Netflix could soon lose the creative team behind one of its biggest hits.
Earlier this week, Variety and other Hollywood publications reported that Matt and Ross Duffer, the brothers who created “Stranger Things” (and wrote and directed many episodes), were in talks to sign an exclusive deal with Paramount (now under the ownership of David Ellison’s Skydance). Then on Friday evening, Puck’s Matthew Belloni posted that the Duffers had in fact “made their choice” and were going to Paramount.
The Duffer Brothers’ ambition seems to have increased with each season of “Stranger Things,” as episodes have grown longer, set pieces have become more spectacular, and the budget has grown accordingly, with a reported Season 4 cost of $30 million per episode.
So it’s not surprising that the Duffers are interested in making big-budget, tentpole movies next — an area where Netflix has struggled, in part due to its thorny relationship with the theatrical business, which co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently described as an “outdated concept.”
While Netflix does release some movies in theaters, it has resisted giving those releases a significant exclusive window before launching on streaming, which means Netflix movies usually aren’t shown by the major chains.
This was, apparently, a sticking point for “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, so the first of her “Narnia” movies for Netflix will play exclusively on Imax screens for two weeks (or more) before going to streaming on Christmas Day 2026. And it seems this was also important to the Duffers, with Belloni reporting that the “theatrical component” turned out to be the “dealbreaker” in their negotiations.
The brothers’ absence will not be immediately noticeable on Netflix, which will be releasing the final season of “Stranger Things” in three (!) parts later this year, and where the Duffers have two new shows scheduled to launch in 2026. Plus, the “Stranger Things” empire is growing, with a prequel playing on Broadway, an animated series coming soon, and a live-action spinoff reportedly in the works.
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