Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard favorably compared the Netflix series to the Harry Potter films, spotlighting how both franchises aged alongside their younger casts.
"What I think inherently becomes darker every season, it also kind of becomes different genre like genre. But I mean, it gets everything it gets funnier gets scarier, it gets more dramatic. And I think that just comes with all of us growing up and getting older... And like, I think this is like a very good example of the Duffers treating our characters like their ages," Wolfhard said during a set visit attended by CBR.
"And I like to compare it to Harry Potter, like Harry Potter as those movies went on, the darker they went. And that's kind of where we're at now. It's, it's a perfect progression, in my opinion," he continued.
The seven novels in the Harry Potter series were written by J. K. Rowling over a decade from 1997 to 2007. The film adaptations were also released over 10 years from 2001 to 2011. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marked a turning point in the Harry Potter franchise, as it began to explore darker elements in the wizarding community. Both the books and the films received praise during their initial runs for maturing with their audiences and for not being afraid to go darker than previous installments.
Ross Duffer, co-creator of Stranger Things, revealed in March 2022 that the upcoming fourth season would follow a similar path. "When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are... The Goonies in E.T. That's their storyline," Duffer said. "And the adults are in Jaws and Close Encounters and then the teens are in Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween. But this year, we don't have the kids. We can't do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we're leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change."
Another change for Stranger Things Season 4 is the runtime. The Duffer Brothers revealed the upcoming season doesn't have "an episode clocking in under an hour." Compared to Season 1, which had an average runtime of 35 minutes per episode, that's about double the length. The increased length will certainly appeal to fans who have been waiting for more Stranger Things since the third season premiered back in July 2019.
The first half of Stranger Things Season 4, dubbed "Volume 1," begins streaming on May 27 on Netflix. Volume 2 arrives July 1.