David Bridges
Key Highlights
- Future Plans: The Duffer brothers will transition to Paramount after concluding Stranger Things.
- Focus on Originals: Their goal is to create original content while also considering existing IPs they resonate with.
- Shorter Seasons: They prefer producing event shows with eight to ten episodes, avoiding lengthy seasons.
- Talent Development: The Duffers aim to discover and support new talent in the industry.
2025 will end with the end of Stranger Things, after which creators Matt and Ross Duffer will be at Paramount. While the pair are knee deep in putting the finishing touches on their Netflix hit, they talked up what’s to come once they’re exclusive to the Mission: Impossible and Transformers studio.
Movie-wise, the brothers intend to focus on original things, but they also told Variety they wouldn’t mind tackling a known property owned by Paramount. However, they stressed any IP they took on would have to be ones they “really responded to,” not just something that’s popular or would make a good headline. They didn’t offer more specifics in terms of criteria, but Matt brought up “botched” properties where “someone swung and missed, [and] then you have an opportunity to do it properly.”
When they’re not tackling movies, the Duffers hope to find and foster new talent, akin to what Shawn Levy did for them by backing Stranger Things. They don’t want to get as big as Bad Robot, though, so they’ll just focus on “identifying really talented people and then just helping them get their vision made and then mostly staying out of the way.”
As for the Duffers’ TV ventures, they intend to repeat what they did with Stranger Things and make event shows in the eight-to-10 episode range. Shows with 20 episodes or more seasons are “fatiguing,” said Matt, and neither brother grew up a fan of that model. But they want to continue making shows with shorter seasons and a “when it’s done” model, with Matt calling the traditional way “a diminishing return. I like the buildup.” Brother Matt also acknowledged that it’s strange the two even ended up in TV to begin with when they grew up on movies and aren’t really fans of television—but hey, look forward to the last run of Stranger Things episodes beginning November 26.
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Daniel Mercer
Brandon Fletcher
