‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 Updates: Netflix Officially Renews Popular Series for 9-Episode Run; Duffer Brothers turn to James Cameron Films for Inspiration

‘Stranger Things’ season 2 is officially greenlit by Netflix for a 9-episode run to premiere in 2017. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer admit that James Cameron’s work will be inspiration for the second season.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix officially announced the second season renewal for the Duffer Brothers’ supernatural-horror web television series. Season 2 is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2017 and will be increased to a 9-episode show instead of the original 8-episode run.

Executive producer Shawn Levy revealed that season 2 will explore more of the world introduced in the preceding season while staying true to the series. Levy said, "There's no question that the scale of Stranger Things season two is an escalation, but it is very loyal to the tone and to the heart of the show people love."

When asked about why Netflix took a while to renew the second season, Levy said, “The truth is, I actually have no idea. Like, I don't even have a theory. I do know that no one stopped us over the last month from a lot of brainstorming, so the signs were always positive.”

Titles for each upcoming episode were also announced during the renewal. Co-executive producer Dan Cohen said, "I'm sure those titles will be heavily talked about and dissected in the next year. It gives our greatly enthusiastic audience something to chew on.”

Levy teased that season 2 will explore the continuing stories of its characters as well as the mythos behind the show.  He said, “We are definitely digging into the questions left hanging at the end of episode eight. There were some troubling loose ends. Why did Hopper get in that car? What was that thing that Will coughed up in the bathroom?”

He added, “In the same way that we always talked season one as an eight-hour movie, we view season two really, less as season two and more as Stranger Things 2…We're going to remember what brought us to this moment, which is to say the characters, but we are exploring new dark forces at play.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer teased that the children in the series will be older and will be living in a different decade. The series will also venture out of the town of Hawkins.

Although it was confirmed that main cast members Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and David Harbour will be returning to season 2, Ross Duffer remained vague about Millie Bobbie Brown’s Eleven returning.

The Duffer Brothers also revealed that James Cameron’s films will be massive influences for the incoming season. Matt Duffer said, “There’s Temple of Doom, Aliens, Terminator 2. I guess a lot of this is James Cameron. But he’s brilliant. And I think one of the reasons his sequels are as successful as they are is he makes them feel very different without losing what we loved about the original. So I think we kinda looked to him and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work.”

‘Stranger Things’ season 2 is set to premiere in 2017. Season 1, which premiered on July 2016, received favorable reviews from critics and viewers.