The Duffer brothers, the duo behind Stranger Things, have announced a new production company that's working with Netflix to bring multiple projects to the streaming service, including a live-action Death Note series.
Deadline reports Matt and Ross Duffer have formed Upside Down Pictures. On the slate of upcoming projects alongside Death Note: a Stranger Things spin-off that will be "1000% different" from the original series; a Stranger Things stage show with Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry at the helm; a mysterious series from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, who were behind Netflix's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance; and a series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s 1984 novel The Talisman (which was, funnily enough, seen being read by one of the characters in Stranger Things season 4, Volume 2).
In a statement, the Duffers said they aspire to create the sort of stories that inspired them when they were growing up: "Stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism."
On the Death Note series, little is actually known though it will be "an entirely new take" from Netflix's poorly received 2017 live-action Death Note movie. The original show follows Light Yagami, a teenager who comes into possession of a mysterious notebook that grants him the power to kill anyone he pleases simply by writing their name onto the book's pages. After a few successful experiments, Light decides to adopt the moniker Kira and use the notebook to rid the world of evil, but the police aren't thrilled about their new rogue ally.
The series' other main protagonist, the enigmatic L, is a world-renowned detective hired to discover Kira's identity and bring him to justice. Meawhile, Light's mission to stamp out violent crime becomes increasingly immoral as he's forced to commit wicked crimes to maintain his coverup. The central conflict of Death Note is the strategic cat-and-mouse chase between Light and L, two highly intelligent people desperate to come out on top. The upcoming Netflix show will be the first live-action Death Note adaptation to follow a series format.
