'Stranger Things': Season 2 Timeline, Eleven Theory, Poster/Font Designers, Virtual Reality And More

I'm not sure about you, but Stranger Things is still very much on our minds. That is why today we are presenting another round-up of Stranger Things-related goodness, from fan art to unofficial t-shirts, from fan theories to news, tidbits and beyond.

Find out when Stranger Things Season 2 will take place, find out what the Department of Energy thinks of the factual accuracy of the series, hear a crazy fan theory which tries to explain who Eleven is, learn how the Stranger Things key art was created, learn about the genius behind the design of the show's typography, and how the show was turned down by over a dozen networks. All this and much much more below.

Header image via Twitter.

Barb disappeared from Hawkins without many people noticing but that doesn't mean that no one is looking for her. The above flyer was spotted by Mashable, written from the perspective of Barb's friend Nancy. The flyer reads:

Her mom doesn't care that she's missing and our friends assume she's studying at the library, and I'm kind of busy with my boyfriend, but she's been missing for a while now and I guess we should start looking for her.She drives a VW, has red hair, red glasses and a wardrobe that elicits sympathy.Goes by Barb.

How funny and sad. The flyer even has little rip-off tabs at the bottom that instead of containing contact information, says phrases such as "Good riddance," "I love Steve," and "Barb who?" 100 points to the fan who made this.

The Duffer Brothers have revealed new information about Stranger Things season 2. The brother directing duo admits that the second season will probably jump a year ahead. Here is an excerpt from their interview with IGN:

Matt: Yeah, you have to do the Harry Potter thing. You have to jump a year. Because like Gaten [Matarazzo], his voice has already dropped quite a bit, to the point where we couldn't even do ADR with him. We had to pitch it way up. It's dropped. He's grown. As much as I would love to have it be Christmas right after that, it's just not feasible, so we're going to skip a year. They'll be a year older and all their changes they're going through, we'll take that into account and kind of work that into the show.Ross: It's also just exciting having these initial conversations about it because the jump allows us to say "what happened in that year?" It actually opens up a lot more storytelling possibilities. These characters have changed and the audience has to sort of fill in those gaps of what went on in that year. To us, it's exciting. So the fact that we have to make this jump, because of the kids, we're trying to use that to our advantage. ... And how have these characters moved on with their lives and not just in the plot and supernatural [aspect] but also just in terms of their characters and what have they done to fill that time?Matt: We like that they've all had a very traumatic, nightmare experience together and after it's over they kind of try to sweep it all under the rug. Season 2 would be very differently, structurally. It would be that everything seems great on the surface, and then there are hints that things aren't okay or that there are lingering effects from what happened last year. The initial instinct is to push that back and sweep that crap back under the rug but eventually it becomes impossible to ignore and so they have to confront the repercussions of everything they've experienced. I like to think about Stephen King's It too. — that's a big time jump. They jump like thirty years. But the idea that the evil is still there and comes back to haunt them and one of the characters finds out about it and kills themselves immediately. That image always stuck with me.

We previously attempted to answer most of your Stranger Things questions, but there's one we've been unable to answer fully: Who is Eleven? Well, a popular fan theory has popped up: that Eleven is Hopper's daughter reincarnated. But is it true? We know the Duffer Brothers have an explanation for Eleven's origins, although I feel like we got a peek at the most plausible answers in the series itself. So why would she be Hopper's dead daughter reincarnated?

1. Hopper had a daughter who died young. 2. Eleven has that asshole doctor dude she calls "Papa," who is for sure not her actual father. 3. Eleven is a magical interdimensional being whose origins aren't 100 percent clear at this point. 4. Hopper somehow knew Eleven loved Eggo waffles, meaning he knew more about her than he originally let on. The only logical explanation is somehow Eleven is Hopper's daughter, be it through reincarnation or multidimensional body finagling or whatever.

I'm not sure I buy this, and season one definitely doesn't present enough evidence either way. The Duffer Brothers have said that they hope for Eleven to team up with Hopper in season 2. And we have seen that both girls have similar taste in stuffed animals, but what does that mean?

Artist Kyle Lambert has posted an article on how he created the key art for Stranger Things.

The Telegraph has an excellent article on the designer of the Stranger Things title font.

The man who designed ITC Benguiat is considered one of the type industry's greats – and one of its longest-living. Ed Benguiat has created more than 600 fonts, many of which you will have used through a standard word processor. He also designed some of the most iconic logos and movie titles of the 20th century. And yet, outside of the graphic design industry, Benguiat is such a little-known name that even The Duffer Brothers hadn't heard of the font named after him – let alone the man who created it.

They talk with the 88-year-old typographer about his career, how his work inspired the new Netflix series and more. It's an interesting read.

Did you know that Stranger Things was turned down 15 to 20 times by various television networks? Matt Duffer talks about how they almost gave up on the idea in an interview with Rolling Stone:

Matt estimates the brothers were rejected 15 to 20 times by various networks, while other execs had balked at the idea that the show featured four kids as lead characters but that it wasn't TV for children. "You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town," one told them. Matt recalls replying, "Then we lose everything interesting about the show." Some other people they knew in the industry understood their vision and helped connect them with Netflix. "There was a week where we were like, 'This isn't going to work because people don't get it,'" Matt says.

I guess it just goes to show you that a good idea still requires persistence. It reminds me of the story of how Colonel Sanders went door to door looking for a partner to help turn his fried chicken recipe into a business. According to the legend, Sanders heard 1,009 "no's" before he received a single "yes."

The Department of Energy plays a sinister role in Stranger Things, and the real-life Department of Energy has released a fact-check for the Netflix television series. So just in case you thought the Department of Energy was evil, they are setting the record straight: No, Hawkins National Laboratory doesn't exist, the energy department doesn't explore parallel universes, and their scientists aren't evil. You probably knew all this, but the Department of Energy wanted to make sure. How funny.

Netflix has recreated an iconic scene from Stranger Things as a 360-degree virtual reality experience which you can watch/navigate on YouTube. It's an interesting way to promote the series but I'm not sure these 360-degree videos are the best representation of VR.

While Netflix hasn't released any official Stranger Things merchandise, the internet continues to produce some fun parody t-shirt designs. Check them out above and below.