Stranger Things Creators Explain Why They Don't Kill Off Main Characters

At this point in its life, Stranger Things is developing a reputation for being soft on its main characters. We’re talking about people who fight interdimensional monsters day in and day out, who go up against merciless Soviet agents and face down homicidal bullies, and yet they always seem to come out the other side of things unscathed. I mean, they literally had a whole death scene for Jim Hopper (David Harbour) at the end of season 3, complete with weepy aftermath, only for him to have a full arc in season 4. It’s starting to get ridiculous.

Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) has a solution for all this: she thinks creators Matt and Ross Duffer need to strip the characters of their plot armor. “The Duffer Brothers are sensitive sallys who don’t want to kill anybody off,” she joked. “We need to have the mindset of Game of Thrones. Kill me off! They tried killing David [Harbour] off and they brought him back!”

Personally, I’m all for that, but the Duffers themselves aren’t on board. They defended themselves on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

Stranger Things creators: “This is Hawkins, it’s not Westeros”

“Believe us, we’ve explored all options in the writing room,” Matt Duffer said. “Just as a complete hypothetical, if you kill Mike, that’s depressing.”

"We aren’t Game of Thrones. This is Hawkins, it’s not Westeros. The show becomes not Stranger Things anymore because you do have to treat it realistically, right?"

I think that’s an odd thing to say. I mean, yes, killing a main character would be depressing, obviously. But if you keep putting your characters in harm’s way and letting them off the hook, you risk losing any tension. You can’t have it both ways, and that’s true whether your show is set in fake medieval England or 1980s Indiana.

And I’m not asking them to kill off half the cast, but at least follow through with death scenes after you film them, like with Hopper or even Max this season. Stranger Things does kill off one-season characters like Barb and Eddie, but losing them doesn’t raise the stakes like killing off a longtime cast member would.

That said, the Duffers said that there are more deaths “on the table” for season 5, which is the final season. All bets are off then. I just hope it’s not too little, too late.

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