Confirming what many already suspected to be common knowledge, Matt and Ross Duffer have revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that, yes, there are a smattering of story clues littered throughout all eight episodes titles of Stranger Things season 2.
Unveiled alongside Netflix’s official renewal (see them interwoven with the by-now iconic neon title sequence up above), the sophomore outing will be comprised of “Madmax”, “The Boy Who Came Back To Life”, “The Pumpkin Patch”, “The Palace”, “The Storm”, “The Pollywog”, “The Secret Cabin”, “The Brain” and “The Lost Brother”.
Speculation is rife across Reddit and other online threads, and though they both refrained from disclosing anything spoiler-sensitive ahead of time, Matt Duffer noted to THR that, “even if they aren’t the final chapter titles, everything in that teaser is major. Some of the fan theories online are amazing.” Wearing its ’80s hallmarks proudly for all to see, we know that season 2 of Stranger Things will take place in the year 1984, with series co-creators likening the 2017 outing as more of a sequel than anything.
What’s most surprising is that, perhaps impressed by early test footage and how the show was coming together, Netflix issued the go-ahead for a second season long before Stranger Things even made its debut. Talk about a vote of confidence.
Matt: They greenlit the second season before we even premiered. So when everyone was going, “Is there going to be a second season?” we had been writing the entire time. So we’ve been working on this almost all summer.
Ross: It drove me crazy. “Please, can’t we just tell everyone we’re doing a second season?”
Matt: Netflix has its mysterious ways, but it actually ended up working because it had built up to this fever pitch. I guess that’s what they were intending to do all the time.
Matt and Ross Duffer have aligned Stranger Things season 2 for premiere in the summer of next year. That means it’ll be some time yet before we learn of anything concrete story-wise, but your cries for Barbara Holland haven’t fallen on deaf ears – the second season will seemingly herald justice for Barb.