Stranger Things: The Movies That Inspired Season 3

Plus more details on the upcoming season

Netflix’s horror hit Stranger Things returns July 4th. The streaming giant likes to keep spoilers to a minimum but the Duffer brothers, not so much. Recently creators Ross and Matt Duffer gave EW some insights into ST3’s plot. They also gave up their list of movies that inspired the new season.

We know from the trailer that things have changed in Hawkins, Ind. But some things never change, for instance the Upside-down which is still ever present. The third installment of Stranger Things, will pick up in the summer of 1985, the groups last summer before going to high school. The show creators say the kids will face all the unpleasantness of puberty and more.

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“We wanted to explore the theme of change. The season takes place during the last summer before high school. The kids are growing up, and that transition is going to be messy and awkward and painful. Are they able to grow up without growing apart?” says Matt Duffer.

He also teased the return of the Mind Flayer from season two. “Eleven closed the Gate, but the Mind Flayer is still alive in the Upside Down. It will find another way into Hawkins.… It’s just a matter of time.”

“He’s fatter than you’ve ever seen him”

David Harbour’s Hopper has also changed, in more ways than one. Harbour says that Hopper is still struggling to parent Eleven, which brings him closer to Joyce (Winona Ryder). “It thrusts him into a discussion with Joyce” says Harbour. “She’s able to offer me some advice on how to deal with being a single parent and how to, like, you know, stop being so damn controlling.” But the stress of parenting has not been kind to his waistline. “This season, Hopper does a lot of really big, like, action-y things,” says Harbour. “But he’s fatter than you’ve ever seen him and less capable of hurting people, but a little more capable because he’s just like a big elephant.”

Ross Duffer says that this season will be one of the most fun, but at a cost to the group. “We would say that this is our most unapologetically fun season. Yet at the same time, it is also our most horrifying and intense season. It’s this wild mix of tones that we think really sets this season apart.”

It’s clear from the list of films they used for inspiration that this season will be full of goofy fun, and terrifying horrors.

Here is the list of films that inspired Stranger Things 3:

• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• The Thing
• Romancing the Stone
• Midnight Run
• Indiana Jones
• Jurassic Park
• The films of David Cronenberg

Stranger Things returns to Netflix July 4th, starring Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and Sadie Sink. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd to stay up to date on things horror.

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