'Stranger Things' Originally Planned On Killing Off A Major Character

Ready for more Stranger Things news? Of course you are. As the hype sort-of begins to wind-down regarding Stranger Things 2, the second season of the hit Netflix show, series creators the Duffer Brothers revealed a surprising tidbit about season 1. Specifically, the brothers Duffer confirmed that a major character was supposed to be killed off at the end of season 1, but logic prevailed. Sort-of spoilers await you below regarding a Stranger Things character death.

If you haven't seen Stranger Things season 1 or 2 yet (is that even possible at this point?), you might want to avoid this, as it constitutes a sort-of spoiler.

At the end of Stranger Things season 1, brave telekinetic girl Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) summoned all her courage and strength to battle season one's big bad, the Demogorgon. The battle is devastating, and Eleven vanishes after it ends, leading viewers to believe she either sacrificed herself completely or was at least sucked into the Upside Down – the alternate dimension on the show where all the bad stuff comes from. Needless to say, Stranger Things 2 reveals what happened to Eleven, and brings her back into the real world to help the town of Hawkins once again.

Tthe Duffer Brothers made an appearance at a Master Class Q&A session at Chapman University and the Stranger Things creators revealed something pretty surprising about their original plan for Eleven's fate. It seems her battle with the Demogorgon was originally going to have a much more finite conclusion. Here's what Ross Duffer had to say: (via Cinema Blend):

Maybe I shouldn't say this because I like to pretend that it was all planned out, but it was originally pitched as a limited series. So it was like, Eleven was gonna sacrifice herself and save the world and then that was gonna be it, because there was a moment where limited series were a big deal.

Had Stranger Things only been a limited one-run series, Eleven sacrificing her life to save the world would have been noble, although pretty depressing. Thankfully, the Duffers changed their mind and brought Eleven and Millie Bobby Brown back for more, especially when the decision was made to not make Stranger Things a limited series. Per Ross Duffer:

"This is where the business side comes in. When we started pitching it it was like 'we don't make money off of limited series.' And I remember when we went into Netflix and we pitched this they were like 'well, we like this but how could it keep going?' And you're just sort of riffing in the moment and we were like 'well Will's back from this other dimension and he's not doing very well.' And they were like 'great!'"

While Stranger Things has no problem killing off supporting characters, it seems its main roster of kids is safe. For now, at least.