Stranger Things creators Matt & Ross Duffer are in talks to leave Netflix

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https://variety.com/2025/film/news/s...al-1236489637/

The Duffer Brothers "are in advanced negotiations to exclusively create film and television — with an emphasis on tentpole movies — at the legacy studio just taken over by David Ellison’s Skydance," reports Variety's Matt Donnelly and Adam B. Vary. "The move would reunite the Duffers with Cindy Holland, Paramount’s new head of streaming, who greenlit Stranger Things at Netflix." According to Deadline, the Paramount deal would feature a streaming and big theatrical component. But the Duffers still have a lot work left at Netflix. "They’ve completed production on two new series set to debut on the streamer in 2026: the adventure series The Boroughs with Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard and Alfred Molina; and the relationship horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen with Jennifer Jason Leigh. A preview of the upcoming animated prequel Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 screened at the 2025 Annecy Festival in June. And following the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, which premieres in November, the brothers are expected to mount an as-yet unannounced live action spin-off series," says Donnelly and Vary. Netflix made the Duffers household names in 2016 after their careers had stalled, as Donnelly and Vary note: "Stranger Things was turned down by just about every network in the industry, until Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps came onboard and sold the show to Netflix."