Duffer Brothers Explain Why 20-Episode Yearly Seasons Don’t Work
The creators of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer, are ready for their next chapter. At Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit in Los Angeles, the brothers opened up for the first time about their new deal with Paramount and why they’re excited to shift toward movies.
In August, the Duffers announced that their company, Upside Down Pictures, signed a four-year exclusive agreement with Paramount.
The deal covers film, television, and streaming projects. But for the brothers, the real reason for joining Paramount was the chance to make big original movies for theaters.
Ross explained it to Variety’s Michael Schneider. “When Matt and I were talking about what we want to do next, it really came down to we wanted to do a movie, specifically an original movie — a big original film. And theatrical is so important to us.”
He added that they weren’t looking for a new studio while still wrapping up the final season of Stranger Things, which premieres in November. Paramount approached them, and that sealed it. “It’s just something we dreamed about since we were little kids,” Ross said.
The Duffers want to focus on original films, though Matt admitted they’d consider some of Paramount’s existing properties if the right idea came along.
Still, he made it clear they’re picky. “The market is so flooded with IP and sometimes it’s like IP that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t understand that. How is that bring any value to anything? I like IP that was botched. Someone swung and missed. Then you have an opportunity to do it properly.”
Unlike some major production companies, the brothers don’t want to run a big empire of shows and movies. “We don’t want to become like Bad Robot,” Matt said, referencing J.J. Abrams’ studio. “Ross and I are incapable of juggling that many things.” Instead, they’d rather support other creators, much like producer Shawn Levy helped them bring Stranger Things to life back in 2015. “We like identifying really talented people and then just helping them get their vision made and then mostly staying out of the way,” Matt said.
For TV projects with Paramount, they plan on shorter, tighter seasons. “I get fatigued watching 20-episode seasons,” Matt explained. “We didn’t grow up interested in any of that. We only watched movies. That’s the weird thing that we ended up in TV, because we had almost zero interest in television.”
Their goal is to create event-style shows instead of long-running network formats. “If TV shows come out every year, it’s diminishing return,” Matt said. “I like the buildup.”
Even with Paramount in the picture, the Duffers aren’t leaving Netflix completely. They still have two series in the works there: The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, both slated for 2026. Matt teased that they’d just gotten the release date for the latter but wasn’t ready to share it.
Netflix also has more Stranger Things projects on the way. An animated spinoff, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, is coming soon, and the Duffers will executive produce another live-action spinoff. But they’ll only move forward if they’re genuinely passionate about the idea. “We just want to make sure that if we’re gonna do it, it’s something that we’re very excited about,”
Matt said. “We really are careful about what we bring to Netflix. My thing is, am I gonna be really mad at them if they pass on this?”
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