Stranger Things spin-off will feature completely new characters

Any potential Stranger Things spin-off series will feature completely new characters and a completely new story, according to the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers.

Stranger Things 4 was released on Netflix to critical acclaim, while it is the second show in history to surpass one billion hours of streaming on the platform.

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The series will be wrapped up with Stranger Things season 5, set to be released in 2024. Thereafter, the Duffer Brothers will look at ideas for a spin-off.

However, any new show will not feature characters like Eleven, Hopper, Mike, Steve, Dustin, Will, Mike, Lucas, Nancy etc.

"It's not following...I've read these rumours that there's gonna be an Eleven spinoff," the Duffer brothers confirmed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

"That there's gonna be a Steve and Dustin spinoff or that it's another number. That's not interesting to me because we've done all that. We've spent I don't know how many hours exploring all of that. So it's very different."

When Millie Bobbie Brown was recently asked about potentially appearing in a spin-off, she joked to Total Film:

"Stranger Things – we saw it, we love it, we have big hearts.  I’d love to see another bald-headed 10-year-old get given that opportunity. I would help her navigate it." 

Stranger Things 5 to be shorter

The Duffer Brothers also explained how the show's fifth season will be shorter than season four, which has received criticism over its runtime. The fourth season has nine episodes released on Netflix, but all were longer than one hour, with the finale coming in at a whopping two hours and 20 minutes.

The runtime is one of the few criticisms aimed at Stranger Things 4, which has proved popular among fans after the mixed reception of Stranger Things 3.

The Duffer Brothers have confirmed that the fifth season will be shorter, as the stage is already set for the show's climax, so there is no need for set-up or exposition.

“The only reason we don’t expect to be as long is, this season, if you look at it, it’s almost a two-hour ramp up before our kids really get drawn into a supernatural mystery,” the pair explained.

“You get to know them, you get to see them in their lives, they’re struggling with adapting to high school and so forth, Steve’s trying to find a date, all of that. None of that is obviously going to be occurring .

“Characters are already going to be in action, they’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different."

The pair did concede that the very last episode will be around two-and-a-half hours long again as they have so many character arcs to wrap up.

“I’m sure the wrap-up will be a lot longer, it’s going to be Return of the King-ish with, like, eight endings," they continued.