Stranger Things showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer have defended the sizeable breaks between seasons of the hit Netflix show, saying that they like the "build-up" between installments of TV.
"I get fatigued watching 20-episode seasons," Matt Duffer said at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit. "We didn’t grow up interested in any of that. We only watched movies. That’s the weird thing that we ended up in TV, because we had almost zero interest in television."
"If TV shows come out every year, it’s diminishing return," he added. "I like the build-up."
Stranger Things season 4 dropped in May 2022, so there will have been a three-and-a-half year break between seasons by the time the fifth and final season releases this November. Season 1 premiered all the way back in 2016, so the show has taken almost a decade to release five seasons with fewer than 10 episodes apiece.
With Stranger Things nearly at an end, the Duffer brothers are looking ahead to a new deal with Paramount, where they're planning "a big original film" and TV projects that focus on "eight-to-10 episode seasons."
By contrast, The Walking Dead boss Scott Gimple recently told GamesRadar+, "I think there are certain core elements of television that are oddly being left behind for, to me, no discernible reason. The Walking Dead, just as a case study, was shot pretty much – up until COVID, that changed some things – May/June to October/November.
"Come Hell or high water, that's what we did, because we needed to have a regular output of shows for an audience to expect and to frame their life by. I'm fully soapboxing now. I believe television is at its best when it forms that connection with an audience, when they can, you know, set their watch by when it's going to be on."
Stranger Things season 5 will be released on Netflix in three installments on November 26, December 25, and December 31. While we wait, get up to speed with our guide to the best Netflix shows to add to your watchlist.
