Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer responded to star Millie Bobby Brown’s biggest criticism of the series, and fans are cracking up. Back in May, Brown appeared in a video with The Wrap promoting Season 4, and she joked that the show should “start killing people off.” Duffer answered in an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, saying that he is not making that kind of show.
Brown seemed to be at least partially joking in her Q&A when she said that the biggest thing missing from Stranger Things was shocking character deaths. “They need to kill off some people… [The cast is] way too big. Last night we couldn’t even take one group picture, there were like 50 of us. I was like, ‘You need to start killing people off.’” She later joked that the only reason this hasn’t happened is that the Duffer brothers “are two Sensitive Sallies that don’t want to kill anyone off.”
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“We need to have the mindset of Game of Thrones,” she concluded. Obviously, that’s not what Matt and Ross Duffer are going for, and Matt made that clear on Monday’s podcast interview. However, he also let fans know that no character is automatically safe.
“Believe us, we’ve explored all options in the writing room,” he said, before adding: “We aren’t Game of Thrones. This is Hawkins, it’s not Westeros.” He went on to say that, even in its most fantastical moments, death was something that couldn’t be taken lightly in Stranger Things. The key is that such losses have “realistic” ramifications for the characters.
“When Barb dies [in Season 1], it’s two seasons’ worth of grappling with that,” he pointed out. “Every death has an impact. As we’re moving into the final season, more of that is on the table. There is logic behind it, and has nothing to do with my sensitivity.”
Stranger Things is arguably Netflix’s biggest success to date and its most world-renowned franchise. Production on Season 4 suffered heavily from the COVID-19 pandemic as the show’s young cast members aged visibly during their hiatus. Now, Season 5 is slated to be the big finale the story has been building toward all along.
Stranger Things Season 4, Part 2 is streaming now on Netflix. So far, there’s no word on when Season 5 will begin filming or when it might premiere.
