Stranger Things creators shut door on sequel series: “Gross cash grab”

Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have no intention of revisiting the main cast of characters down the road, calling the idea of a sequel series nothing more than a “gross cash grab.”

When ‘The Rightside Up’ released on Netflix on December 31, 2025, it marked the end of Stranger Things. Not the franchise as a whole, but an end for a group of characters we’ve grown to love over a full decade.

While there are a handful of spinoffs already in the works, including an animated series featuring some of the same characters, by and large, the creators are eager to explore something new.

So when pressed on the idea of returning to Hawkins at some point down the line, revisiting the original group say, a decade later, the Duffer Brothers scoffed, considering it as nothing more than a mere “cash grab.”

Spoilers for Stranger Things to follow. Do not continue reading if you wish to experience the finale as it was intended.

Don’t expect a Stranger Things sequel series anytime soon

In a deep-dive interview with The Hollywood Reporter on all things Stranger Things Season 5, the Duffer Brothers were asked directly about a sequel series. Could they envision a “check in 10 years down the road”?

“We really don’t know,” Matt responded, before explaining how the closing moments of the finale intended to close the book on these characters once and for all.

“We’re closing the door on the story,” he continued. “That’s one reason we had the closing credits the way we did, because it was a way of saying: ‘This is finite. This is the end of their story. It’s the end of the story of Mike and Eleven and Joyce and Hopper.’”

So for the time being, while there are other Stranger Things projects in the works, and the Duffer bros. are attached in various capacities, and they have no plans to continue the stories of the original crew.

“It’s a coming-of-age story. That’s what the show always was. When [Mike] closes the door to the basement, he’s closing the door on his childhood, and he’s moving onto adulthood.”

Speculating on what a possible sequel series could even look like, Matt joked about seeing “Grandpa Hopper”, or the kids now going through a “midlife crisis,” but said all of it sounds “really uninteresting.

“I don’t know how that would read as anything but a gross cash grab to me.”

Of course, never say never in the entertainment industry. Should the right idea come along at the right point in time, who’s to say we’ll never see the original Stranger Things characters back together again once more? But for now, the creators have no desire to continue the story.

Instead, the brothers are both far more “excited about exploring new characters and a new mythology.”