19 Behind-the-Scenes ‘Stranger Things’ Facts You Didn’t Know

Since premiering in 2016, Stranger Things has become one of the most popular shows of all time, breaking Netflix records numerous times and becoming the most-watched original streaming series ever, per Bloomberg.

On top of that, Stranger Things has spawned everything from a book series to comics, mobile games, its own official Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game and much more.

The show’s success comes largely from the talented and likable cast, its blend of mystery, horror and adventure and its faithful nod to ’80s nostalgia and iconic horror legends like Stephen King.

While fans know and love the show, there are tons of behind-the-scenes facts that many might not be aware of.

Check out these 19 Stranger Things behind-the-scenes facts before season 5 premieres on Nov. 26.

Stranger Things is actually filmed in Georgia

Stranger Things is set in the fictional midwestern town of Hawkins, Ind., but in reality, the show is filmed almost exclusively in Georgia, centered mainly in the Atlanta metro area. For example, downtown Hawkins is actually downtown Jackson, Ga., about 50 minutes from Atlanta.

When the series was actively filming, Georgia’s economic development website read, “One of Netflix’ flagship horror series, Stranger Things, is being filmed in Atlanta and surrounding cities like Fayetteville, Winston, and Palmetto.”

Season 4, which was partly set in California, was also filmed in New Mexico.

Nicola Coughlan auditioned for Robin

Nicola Coughlan is best known for starring as Penelope on the hit Netflix series Bridgerton, but she almost joined the Stranger Things cast. She told Buzzfeed that she auditioned for the role of Robin, but ended up losing it to Maya Hawke.

“She was far better than I ever would have been,” Coughlan said. “It’s a good lesson to actors: Watch the stuff you didn’t get, because you’ll totally understand how it’s not personal.”

Stranger Things was originally set in Montauk, N.Y.

The Duffer Brothers told Vulture that their original script was set in Montauk, which sits at the very end of Long Island in New York. “It was set in Montauk. We always loved that idea of the Amity feel in Jaws, in a coastal town,” the brothers said.

When Netflix originally picked up the show, in 2015, it was even titled Montauk. Deadline reported the news, writing, “Described as a love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation, the series is set in 1980 Montauk, Long Island, where a young boy vanishes into thin air.”

Winona Ryder helped build the character Joyce

When speaking on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast in 2022, the Duffer Brothers said that the role of Joyce was originally a lot less interesting before Winona Ryder joined the cast.

“She’s such a unique actress that we wanted to lean into her skill set. So she became Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters, and that’s where we came up with all the Christmas light stuff,” Matt said. “I don’t know if any of that would have existed had Winona said no to the role.”

Ross added, “Imagining [Winona] in all these scenarios started to open up a much more interesting character than just, like, mom who wants her kid back.”

Stranger Things was Shannon Purser’s first role, and she ended up being Emmy-nominated

Barb became the runway fan-favorite of season 1, with many fans relating to her and rooting for her. But many people probably don’t know that Stranger Things was actually actress Shannon Purser’s first role ever.

“Walking into not only my first production, but also one on this scale, was incredible,” she told Esquire in 2016.

Even more incredibly, Purser ended up earning herself an Emmy nomination in 2017 for portraying Barb. The actress told Elle that she had lots of celebrities rooting for her to win, including Emma Stone and Drag Race judges RuPaul and Michelle Visage, who she said told her, “Barb! We were rooting for you!”

The costume team made dozens of their own scrunchies

Being set in the ’80s means that Stranger Things’ costume department uses tons of scrunchies! In 2022, Netflix’s Tudum revealed that the team made all of the scrunchies by hand “so that they match the rest of the costuming exactly.”

The article also gave away a few easter eggs, including how they sometimes reuse the scrunchies, like in season 3 when Max and Eleven wear the same one in different episodes to show their friendship.

Stranger Things has been sued twice, but both lawsuits were dropped

Stranger Things was involved in two lawsuits started by filmmakers who claimed the show stole their ideas. One suit alleged that Stranger Things took ideas from an unmade script called Totem, which also featured a young girl with superpowers. However, in 2023, Reuters reported that the plaintiff dropped the case due to a lack of evidence.

In 2018, the show dealt with a similar lawsuit from another filmmaker who claimed Stranger Things copied his script for The Montauk Project. However, two days before the case was set to go to trial, the plaintiff dropped the lawsuit.

In a statement obtained by Variety, the plaintiff stated, “After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of Stranger Things.”

Steve and Dustin’s fan-favorite bromance wasn’t planned

As all Stranger Things fans know, one of the best (and most hilarious) friendships in the series is between Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo). But this bromance actually happened by chance.

In a Variety interview before the launch of season 2, Matt said, “My favorite this year is the Dustin and Steve combination, which actually wasn’t in the initial pitch to Netflix.” He continued, “Steve was kind of getting sidelined. He had nothing really interesting to do. And Dustin found himself cornered with no one to go to and that led to this Dustin and Steve team up which turned out to be so much fun.”

The Duffer brothers also seemed to realize pretty quickly that this new duo was going to be a hit, saying, “When you have that much fun writing it and the actors have that much fun shooting it, I think all bets are off.”

The main title sequence is a nod to a horror legend

The synth beats and glowing red letters of Stranger Things’ opening sequence have become iconic, but they’re also inspired by a horror legend.

Richard Greenberg was known in Hollywood for his expertise in making striking opening title sequences, especially in the horror genre. He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Predator and created the main title sequences for other films like Alien, Dracula, Seven and The Matrix.

