Stranger Things’ story is too big for the second season, basically guarantees a third

With Stranger Things’ premiere date edging closer, various members of the show’s creative team have been slowly releasing details about what viewers can expect.

Executive producer Shawn Levy recently sat down with Mashable to talk about the second season and said that co-creators Ross and Matt Duffer ended up having way more material they wanted to include than expected. Levy essentially said they wound up not having the proper amount of time to tell the story they wanted to. As a result, the only way to tell the complete story was to carry the remaining details into a third season.

“As the episodes were written by the Duffers, they realized that there was too much story for nine episodes,” Levy said. “So it forced us to be judicious in which stories we tell this season. So one of the surprises was, not all of our grand ideas are going to be serviced in one season ... If we had 40 ideas going into the season, 30 [we] are going to pick, and the rest go in the back of our head for, hopefully, future chapters."

The second season, which Levy said would focus heavily on Will Byers and the character’s effort to reacquaint himself with the world he left behind when he was transported to the Upside Down, will also reportedly be much scarier. Based on the first teaser we got for the season, it seems likely that Will managed to open a portal to the Upside Down when he returned, bringing a creature back with him.

There will be a lot of emphasis on the character, with Levy adding this will be a chance for actor Noah Schnapp to demonstrate his acting abilities; something he couldn’t do much of in the first season.

“Noah steps up in the most staggering way,” Levy said. “The Duffers and I, depending on who’s directing when, we keep sending texts to each other going, 'holy shit, Noah is crushing it' and we knew he had it in him, and it’s really now to get in that moment, and put him firmly in the thick of story.”

Stranger Things returns for its second season on Oct. 31, but more information is expected to be released in the coming months.