess the strength to overcome the greatest challenges in life no matter how beaten down or destroyed the world has left us.

In Stranger Things, Chief Jim Hopper is a police Chief who split from his wife after his daughter lost a battle against cancer. When the series begins, the character is struggling with depression, drugs, and alcohol. He’s angry at the world and at children. But underneath that anger is a caring former self who is desperate to return to the surface.

Like Hopper, a lot of us men feel like we are cursed. Like everything we touch turns to shit and we’re better off just keeping ourselves at a distance from others so we don’t screw up their life too. Whether or not you can relate to that, we can all certainly relate to wanting to find meaning in our lives. So when Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) disappears, it presents Hopper with an opportunity to lift his curse by returning Will to his mother (Winona Ryder) and find new meaning in his life that could help him move forward and possibly forgive himself for the death of his daughter.

Harbour recently spoke with Gold Derby Editor Ralph Galvan about his role as Chief Hopper and dished about the struggle he had separating himself from the character:

“I think as an artist it’s good to bleed a little bit. Like if you want it to be good it’s got to hurt. I think that authenticity resonates. And I think when it doesn’t feel authentic in that way I think we somewhat feel it too. When it’s just kind of a scene. But when we see a character or a human being really go through a struggle, it’s funny like, the camera is always interested in what we’re doing but I feel like even on their skin, I feel like you can read people so well on film. And there’s something about when you actually go through something where you just kind of resonate. Like your whole instrument just kind of resonates this thing. So you know, I wish I had better technique in terms of turning it on and off but I just kind of lived it. I just kind of acted out a bit. I would dream about him. He just kind of infected my subconcious. Like, it’s totally worth it. Because it’s such an honor for me to be able to act and to be able to create something beautiful that resonates with people where I’m willing to totally give up five months of my life a year so you as an audience member can have an experience with a character that is rich and unique and I feel like it’s my honor to be able to do that for people.

Harbour is currently back in the role of Chief Hopper as production on Stranger Things 2 has just begun. Harbour wouldn’t spoil anything regarding the plot of the new season, and neither would we here at AW, but Harbour did offer some tantalizing insight into the scope and scale of the new season:

“Before we got the first scripts I was nervous about how we are gonna do this. But then I read literally the first five minutes of season two is such an opener of the world it just blew me away. I literally was reading the script and went YES!!! as soon as it ended. So I think we’re gonna do something very expansive. And now that we know we have a show that people like, I think we might have more seasons to come so we can kind of arc a larger story and we start to establish things this season that will pay off even further down the road. And that’s really kind of liberating. So all the pressure that you feel, you also feel like wow we also have a bigger canvas now to play with and we can add all these new colors and all these new shades and so yes, there is pressure but there also is excitement.”

Stranger Things 2 picks up a year later in the fall of 1984 and will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down as well as the interdimensional portal which is still open at the Department of Energy. The sequel is said to be bigger and darker yet familiar as the characters struggle with the desire to return to a sense of normalcy and maybe the impossibility of it.

Stranger Things 2 will also introduce several new characters. The series has added Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You), danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) broadway star Sadie Sink, and Brett Gelman (Jobs). You can check out descriptions of their characters here. The new characters are said to be compelling but first and foremost in service to the core group of characters introduced in season one.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCE: GOLD DERBY

‘Stranger Things 2’: Chief Hopper is Back in a New Set Photo

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.

You can check out some other set photos from the production snapped last week here.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

View this post on Instagram

'Forget it, Hopper. It's Hawkins.' 😏🚬

A post shared by David Harbour (@dkharbour) on Nov 21, 2016 at 7:55pm PST

Brett Gelman Joins ‘Stranger Things 2’

Production on the second season of Stranger Things is currently underway in Georgia and the series is continuing to add talent to the already stellar cast. Variety has confirmed that actor-comedian Brett Gelman (Jobs, The Other Guys) has been cast in the role of Murray Bauman, a disgraced journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist who is investigating a cold case in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Bauman might just be the character the show needs to blow the lid off of the top-secret experiment gone wrong at the Hawkins national lab.

Gelman joins a list of recently announced stars for the second season which includes Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You), danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) and broadway star Sadie Sink. You can check out descriptions of their characters here. The new characters are said to be compelling but first and foremost in service to the core group of characters introduced in season one.

Executive Producer Shawn Levy recently spoke with Collider and provided insight to some of the challenges facing the residents of Hawkins, Indiana in the second season:

“Will Byers was in that Upside Down for a while. So Season 2 is about this determined desire to return to normalcy in Hawkins, in the Byers family, in that group of friends, and it’s the struggle to reclaim normalcy and maybe the impossibility of it.”

Don’t let Stranger Things’ packaging as a television show fool you, structurally and narratively it is very much a six and a half hour movie broken up into eight reels. The Duffer Brothers have said that season two will be much more like a movie sequel rather than a traditional second season of a series.

Stranger Things 2 picks up a year later in the fall of 1984 and will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down as well as the interdimensional portal which is still open at the Department of Energy. The sequel is said to be bigger and darker yet familiar.

You can check out some set photos from the production snapped earlier this week here.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCE: VARIETY

First Set Photos From ‘Stranger Things 2’

The 80’s are back! The cameras were rolling on Stranger Things 2 yesterday in Stockbridge, GA. Thanks to JustJared we have our first look at much of the returning cast as well as some new faces who could be guest stars or extras appearing in the first episode of the second season.

