The massive viewership for the fourth season of Stranger Things was one of the only bits of good news for Netflix this year, so it’s little surprise that they’re touting all of the future projects that the hit show’s creators are working on for the streamer. The streaming giant just announced five TV and film projects that the twin Duffer Brothers are developing for Netflix through their new production company, Upside Down Productions, named for Stranger Things’ alternate dimension. Hey, stick with what works!
And speaking of what works, two of these proposed projects are set in the Stranger-verse. There will be a live-action spin-off, as well as a stage play directed by three-time Tony-winning director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot: The Musical, The Inheritance. Beyond their connection to Stranger Things, no further plot details were given.
The pair’s non-Hawkins-related projects seem to fit nicely in their fantasy wheelhouse. They include:
- another attempt at an adaptation of Death Note, the hugely popular Japanese manga property by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Though Japanese live action adaptations of the supernatural series have largely been well-received, Netflix’s 2017 movie version (with Nat Woolf and LaKeith Stanfield) was widely maligned.
- new show from the makers of Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, who have also co-written Warner Bros.’ 2024 anime Lord of the Rings prequel, The War of the Rohirrim
- an adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s 1984 collaboration, The Talisman, a creepy novel about a young boy’s journey into a parallel universe to find a magic crystal that will save his cancer-stricken mother.
In the meantime, Ross Duffer told Collider that the Stranger Things writer’s room will convene the first week of August to start work on the fifth and final season, but Netflix clearly hopes the end of that show will only be the beginning of a very long and fruitful partnership. And, hopefully, viewership.