Stranger Things’ third season may be shorter, will feature less Will Byers

Stranger Things’ third season is still months away from premiering, but we have a few new details to tide us over until then.

Executive producer Shawn Levy told Glamour season three may be the show’s shortest yet, with only eight or nine episodes planned. Levy said the executive team will figure out how many episodes are needed based on how much of the story excites them. Like Game of Thrones’ executive producers, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, Levy and his team don’t want to force a 10-episode season if the story doesn’t warrant it. The Stranger Things creative team is still working out specific details for each individual episode, according to Levy. More information on the exact number of episodes Stranger Things’ third season will have should come at a later date.

Levy also told Glamour that Stranger Things’ third season will mark a break for Will Byers, the poor resident of Hawkins, Indiana who’s had a rough go of things over the past two seasons. Levy said Will is still reeling from what happened during the show’s second season and the parasitic infection he suffered, but he won’t have to go through it all again.

“We’re not going to put Will through hell for a third season in a row,” Levy said. “He’ll be dealing with stuff, but he won’t be at rock bottom the way we forced the amazing Noah Schnapp to play.”

As for when Stranger Things’ third season is set to premiere? Well, that’s a little bit trickier. Glamour suggested that the show could return as early as late this year, but fans should prepare for not having any new Stranger Things until 2019.

The first two seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream on Netflix now.