Netflix Breakout Hit ‘Stranger Things’ Gets a Second Season With Even More 80’s Stars

Patrick Regan

“Stranger Things,” the 80s-drenched Netflix series, is moving beyond hit status into cultural phenomenon territory. In an entertainment landscape littered with remakes and sequels, it has touched the need for nostalgia while being exciting as well. “Stranger Things” is a horror-adventure, created by the Duffer Bros., about a small town in middle-America. The kind of place where little happens. The only oddity is a Department of Energy complex on its outskirts. When something goes wrong, it goes very wrong.  

A little boy goes missing. A little girl with a number for a name and strange powers is found wandering the streets, chased by dangerous men and women. And something stalks the small town, taking people into another world, a strange funhouse mirror of our own. Can the boy be rescued before the monsters in this other world tear him to shreds?

“Stranger Things” boasts a noteworthy cast of characters, and each set puts a staple of ’80s film through the lens of a Stephen King story.  The kids are Spielberg and the Goonies. The teens are every John Hughes romantic comedy.

But Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) and grieving mother Joyce Bryers (Winona Ryder)? For all its nods towards nostalgia – its synthesized soundtrack, its paperback font, casting Wynonna Rider as a lead – it is wonderfully new.  The “Upside-Down,” the strange otherworld the show offers through only brief glimpses, is wholly original. This doesn’t feel like retreading a forgotten classic, it’s like finding a film from an era you didn’t even know existed.

Matthew Modine, Ryder and Harbour are all veteran actors, so they’re more than adept and convincing. But it’s the newcomers, the teens and the kids, that truly shine.  Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven is the breakout character, and her story drives the intrigues forward. Cast members for the second season include the leader of the Goonies himself, Sean Astin. So whether you remember the ’80s, or if all you know of the ’80s is what your parents tell you about, “Stranger Things” may become one of your fave viewing pleasures, too.

“Stranger Things” debuted on Netflix July 15. On Aug. 31 a second season was confirmed. No releases date has been announced yet.