Stranger Things/Season 2

Stranger Things 2, the second season of the Netflix original Stranger Things, was released on October 27, 2017. It is now streaming on Netflix.

Stranger Things 2 was confirmed by Netflix on August 31, 2016 for a 2017 release. An announcement trailer revealed that the second season consisted of nine episodes as well as showing the working title for each episode. Filming of the season started in Atlanta, Georgia on November 7, 2016.

Set in Hawkins in the fall of 1984, the story continues as supernatural forces once again begin to affect the town. While the season services the first season's core cast and characters first and foremost, several new characters are introduced: tomboy Max and her older step-brother Billy, a girl named Kali connected to Hawkins Lab, RadioShack manager Bob Newby, Department of Energy agent Dr. Owens and disgraced journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman. Similar to the previous season, Season 2 was lauded by critics and audiences alike and was praised for being much more horror-oriented.

Synopsis
It's 1984 and the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana are still reeling from the horrors of the Demogorgon and the secrets of Hawkins Lab. Will Byers has been rescued from the Upside Down but a bigger, sinister entity still threatens those who survived.

Plot Summary
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a group of criminals killed a man. They flee in a van but are pursued by police. They escape from police when the group goes under a tunnel, where rocks fall and block the opening. However, it is revealed that the rocks were only a vision in the mind of the lead policeman. Back in the van, it is revealed that a girl named Kali, a member of the gang, has caused the vision. She is bleeding from her left nostril and we see a tattoo marked "008" on her wrist.

Back in Hawkins, the boys go to the Palace arcade, where they find that someone with the name "MADMAX" has beaten Dustin's high score in "Dig Dug" by over 100,000 points. At the arcade, Will experiences an "episode", where he finds himself in the Upside Down version of the arcade. In the episode, he sees a large "shadow monster". The next day at school, they meet a new student from California named Max, who immediately captures the affection of Lucas and Dustin. Dustin believes she is "MADMAX" but Lucas is skeptical. At Hawkins High, Max's stepbrother Billy arrives, and begins to compete with Steve for the title of "King". Will, who has been experiencing the episodes frequently, is taken by Joyce and Hopper to Hawkins Lab, where he is seen by Dr. Owens, the new head scientist. Meanwhile, Joyce has begun seeing Bob Newby, a classmate from high school and the manager of the local RadioShack. Nancy and Steve have been having regular dinners with the Holland family following Barb's death. Nancy, who is still grieving Barb's death, learns that the Hollands (who are unaware Barb is dead) are selling their house to afford to pay an investigative journalist named Murray Bauman to find Barb; Nancy feels responsible and guilty. Mike has been trying to contact Eleven for 352 days in a row after her disappearance, though unsuccessful. Later, Hopper goes to a cabin in the woods, where it is revealed he lives there with Eleven, who is alive.

Flashbacks show that after killing the Demogorgon, Eleven turned up in the Upside Down. She escapes through a portal and goes to see Mike at the Wheelers' house, but flees into the woods after seeing government agents at the house. More flashbacks show that Hopper finds her and sets up his grandfather's hunting cabin as a place for them to live. Back in the present, Eleven wants to go trick-or-treating, but is told "no" by Hopper as it is too dangerous. Hopper is called in to a pumpkin patch after reports of rotting pumpkins. Nancy wants to tell the Hollands the truth, but is persuaded out of it by Steve. They attend a Halloween party, where Nancy gets drunk and berates Steve, putting the blame for Barb's death on them and saying she doesn't love him. Steve leaves, upset, and Jonathan finds Nancy and takes her home. The boys go trick-or-treating and are joined by Max, who was invited by Dustin and Lucas. Will has brought Bob's video camera to record the experience. Will has another episode and tells Mike about the vision, but requests him not to tell anyone. Mike admits to Will that he has been unsuccessfully trying to communicate with Eleven. Eleven tries to contact Mike, who was also simultaneously calling her using his Supercom from the basement, but is unsuccessful. Dustin returns home after trick-or-treating to find a small, strange, slug-like creature in his trash can, which he determines is a pollywog.

