Finn Wolfhard Guessed The Duffer Brothers' Secret Stranger Things Spin-Off Plan
"Stranger Things" season 1 came along at just the right time. The Duffer brothers' Amblin-style love letter to '80s sci-fi and horror quietly debuted on Netflix in July 2016, tapping that sweet, sweet nostalgia line before it had run dry. As the show's audience swelled alongside its budget in later seasons, it was even able to go toe-to-toe with the biggest summer blockbusters in the spectacle department. However, "Stranger Things" has an advantage that's allowed it to avoid the franchise fatigue that's affected a number of recent theatrical tentpoles: characters you love and become deeply invested in as you watch them change and grow over time.
Suffice it to say, Netflix isn't about to let its flagship series go quietly into the night with its upcoming fifth and final season. The streamer already has a stage show prequel gearing up for production in London, in addition to an animated series and a live-action spinoff show that the Duffers previously said will share "connective tissue" with "Stranger Things." As for what that spinoff will entail? Only the Duffers and actor Finn Wolfhard know the details in and out ... and that's because Wolfhard guessed the brothers' secret plans by accident.
'That is the idea. Who told you?'
Youths these days, amirite? Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler on "Stranger Things," told the story of how it all went down during an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" in January 2023. "So, we were on the set filming 'Stranger Things 4,'" said Wolfhard. "And we were all talking about, like, yeah, if there's going to be, like — like, joking. 'Oh, they're all going to have us back in 20 years. We're all going to be, like, fat and old and being like, 'Oh, Evan, where are you?” You know, that kind of thing."
Not wanting to leave the Duffers out in the cold, Wolfhard explained, "And then I was like, 'Oh, but if you guys [the Duffers] are actually gonna do a spin-off, it should be this.' It was at this point that, if all of this was happening on a TV sitcom, there would've probably been a record scratch as the Duffers gave Wolfhard a look and pulled him aside:
"And I said it, and the Duffers looked at each other and looked at me, and they were like, 'Could we talk to you for a second?' And then they pulled me off and they were like, 'That is the idea. Who told you?' I was like, 'No one.' They were like, 'What do you mean? You just, like, came up with it?' And I was like, 'Well, no, I just thought that would be a cool way to kind of expand...' And they were like, 'Well, yeah, I don't know.' It was really funny, they were like, 'Okay, well, don't tell anyone!'"
Stranger Things: Cocoon
In Finn Wolfhard's defense, if the Duffer brothers' idea is to bring back the "Stranger Things" kids as older characters (and there's a chance it's not), it isn't exactly a novel one. In fact, it's not that far removed from the vast majority of legacy sequel films we've gotten over these past 10 years, except without the old guard passing the torch to a younger generation. What's more, it sounds like the "Stranger Things" answer to "Cocoon," the 1985 sci-fi comedy-drama about a group of retirement home residents who discover their new neighbors are aliens whose pool rejuvenates anyone who swims in it. That being the case, it would allow the Duffers and whomever they pass the spinoff onto to continue tipping their hat to the 1980s without rehashing the same homages as "Stranger Things."
Although, maybe someone should tell them the entire point of "Cocoon" is that good things can't last forever? It seems like a useful lesson to keep in mind as the Duffers and Netflix charge full speed ahead with their "Stranger Things" universe. Meanwhile, season 5 is still a ways off as the Duffers have halted production in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America strike. You can blame the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and their greed for making us wait so long the "Strange Things" kids might actually be 20 years older by the time season 5 is done.