The Duffer Brothers are set to create a stage adaptation of Netflix's Stranger Things, right off the record-breaking success of the show's fourth season.
The duo—comprising Matt and Ross Duffer— announced a list of upcoming projects, along with their new production company, Upside Down Pictures, ran by Hilary Leavitt (Ozark). The stage adaptation will be produced by the multi-Tony and Olivier winner Sonia Friedman with Tony and Olivier winner Stephen Daldry, who will also direct, and Netflix. Friedman and Daldry recently collaborated on the four-time Tony Award-winning play The Inheritance. Friedman's stage credits include Mean Girls and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the upcoming revival of The Piano Lesson.
Upside Down Pictures will "aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up, stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism." Along with the aforementioned projects, additional works in progress include a live-action adaptation of the anime series Death Note, a new series from Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, a series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s novel The Talisman, and a highly-anticipated spin-off of the Stranger Things series.
This isn't the only way Stranger Things is hitting the stage. Lead actor Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin Henderson in the sci-fi series, has been cast as Jared Kleinman in Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen. His run begins July 19.
The parody musical Stranger Sings! had an off-Broadway run, following two sold-out concert runs at Feinstein’s/54 Below and two special industry readings. The production recently announced runs in London and Australia, as well as an off-Broadway revival.