In an essay they wrote for Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer brothers said, “Greenberg was known for using the lettering of the movie titles to create hypnotic combinations of movement and color and shadow. The man is a genius, and we hope we captured a little bit of his magic.”

The U.S. Department of Energy wrote a cheeky response to Stranger Things

In Stranger Things, the infamous Hawkins National Laboratory is a secret division of the U.S. Department of Energy. To curb people’s fears of the “nefarious” agency, the actual Department of Energy wrote a cheeky rebuttal on its website.

The humorous article says things like, “The energy department doesn’t mess with monsters” and “National laboratory scientists aren’t evil – they’re actually nice (and smart)!”

However, the department did talk about one far-out place it does investigate. “While the Energy Department doesn’t chart parallel universes,” the article states, “it does help power the exploration of new worlds … For instance, the Energy Department makes nuclear batteries called Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators for NASA.”

Sadie Sink almost didn’t get the role of Max

Sadie Sink joined Stranger Things in season 2, portraying Max. But when speaking to Fashion magazine in 2022, the young actress said that the show’s producers were initially hesitant to audition her because she was older than the other kids (she was 14 at the time).

“I just begged and pleaded with them to give me more material so I could show them something fresh,” Sink told the magazine.

She was eventually brought in for a chemistry read with Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin and landed the role the following day.

Chase Stokes auditioned for Stranger Things and didn’t get the part, but it helped him land Outer Banks

During a 2023 interview with Access Hollywood, Chase Stokes said that he initially auditioned for the part of Steve on Stranger Things, but bombed the audition. “I forgot all the lines and absolutely effed up the audition,” he said.

Luckily, the Duffer brothers still gave him a cameo part in season 1, which helped get him in with Netflix, leading to his role on Outer Banks.

“I’m just thankful for the Duffer brothers for giving me an opportunity to do my job and to start my career,” Stokes said. “I mean if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Season 4’s Vecna was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and ’80s slasher icons

Stranger Things is heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, so it’s no surprise that the show would use one of D&D’s biggest villains: Vecna. But the show’s version of the monster is also heavily inspired by horror villains from ’80s cinema, most notably Freddy Krueger.

“We really wanted to go scary and explore the types of villains that shook us the most when we were kids,” Matt told USA Today in 2022.

Those influences included Hellraiser and IT, but especially A Nightmare on Elm Street. Matt said that he grew up being told terrifying stories about Freddy Krueger by his babysitter.

In another nod to Nightmare, fans will notice that the role of Victor Creel in Stranger Things season 4 was played by none other than Robert Englund, the same actor who played Krueger.

Dacre Montgomery’s season 4 cameo was directed via Zoom

Dacre Montgomery became the hunk everyone wanted (and feared) in season 3 when he starred as Max’s tormenting older brother, Billy.

After dying in season 3, he had a brief cameo in the fourth season. But because season 4 was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he was living in Australia at the time, the actor was unable to travel to Atlanta for filming.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stranger Things director and producer Shawn Levy said that making his scene happen was hectic.

“With the clock running down, we had no choice but to have me direct over Zoom [with Montgomery] in Australia on a soundstage,” Levy said, “while I had already shot the scene in a cemetery with Sadie Sink a year earlier.”

Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton are dating off-screen

In Stranger Things, Nancy (Dyer) and Jonathan (Heaton) end up falling in love. In real life, the actors are in love too and have been dating since 2016.

In 2022, Dyer told Cosmopolitan how great it feels to actually be in love with her on-screen boyfriend. “It’s an understanding that would be hard to replicate. It’s an indescribable thing,” she said.

Steve’s positive character arc wasn’t originally planned

In the original script, Steve was going to be a pretty awful person. “If you read the pilot, he’s the biggest douchebag on the planet,” Ross told Variety in 2016.

The creators changed their minds about the character, though, due in part to Keery, who they said made Steve more likable. “A lot of credit goes to Joe Keery because he was much more likable and charming than we originally had envisioned,” Ross said.

Keery himself also acknowledged Steve’s original character arc in a 2017 GQ interview, revealing that in the original script, Steve “forced himself on Nancy.”

The Duffer brothers’ script was rejected almost 20 times

Before being picked up by Netflix, the Duffer brothers told Rolling Stone that their script was rejected “15 to 20 times.”

Matt and Ross said that people in Hollywood just didn’t get it and didn’t like that the story focused on multigenerational characters. They recalled being told by studio execs, “You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper character investigating paranormal activity around town.”

The series was always planned to have only four or five seasons

Audiences are already sad to hear that season 5 will be the grand finale of the Stranger Things saga, but in truth, the Duffer brothers and the show’s other producers never intended for the series to go beyond four or five seasons.

In a 2017 Entertainment Weekly interview, Levy said, “We’re definitely going four seasons and there’s very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely.”

In the same interview, Ross elaborated further. “I think there’s going to come a point where why aren’t these people leaving Hawkins,” he said. “Like we’re going to stretch credibility. It wasn’t intended to be a seven-season thing.”

The Stranger Things kids have tons of famous fans

During a group interview with BBC’s Radio One, the young cast of Stranger Things were asked about the famous people who have approached them as fans. The group listed names like Terry Crews and Robert Downey Jr. and said that at the Emmys, they were approached by the casts of Modern Family and Game of Thrones.

Host Nick Grimshaw then played a clip of Daniel Radcliffe, who was his guest the day before, who also admitted his love for the show. “Can you just, like, tell them that they’re amazing?” Radcliffe asked in the clip.