After five seasons, Stranger Things is coming to an end, but another portal is already opening as the creators behind the show, twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, tell the BBC a spin-off series is already in development.
It's early days but we're excited about it, says Matt Duffer. It's new characters and a new mystery, so it's different, but it will be in the same world as Stranger Things.
The pair feel that there is more to explore, but Matt's twin brother Ross explains they always saw the original story as a self-contained arc and it's definitely the end for these characters.
The clarity around the ending had always been part of the plan, and Matt says the final scene was the one thing we had planned from the start.
We always knew what we were working towards so it was like our north star and we built the whole season around the final scene.
Season five is set in the autumn of 1987. Hawkins, Indiana, is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and the group of friends must find and kill Vecna. At the same time, the town is under military quarantine as the hunt for Eleven intensifies.
The brothers, who were in their early thirties when the show began, had always planned for four or five seasons but say it still feels surreal that they managed to get that far.
What started as a nostalgic horror about a missing boy in a sleepy town quickly grew into one of Netflix's biggest global hits.
When you're making the show, you're so entrenched in it that you forget how far it's come, and every season we put everything we have into it, Ross says. And when we made season one, we didn't even know if we'd get a second.
It’s a feeling the cast shared. Joe Keery, whose character Steve Harrington goes from a high school jock to a heroic mentor-like figure, tells the BBC he remembers saying goodbye to everyone after season one and not being sure if he would see them again.
Season one felt like an indie film, and now it's this crazy big-budget movie, the 33-year-old says in disbelief.
By the time the final season wrapped, after a year of filming, it felt like we'd been working on it forever.
But we had a great time making it and the friendships we made aren't going anywhere. We will still be in each other's lives, he adds.
Natalia Dyer, who plays Nancy Wheeler, says the friendships they've built off-camera mirror those of their on-screen characters.
Millie Bobby Brown previously told the BBC that it was incredibly emotional filming the finale. Reports suggest not everything has been plain sailing, yet the cast insisted on their close friendships.
As the crew heads toward the final day of production, emotions run high, with reflections on their journey together sparking connections to their characters' experiences.
The final season’s episodes are set to drop shortly, giving fans a bittersweet farewell to the beloved series.
