Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have made no secret that the world of Stephen King has been a massive influence on the Netflix horror series. Now the King of Horror has had his say on the latest season, heaping praise on the show while calling out the “lame” splitting of the season into two parts. In response to the tweet, the Stranger Things writers room account replied to King’s tweet, addressing the reason why the final two episodes will be released next month.
The first seasons of Stranger Things was crammed with references to the 80s and to the work of Stephen King. From other dimensions, groups of kids fighting monsters while the adults live their lives in sweet oblivion, and even a classic haunted house there are plenty of references to King’s stories for those who know. King himself pointed out one of the references to his work in the latest series, something else the reply noted. King said:
“The new season of Stranger Things is really cool - -as good or better than the previous three. There’s even a Carrie riff. Is it the whole season or is it another one of the those that’s broken into 2 parts? IMHO that’s kind of lame.”
Responding to King’s comments, the writers account explained the reason behind the splitting of the season, and also joked about their “super subtle” Carrie reference. Their reply said:
“Sorry Uncle Stevie, 8 + 9 aren’t done yet, but we’re working as fast as we can! Glad you’re enjoying and that you picked up on our super subtle Carrie riff.”
Stranger Things Hit Netflix and Immediately Broke Records
After what seemed like an eternity, Stranger Things returned to Netflix with a super-sized fourth season that racked up over 286 million hours of viewership during its opening weekend. This smashed the previous record holder, Bridgerton, the second season of which pulled in 193 million hours over the same period in March. While Bridgerton became the most viewed English language series on the platform with 656 million hours viewed in the first four weeks, Stranger Things managed half that in its first two days and suggests Bridgerton’s reign is going to be over very soon.
Stranger Things has some way to go to manage to come anywhere near the 1.65 billion hours of Squid Game viewed in the first 28 days, but it has a good chance of passing Money Heist, which currently sits in second place with just over 792 million hours. Of course, the sheer length of the season, which is around 9 hours long over its first 7 episodes, plays to its advantage, and with another 4 hours to be added with the second part of the season, anything is possible.
After some testing times for Netflix recently, the return of Stranger Things and fan reactions to it is exactly what the streamer needed. With a reported $30 million per episode being pumped into the production, it seems like Netflix’s investment in the series has paid off in a big way, and they will continue to reap the rewards next month when the final two episodes of the season arrive on July 1.