Season two is said to be bigger and darker yet familiar. The adventure continues a year later in the fall of 1984 and will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down and the portal that is still open at the Department of Energy. In addition to the return of Millie Bobby Brown as the iconic Eleven, the series will add 80’s stars Sean Astin (The Goonies), Paul Reiser (Aliens) as well as newcomers Linnea Berthelsen, Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) and broadway star Sadie Sink into the mix.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCES: JUSTJARED, DAILYMAIL

Shawn Levy Talks ‘Stranger Things 3’; Charlie Heaton Teases Bigger, Darker Second Season

Just last Friday it was officially confirmed that Millie Bobby Brown would be returning for the sequel to Netflix’s smash hit Stranger Things. At an event screening for 2011’s Real Steel, executive producer Shawn Levy spoke with Collider, revealing The Duffer Brothers and himself are already looking ahead as to where they want to go once the show is renewed for a third season.

Levy:

We are not gonna be caught off guard and we don’t wanna be making stuff up like the day before we have to write it and make it, so we are definitely optimistic and we have started thinking ahead.

The Duffers have already said in the past that that do have an ending for the series in mind, it’s just a matter of how long it takes to get there.

Back at the end of August when the second season was announced, a total of nine chapter headings were revealed in an official teaser for the follow-up, extending the episode count by one more than the first season. With an additional episode in the mix, as well as a bigger budget allowing for better, more polished visual effects it would only make sense for the production to take a little longer than the first season. Levy was unable to speculate on a release date but did offer some insight:

That I can’t say. I do have a sense of it. It was promised when we announced that we were picked up for Season 2 and we gave those chapter headings, I believe it ended with ‘Coming in 2017’ and that much is true. You can do a little bit of math, we’re not magicians so there’s no way it launches in Spring since I just admitted we started filming today, and we’re doing nine.

Stranger Things possessed the DNA of a Steven Spielberg blockbuster smashed together with a Stephen King summer read so it would be disappointing if the sequel isn’t able to make it’s debut in the summer of 2017, however. No doubt would the sci-fi horror mystery adventure be a perfect fit for a release around Halloween, although the wait would be excruciating. But if it means a better product, I think we can all manage.

Season two will pick up a year later in the fall of 1984 and explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down, and the portal that is still open at the Department of Energy. Levy offered some further insight into just exactly what Will and the Byers family, as well as his friends, will be struggling with when we pick up with them a year later.

“I’m not gonna say how much time has gone by. It is not the next day, I’ll say that. And there are several new characters who I think several of them are going to be new fan-favorites because they’re great, great new characters. But we are definitely sticking primarily with our core group, and what is different, how are they changed from the experience of last season… maybe ‘normal’ is never possible again.”

The second season will see several new characters added into the mix. Just yesterday it was announced that Sean Astin (The Goonies), Paul Reiser (Aliens), and Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen will be joining the cast along with newcomers Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) and Sadie Sink.

Levy also added that he would be in the Directors seat for the third and fourth episodes this year, just as he was in the first season.

Yes, we are a little superstitious so just like last year, they’re doing 1 and 2, I’m going in and doing 3 and 4. So the first four are gonna kick off exactly the same as last time… I am going to start prepping right around Thanksgiving and I’ll be filming my episodes through December and January.

But it doesn’t stop there, actor Charlie Heaton is also currently promoting his new film, Shut In. While speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Heaton offered some insight into the scope of the second season while assuring it is still very much the same Hawkins, Indiana we were introduced to in the first season. The actor teased the fourth episode titled “The Palace” (directed by Levy) will be huge. My hope is that “The Palace” is actually some sort of reference to Pankot Palace as The Duffers already mentioned Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a major influence. It would be a dream come true of mine to see The Goonies dropped into the mineshaft chase sequence from the end of Temple of Doom.

The adventure continues in the fall of 1984.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

SOURCES: COLLIDER, ET

Paul Reiser and Sean Astin Join ‘Stranger Things 2’

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.

The adventure continues in the fall of 1984.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

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Hopper's back😏

A post shared by David Harbour (@dkharbour) on Oct 31, 2016 at 7:55am PDT

SOURCE: THE WRAP

‘Stranger Things 2’: Millie Bobby Brown Officially Confirmed (UPDATED)

Millie Bobby Brown’s return as the iconic Eleven in Stranger Things 2 has been officially confirmed via the show’s official Facebook page this afternoon.

Millie Bobby Brown’s return as the iconic Eleven in Stranger Things 2 has been officially confirmed via the show’s official Facebook page this afternoon.

Earlier this week, TV Line reported having sources close to the production confirming Brown’s return to the series, however. Netflix declined to give a comment.

Today the cat is officially out of the bag. Shared on the Facebook page for the show is an upside down photo of the cast at the first table read for the first episode of season two which include Brown at the table. The photo also includes series newcomers Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers) and broadway star Sadie Sink.

Earlier this week the cast made their way back to Atlanta for costume fittings. Actor Gaten Matarazzo shared a photo on Instagram of the kids going out trick or treating for Halloween but was removed within a few hours.

Executive producer Shawn Levy spoke with io9 this week regarding heightened expectations for season two and mentioned filming for the second season was about to begin.

We start shooting imminently. We’re going to table read a bunch of episodes, that’s the first step this week.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

UPDATE:

Brown also took to Instagram to announce the return of Eleven herself.

View this post on Instagram

011 is back! It's official, can't wait to be back working with this lovely cast again for #strangerthings thank you to the amazing duffer brothers for having el back for a second season!❤️

A post shared by mills (@milliebobbybrown) on Nov 4, 2016 at 10:32am PDT

SOURCE: FACEBOOK