news Duffer Brothers Launch Upside Down Pictures, Set ‘Stranger Things’ Stage Play

The Upside Down is taking over.

The Duffer Brothers announced new production company Upside Down Pictures, with a slew of projects in the works including the “Stranger Things” spinoff and an upcoming stage play adaptation of the series.

According to The Duffer Brothers, Upside Down Pictures will “aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up, stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism.”

Upside Down Pictures will be run by Hilary Leavitt (“Orphan Black,” “Ozark”) and produce film and television projects as part of the overall deal with Netflix.

The “Stranger Things” stage play will be set within the world and mythology of the record-breaking Netflix series and will be produced by prolific and multi-award-winning producers Sonia Friedman, Stephen Daldry (“The Crown,” “Billy Elliot,” “The Reader”), and Netflix. Daldry will also direct. 21 Laps serves as Associate Producer.

A live-action “Stranger Things” spinoff series based on an original idea by The Duffer Brothers, with Upside Down and 21 Laps producing, is in the works.

Announced projects also include a new live-action television adaptation of the Japanese manga and anime series “Death Note” and an adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s “The Talisman” alongside Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Television, to be created by Curtis Gwinn.

Additionally, an original series from creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (“Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance”) is in the works.

The Duffer Brothers previously revealed that the “Stranger Things” spinoff series will not follow the current main characters like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) or Steve (Joe Keery).

“I’ve read these rumors that there’s going be an Eleven spinoff, that there’s going be a Steve and Dustin spinoff or that it’s another number,” the Duffer Brothers said. “That’s not interesting to me because we’ve done all that. We’ve spent I don’t know how many hours exploring all of that. So it’s very different.”

The Duffer Brothers added that the spinoff will maintain the same “storytelling sensibility” fans have come to love from “Stranger Things,” but the search is on for the next up-and-coming star to take over the “1,000 percent different” series.

Until then, “Stranger Things” will have to wrap up the franchise starter with Season 5, with the Duffers promising the fifth installment will have a running start.

“For the first time ever, we don’t wrap things up at the end of 4, so it’s going to be moving,” Matt Duffer said. “I don’t know that it’s going to be going 100 miles an hour at the start of [Season] 5, but it’s going to be moving pretty fast. Characters are already going to be in action. They’re already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that’s going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different.”
 
Back
Top