Despite running for five seasons, there was a lot of concern early on that the show wouldn’t last. In fact, many people involved with the series thought it would be canceled after just one season. One of them, even said in an interview that everyone expected the show to be a complete failure.
It’s hard to believe now, but when the first season of Stranger Things came out in 2016, most people didn’t predict it would be a huge success. Surprisingly, Netflix didn’t do much to promote the show – they mostly let viewers discover it and tell their friends, and that’s how it gained popularity.
In 2022, actor David Harbour discussed the show on the British program The One Show. He recalled being in Atlanta while filming the first season and remembering a conversation with a member of the hair and makeup team around the fourth episode. She expressed concern that the show might not succeed, noting that they had been given a budget of around $20 million by Netflix.
After finishing the first season, we honestly didn’t think we’d be renewed. We feared we’d be one of the first Netflix shows to ever be canceled after just one season. We really believed nobody would watch it, and we braced ourselves for failure.
Despite initial worries, Stranger Things became a massive success, quickly becoming Netflix’s most popular show. It continued to gain fans until Netflix announced the fifth season would be the show’s last.
‘Stranger Things’ Ran for a Decade, but Didn’t Quite Please Everyone with Its Ending
Netflix
These days, it’s rare for any TV series to last five seasons. This is especially true for expensive fantasy shows like Stranger Things, which are often canceled after just one season when the high production costs are considered.
The fifth season of Stranger Things arrived on Netflix in 2025, split into three volumes. Though the season began well, the New Year’s Eve finale left many viewers frustrated. Even now, nearly two weeks later, a lot of fans are hoping for a hidden extra episode to fix the issues with the ending.
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While the original Stranger Things series has concluded, the story isn’t over. The franchise will continue with a new animated series called Tales from ’85, and at least one more live-action spin-off. The future of the franchise beyond that will likely depend on how well these new shows perform without the main characters and storyline that fans have followed for nearly ten years.
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2026-01-11 17:05