Bob encourages Will to stand up to his fears. Nancy is able to persuade Jonathan to help her tell Barb's parents the truth. Hopper asks Owens to investigate the pumpkins. Dustin brings the pollywog to school, which he has now named D'Artagnan from The Three Musketeers novel. Will describes his episodes, and the boys conclude Dart is from the Upside Down. Dart escapes from the AV room, and the boys and Max scramble to find Dart. Mike, in the gym, gets into an argument with Max, as Mike is angry at Max because Lucas and Dustin want to bring her into the party. Eleven leaves the cabin to look for Mike, and interprets Mike's argument as flirting. She uses her powers to knock Max over and leaves. At the Byers house, Joyce discovers an image of Will's vision, including a vague outline of the shadow monster, on the video Will recorded while trick or treating. After seeing the tracing of the outline matches with a picture Will drew, Joyce goes to the middle school. Will finds Dart, but this triggers another episode, where he comes face to face with the shadow monster. Will follows Bob's advice and confronts the monster, but the monster forces a tentacle down Will's throat.

Will awakens from the episode to the concern of Joyce and his friends. Joyce takes Will home, but he begins acting strangely, and begins drawing scribbles on multiple pages. Joyce calls in Hopper, and they find the scribbles line up, which form a network of vines. Hopper recognizes an area and leaves. Nancy and Jonathan arrange a meeting with Barb's mother, but are caught by undercover lab agents. They are taken to the lab, where Owens shows the two the Gate to the Upside Down and admits Barb's death. He tells them they have been tapping phones (how they discovered Nancy's meeting with Barb's mom) to keep other governments from learning about the portal. When they are released, Nancy reveals she recorded the confession. At the cabin, Eleven has an argument with Hopper, and later finds his research into her biological mother, Terry Ives, and attempts to contact her with her powers.

Mike worries about Will and goes to check him at the Byers house after requesting Dustin and Lucas to search for Dart. Hopper goes to the pumpkin patch, where he digs a hole, which leads to a tunnel in the Upside Down. He becomes trapped and passes out. Will sees a vision of Hopper's state, but Joyce cannot figure out the meaning of the vision. She enlists Bob for help, as his nickname in high school was "Bob the Brain". Bob is able to identify the tunnels as a map underneath Hawkins, and is able to roughly locate where Hopper was trapped. Lucas tries to get closer to Max, but Billy warns her to stay away from him. At Dustin's house, he finds Dart has broken from his cage and ate his pet cat; Dustin then finds that Dart is a baby Demogorgon. Nancy and Jonathan go to Murray Bauman with the tape. Murray knows the public won't accept the story as-is (with monsters), but suggests watering down the story. Murray and Nancy decide to change the story to say that Barb died from toxins from the lab. Murray sends the tape to the Chicago Sun-Times (where he was previously employed). Lucas tells the events of last year to Max in an attempt to gain her respect, but she doesn't believe him. Dustin lures Dart to his storm cellar and traps him. He goes to the Wheelers' house to find any of the boys, even asking for Nancy, but none of them are there. On his way out, he runs into Steve, who is coming to apologize to Nancy. Dustin enlists Steve for help, and tells him to get the bat of nails from last season. They attempt to kill Dart, but instead find his shed skin and a tunnel dug. Eleven goes to Terry's house, where she is able to communicate with her powers. She gains Terry's memories of Eleven being taken at birth and Terry's attempts to rescue her before she was subjected to shock therapy. Eleven finds there was another girl at the lab like her. Joyce, Bob, Will, and Mike are able to rescue Hopper, but lab personnel arrive and blaze the tunnels with flamethrowers. When the fire is set, Will collapses in agony.

Will is rushed to the lab where he displays memory loss, unable to remember Bob or Hopper. Owens speculates that the shadow monster is like a virus that has infected Will and that any damage to the tunnels might be lethal to him. Nancy and Jonathan spend the night at Murray's, where he prods them about their relationship. The two later have a romantic encounter. Dustin and Steve decide to lure Dart to the junkyard, and Dustin calls Lucas for help. Lucas brings Max, and the four ready the junkyard to trap Dart. Max opens up to Lucas and explains Billy's attitude is due to his father marrying Max's mother. Dart appears at the junkyard with creatures identical to him, and the group learns that there are packs of them. The group hide in the bus, and Steve later attacks them with the bat, but the creatures all run away suddenly; Steve speculates they are going somewhere. At the lab, Will views pictures of the map taken by lab agents, and points out a location that the shadow monster wants to avoid. Owens sends in a team to investigate, but the pack attacks the team and enters the lab. They realize that the monster has been manipulating Will.

