Duffer Brothers Say Secret to Stranger Things’ Success Is Cast’s ‘Real Life Bond’: ‘They’re All Very, Very Close’ (Exclusive)
Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer tell PEOPLE what they believe has been the key to the series’ mega success over the last 10 years.
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NEED TO KNOW
- Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer tell PEOPLE what the secret to the Netflix series’ mega success has been over the last decade
- The brothers, who also wrote and directed the series, describe the season 5 premiere in L.A. as “surreal”
- Ross tells PEOPLE that fans’ ability to “relate to these characters” has contributed to the show’s success, while Matt says the cast has “become a big family”
Matt and Ross Duffer are revealing the secret to the magic of Stranger Things.
At the Los Angeles premiere of the Netflix hit series’ fifth and final season on Nov. 6, the twin brothers told PEOPLE it felt “surreal” to be marking the momentous occasion. They also reflected on the series’ massive impact.
“I think a lot of the success of the show is, people can relate to these characters, and they can relate to these actors. They’re good people,” Ross says. “And I think it comes through in their performances.”
The fans “see themselves in [the characters] and they see the challenges they go through, and watching them overcome it gives them hope,” he adds. “So, I think that’s a big part of the success.”
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From Matt’s perspective, the key ingredient is the cast, who he says “has become a big family.”
“For the younger cast, the kids who are no longer kids, it’s been 10 years, it’s half their lives,” he says, referring to Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo.
“They’re all very, very close. And I think the real-life bond that they have translates into the show.”
While the brothers previously teased that the final season is the “biggest it’s ever been in scale,” it will still stay true to the heart of the show: “Everyone’s back together in Hawkins, interacting the same way they were in season 1.”
Ross also teased that “there’s no time for a ramp-up. It’s going to be intense from beginning to end.”
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Season 5 picks up in the fall of 1987, a time jump from the end of season 4, which took place in the spring of 1986.
Per the official description, in season 5, “Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding.”
“As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.”
Stranger Things season 5 premieres with Volume 1 on Nov. 26, followed by Volume 2 on Dec. 25 and the finale on Dec. 31.
