Paramount continues to make waves with splashy deals following Skydance’s acquisition. We’re are hearing that Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer are in talks for a massive overall deal at the David Ellison-run media company. Details are still being finalized, and sources caution that things still could fall through but we’re hearing it would include both streaming and features with a big theatrical component, something the duo were not able to do at their current home, Netflix.
A rep for Paramount declined comment.
This would mark the first major move for Cindy Holland, Paramount’s Chair of Direct-to-Consumer, who, as Head of Originals at Netflix, championed Stranger Things. In fact, the Duffers would be reunited with two executives who were key to Netflix betting on the them and their 1980s supernatural drama.
“Ted Sarandos, Cindy Holland, Brian Wright and Matt Thunell took a huge chance on us and our show — and forever changed our lives,” the Duffers said in 2019 when Stranger Things was renewed for a fourth season and they signed a big overall deal with the streamer.
Thunell is now President of Paramount TV Studios, whose focus will be developing and producing series for streaming.
The news about the Duffers’ pending Paramount deal comes as Stranger Things is coming to an end with its upcoming fifth season on Netflix.
In 2022, the Duffers’ launched their production company, Upside Down Pictures, for film and television projects as part of a new overall deal with Netflix. They described Upside Down Pictures’ mission at the time as aiming to create the kind of stories that inspired them 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.”
Under the pact, the Duffer brothers are executive producing a new Netflix supernatural series, The Boroughs, which stars Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Clarke Peters, Bill Pullman and Denis O’Hare. They also have been working on a Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 animated series and a live-action Stranger Things spinoff series. Stranger Things extensions would be carved out of the Duffer brothers’ Paramount deal.
Stranger Things was the first Netflix original series to become a pop culture phenomenon and branch out beyond the platform with Halloween costumes, toys and presence at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights en route to becoming a merchandising juggernaut. Netflix and the Duffer Brothers also successfully expanded the franchise to the stage with the award-winning play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which has had successful runs both in the West End and on Broadway.
Season 5 of Stranger Things will debut with four episodes on Nov. 26, followed by three episodes on Christmas, and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Stranger Things 4 is the third most watched English-language series title on Netflix with 140.7 million views. The show’ third season is #10 on the most popular list with 98.4 million views.
The Duffers are eight-time Emmy nominees. Prior to Stranger Things they were co-EPs on the Fox 2015-2016 series Wayward Pines. They are repped by CAA, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
