The Duffer Brothers Got Real About One Stranger Things Regret They Had To Learn To Live With

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As a huge fan, I’m already feeling a little sad knowing that *Stranger Things* is really ending! Season 5, the final eight episodes, is coming between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve of 2025, bringing this amazing sci-fi/horror story – which started almost ten years ago – to a close. The creators, the Duffer brothers, have been looking back on the show, and they’ve admitted they have one regret about how things went, something they had to accept as they moved forward.

In a recent interview with Variety, the creators of *Stranger Things*, the Duffer Brothers, explained that the show’s fifth season was delayed not only by external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers and actors strikes, but also by their own desire to be heavily involved in the directing. They directed 24 out of the show’s 42 episodes, including the finale, which ultimately limited their ability to work on other projects, as Matt Duffer explained.

Looking back over the past decade, I sometimes wish we’d had the chance to explore a wider range of stories. It feels like those years – our thirties – were completely consumed by this one project. While I’d hoped we could have finished it a bit sooner, we did what we could.

Creating a show as large as *Stranger Things* was always going to take a lot of time and effort. Each episode is almost like a short film, and the Season 4 finale was especially long – over two hours and twenty minutes! While Matt wishes he’d shared some of the workload to focus on other projects, Ross understands that *Stranger Things* was a valuable chance for them both when streaming services were first becoming popular. As Ross explained:

When we began, Netflix was still relatively new. I’m not sure how many chances there will be in the future to create stories of this scope and scale. So, when I think about any concerns Matt mentioned, I’m grateful we had the opportunity to work during this unique time in the entertainment industry.

Everyone knows *Stranger Things* is a huge hit for Netflix – Season 4 became the first English-language series to reach over a billion hours viewed. Matt explained that they made the deliberate choice to continue the show for as long as they have, and it’s proven to be a good one.

We made a conscious decision to stick with this project for the long haul. We could have easily switched to making films, but we chose not to, and I’m happy we didn’t. We were able to complete the story we set out to tell, and thankfully, we started young enough that we’re still able to. It just goes to show, it’s never too late to start something new – Ridley Scott didn’t begin his filmmaking career until he was in his forties.

Even though *Stranger Things* will eventually conclude, The Duffer Brothers will continue their relationship with Netflix. They’re actively involved in creating a live-action *Stranger Things* spin-off, and two more shows from their production company, *The Boroughs* and the animated *Stranger Things: Tales from ’85*, are scheduled to release in early 2026. Beyond Netflix, they’ve also made a deal with Paramount and plan to focus on creating entirely new projects instead of working with established franchises.

After their current deal with Netflix finishes in April, the cast will move on to new projects. But first, fans of *Stranger Things* can watch the first four episodes of Season 5 starting November 26th. The next three episodes will be released on December 25th, and the final two episodes will conclude the series on December 31st.

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2025-10-16 02:08