The Duffer Brothers tease a secret Stranger Things project as they confirm the universe will be "very different" from Game of Thrones and Star Wars: "We're just not like that"

Stranger Things might have wrapped up its five-season run, but the franchise is far from over as new projects are now in the works. While the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow continues its run on stage, the Duffer brothers have been teasing a spin-off featuring a brand-new group of characters, as well as a secret project that they're not ready to talk about just yet.

"It's just one step at a time," Matt Duffer told EW when asked about the future of Stranger Things, which also includes the upcoming animated series Stranger Things: Tales From '85. "Right now, everything you said is all we have planned... Well, there's one other thing I can't talk about, so I just sort of lied to you, that is also really cool. But the live-action spinoff is what the main focus is right now."

"I wish I could talk about it more," he continued, "but we have a specific idea or philosophy for how the show and the Stranger Things universe, if you wanna call it that, can continue. It's very different, I would say, than something like Game of Thrones or Star Wars, because we're just not like that."

"And we're very proud of Tales from '85 and the play, but those are mining the last remaining small gaps in the narrative that we told over the course of Stranger Things," added Ross Duffer. "So to be able to move forward, we have to build out a new mythology because otherwise we're just gonna keep finding these little narrow gaps and it's just gonna get narrower and narrower and more forced. So the goal is to break it wide open and do something very new and very different."

Matt Duffer continued by saying it's been "exhilarating" to create "new characters and a new mythology", but for now most details are under wraps. "I can't wait to say more about it when I'm allowed to, but Netflix PR is listening in," he joked.

We know one thing about the spin-off, though. Talking to Variety last week, the showrunners teased one Vecna detail from season 5 will be super important in the upcoming new series – the rock in the briefcase he found in the caves as a child. If you want to know more about that, you can read our Stranger Things season 5 finale ending explained guide.

The complete Stranger Things series is available to watch on Netflix now. For more, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows, and keep up with new TV shows.