Duffer Bros. declare Stranger Things isn't going anywhere—including season 5—without its writers

Unlike some big-budget shows, production on the Netflix streaming juggernaut's final season has been delayed until the writers strike is resolved

By William Hughes | May 6, 2023 | 11:59pm

Aux News Stranger Things

Duffer Bros. declare Stranger Things isn't going anywhere—including season 5—without its writers

Stranger Things Photo: Netflix

As the Writers Guild Of America’s strike continues into next week—and then god knows how far beyond that—it’s quickly becoming clear that responses from the TV and film production side of things are going to vary pretty widely. We’ve already seen examples of some shows—including several of the biggest on TV, like House Of The Dragon and Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings series Rings Of Power—decide to essentially just power through the strikes with already-completed scripts, neglecting the usual practice of having writers on-set to re-write lines and help filming flow more smoothly.

But not so for that other streaming juggernaut: Netflix’s Stranger Things, with series creators Matt and Ross Duffer announcing today—via the official Twitter account of the show’s writers room—that production on the show’s final season will be delayed, rather than trying to muscle through without writers on hand. “Writing does not stop when filming begins,” the brother duo begins. “While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out.” The message ended with a single hashtag: “#wgastrong.”

Most Popular

(The writers room account also “liked” a tweet showing a picket sign declaring “Pay us or Steve Harrington is toast,” which is very funny.)

As noted by Variety, it’s believed that the scripts for Stranger Things’ fifth season are written, so the Duffers and their teams could hypothetically make like Dragon and Rings and push forward. but have opted not to. One open question here is how much pressure Netflix (which hasn’t responded to requests for comments on the announcement as of yet) is exerting on the show. Warner Bros. and Disney have both issued memos this week (acquired by The Holllywood Reporter) requesting that showrunners—who operate in a hybrid space between producers and writers—continue to do production duties on their shows, even if they’re not writing. The Duffers, at least, have made their stance on that idea pretty clear: No writers, no show. Given that we’re talking about one of the biggest streaming shows on the planet—and the ways streaming residuals form a large portion of the complaints the WGA is striking to address—it feels like a pretty potent shot across the bow.

Filming on the show’s final season was set to begin this month. Meanwhile, the WGA held a meeting earlier today at which many of the most prolific showrunners in the industry—David E. Kelley, Damon Lindelof, Bill Lawrence, and many others among them—showed up for a strategy and information session, with WGA committee co-chairs reportedly encouraging showrunners to take a hardline stance, even in the face of so-called “scary letters” from the studios. “We are at war with the studios” one attendee described the guidance to Variety. “We can’t be at war one day and be their partners the next.”