Meanwhile, Eleven goes to Chicago in search of the girl in Terry's memories, who is revealed to be the psychic girl from the events in Pittsburgh, a woman named Kali. The two connect, where Kali shows Eleven her powers. She explains to Eleven that her gang is attempting to kill the lab scientists who worked under Brenner for what they did to her, and introduces Eleven to the group. Kali tells Eleven to channel her anger, which strengthens her powers. The group goes to the home of a lab worker who performed shock therapy on Terry, who claims Brenner is alive. Eleven decides not to kill him after learning he has kids, and the gang is forced to flee. Eleven has a vision of Mike and Hopper in grave danger at the lab and leaves to return to Hawkins.

Back at the lab, the pack of Demodogs overwhelm the lab, killing many of the workers. Outside the gates, Nancy and Jonathan have arrived at the lab, and encounter Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max, who have followed the screams of the pack to the lab. Mike is able to convince Joyce to sedate Will. Mike, Will, Hopper, Joyce, Bob, and Owens flee into the security room, where they are trapped. The power goes out, and Bob, knowing how to reset the power, volunteers to do so. Bob successfully activates the power, and Owens stays behind in the room to guide out the group. Mike, Will, Hopper, and Joyce are able to escape to the lobby. Bob makes it to the lobby, but is caught and killed by the pack. The remaining four regroup with the others outside the gate and go to the Byers' house. The group deduces that the shadow monster is a hive mind controlling Will and the pack, and if they kill it, its influence on those they control will end. Mike, who previously deduced that the shadow monster is using Will like a spy, tells the group, who decide to remodel the tool shed so Will doesn't know where he is so the shadow monster cannot spy. Will awakens, where Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike share their fondest memories of Will in an attempt to get him to snap out of it. Will doesn't respond vocally, but taps out a message in Morse code, which reads "CLOSEGATE". However, the house phone rings, leading to the monster to identify their location. As the pack moves in, the group barricades themselves in the Byers' house, armed, but the pack is surprisingly dispatched by Eleven, who has returned to Hawkins. Mike and Eleven get emotional to see each other alive after a year and embrace together.

The group briefly reunites with Eleven. When Eleven convinces Hopper that she can close the gate, Mike points out that it may also kill Will. Joyce remembers something Will said about the monster in the lab, "he likes it cold", and decides to burn the monster out. Hopper and Eleven go to the lab to close the Gate. Before leaving, Eleven promises Mike that he will not lose her again. Meanwhile, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy take Will to Hopper's cabin. The group turns on the fire and heaters, and are finally able to purge the virus from Will after Nancy prods him with a hot iron. At the Byers' house, Mike, concerned about Eleven, convinces the group to burn the tendrils at the tunnels to distract the demodogs from attacking Hopper and Eleven. But Steve rebuffs the plan and refuses. Back at Billy's house, his abusive father reprimands him for losing track of Max, and sends him to find her. His search takes him to the Wheeler's house, where Mrs. Wheeler gives him Joyce's address. He goes there, where after a tense confrontation with Steve, goes inside. After seeing Max with Lucas still, Billy grabs Lucas, but Steve attacks Billy and they have a fist fight. Billy knocks Steve unconscious, but continues to punch him. Max grabs the syringe Mike brought from the hospital, and injects Billy with it, and threatens him into obedience with the nail bat. Max steals Billy's keys. Steve awakens in Billy's car, where Max drives the group to the tunnels. Steve and the kids enter, where they cover the heart of the tunnels in gas and ignite it. Since the tunnel is ignited, the Demodogs become distracted and return to the tunnel, leaving the lab unguarded and so, Hopper and Eleven enters the gate without facing any of them. Meanwhile, the kids go to leave, but encounters Dart. However Dustin is able to calm him down and the group escapes. When Eleven tries to close the Gate, the Mind Flayer senses her strength and sends the Demodogs to attack her. As Hopper defends Eleven from the swarming Demodogs, Eleven is able to channel her anger, and closes the Gate, killing the remaining monsters in the process.

