‘Stranger Things’ Can’t Go On Forever: Why The Duffer Brothers Will End Their Hit Series After Season 4

Stranger Things has been a bit of phenomenon. The Netflix science fiction-horror series took the web by storm last fall, and now fans are counting the minutes until round two. But two to three years from now, Stranger Things will likely be a thing of the past. In an interview with Vulture, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer talked about the eight-episode series that turned their world upside down, revealing that the Netflix franchise has a definite expiration date.

While the Duffer brothers confirmed that there will be a third season of Stranger Things, the duo stopped short of predicting an endless stream of upside down adventure in Hawkins, Indiana.

“We’re thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out,” Ross Duffer told Vulture. “We just have to keep adjusting the story.”

The first season of Stranger Things ended with teen Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) returning from an unplanned trip into the alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. Season 2’s official plot synopsis reads: “A year after Will’s return, everything seems back to normal… but a darkness lurks just beneath the surface, threatening all of Hawkins.”

Season 2’s official plot synopsis reads: “A year after Will’s return, everything seems back to normal… but a darkness lurks just beneath the surface, threatening all of Hawkins.”

Stranger Things Season 2 will be set during Halloween 1984 as the squad explores the effect Will’s trip to the Upside Down has had on him.

A four-season run would have the show’s young teens ending their reign in their late high school years—no more kids on bikes—but the Duffers admit it’s far-fetched to think residents would continue to have such bad luck in one small town.

“I don’t know if we can justify something bad happening to them once a year,” Ross Duffer said.

“They’re going to have to get the f**k out of this town. It’s ridiculous!”

Ross Duffer even had reservations about a Stranger Things Season 2—at least title-wise.

“I told Matt, ‘I don’t want to call it season two,'” he revealed.

“I just want it to feel like a movie sequel. If you have a successful movie, No.?2 is always a little bit bigger.”

While there have been few spoilers for Stranger Things 2, fans already know there will be nine new episodes this fall. The titles of the episodes were already revealed in the first trailer for the upcoming season, kicking off with “Madmax” and ending with the teasery-titled “The Lost Brother.”

While some fans wondered whether Stranger Things would follow in American Horror Story‘s path and return annually as an anthology series, the Duffers downplayed that possibility despite the fact that it could increase the longevity of the series.

“I think we talked like a larger time jump where the kids are older now and it’s a different decade,” Ross Duffer said, according to the Independent. “That’s something we batted around from the very beginning. But for us, there’s still more story here [in the 1980s], there’s still things that are unresolved.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgS2L7WPIO4&t=11s

Stranger Things Season 2 hits Netflix Friday, Oct. 27.

[Featured Image by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Netflix/AP Images]