Stranger Things represents the kind of risk-taking that made Netflix great and that it needs more of
It's hard to imagine Netflix these days without Stranger Things being one of its leading shows. The first season of the sci-fi series landed back in 2016 and was an immediate hit, dominating the conversation around television for weeks afterward. With Stranger Things season five filming and with its release date unknown, it feels like this was Netflix at its very best – taking risks and showing patience to let them pay off.
While it feels like it was always a sure thing now, Stranger Things was a risky venture for the streamer – it focused on a group of relatively unknown child actors and drew from the depths of the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual for its creatures, two things that can make filming and finding an audience difficult. With a massive special effects and prop budget and a plot that was expected to take around four seasons to play out, Stranger Things is exactly the kind of show Netflix typically cancels after one season at the slightest provocation.
It isn’t like the streamer hasn’t had reasons to cancel the show. Both the 2020 pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes brought filming to a standstill, resulting in long gaps between seasons that have spelled the doom for other beloved Netflix shows like GLOW. The young cast quickly stopped being young, which resulted in (quickly dismissed) rumors that the producers would have to de-age them to make them seem like high school kids.
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