A month later, the lab has been shut down by the government following the publication of Nancy's tape. The Hollands hold a proper funeral for Barb. Owens meets with Hopper in a bar, where he gives Hopper a forged birth certificate listing him as the father of "Jane Hopper" (Eleven). Steve drives Dustin to the Snow Ball, the annual Hawkins Middle winter dance, where he meets with the party. A slow dance starts, and Will is asked to dance. Lucas asks Max to dance. Dustin asks multiple girls to dance, but is rejected. Nancy, who is serving punch at the dance, sees Dustin alone and crying, and dances with him. Outside, Joyce talks with Hopper. Eleven shows up, where she dances with Mike. Lucas and Max kiss, and Eleven and Mike kiss right after. The students enjoy themselves at the dance, unaware that the shadow monster is still alive, towering over the school.

Main cast

 * Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers (8 episodes)
 * David Harbour as Jim Hopper (9 episodes)
 * Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler (9 episodes)
 * Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven (8 episodes)
 * Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson (8 episodes)
 * Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair (8 episodes)
 * Noah Schnapp as Will Byers (8 episodes)
 * Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield (8 episodes)
 * Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler (8 episodes)
 * Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers (8 episodes)
 * Joe Keery as Steve Harrington (8 episodes)
 * Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove (8 episodes)
 * Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler (6 episodes)
 * Sean Astin as Bob Newby (7 episodes)
 * Paul Reiser as Dr. Sam Owens (8 episodes)

Recurring Cast

 * Linnea Berthelsen as Kali Prasad / Eight (3 episodes)
 * Chelsea Talmadge as Carol (2 episodes)
 * Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman (4 episodes)
 * Will Chase as Neil Hargrove (1 episode)
 * Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner (2 episodes)
 * Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler (5 episodes)
 * Cynthia Barrett as Marsha Holland (2 episode)
 * Randy Havens as Scott Clarke (4 episodes)
 * Rob Morgan as Calvin Powell (3 episodes)
 * John Reynolds as Phil Callahan (3 episodes)
 * Susan Shalhoub Larkin as Florence (5 episodes)
 * Tinsley Price as Holly Wheeler (3 episodes)
 * Chester Rushing as Tommy H. (3 episodes)
 * Aimee Mullins as Terry Ives (3 episodes)
 * Amy Seimetz as Becky Ives (2 episodes)
 * Charles Lawlor as Donald Melvald (2 episodes)
 * Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair (4 episodes)
 * Joe Davison as Nerdy Tech (4 episodes)
 * Kai Greene as Funshine (2 episodes)
 * James Landry Hébert as Axel (2 episodes)
 * Anna Jacoby-Heron as Dottie (2 episodes)
 * Pruitt Taylor Vince as Ray (2 episodes)
 * Gabrielle Maiden as Mick (2 episodes)
 * Matty Cardarople as Keith (2 episodes)
 * Tony Vaughn as Russell Coleman (2 episodes)
 * Catherine Curtin as Claudia Henderson (6 episodes)

Development
Season two was green-lit by Netflix before the first season premiered on July 15, 2016. Ross and Matt Duffer spent the summer writing in a rental in Lake Hollywood, which they set up as a writers room. The second season was announced to the public at the end of August. The producers had already mapped it out and gotten a broad understanding of what it would look like, while the actual writing was still "very much in process." The Duffers said they were "nearly ready" to wrap up writing and move on to casting and pre-production at the end of September.

The actors had received the first couple of scripts by early October.

Influences
Seeing season two as a blockbuster movie sequel, the Duffer Brothers stated that "the [sequels] we look up to aspire to pivot and do something different," naming Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and James Cameron's Aliens and Terminator 2 as examples. Matt Duffer said "I think we kinda looked to [James Cameron] and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work." Shawn Levy said they also noted Empire Strikes Back as a sequel that worked.

Crew
The writers from season one, including Justin Doble and Jessie Nickson, have been kept on board, while writers' assistant Paul Dichter was promoted to staff writer.

Just like for the previous season, the Duffer Brothers directed the first two episodes as well as the last two ones while Shawn Levy directed the third and fourth. Levy prepared around Thanksgiving and filmed his episodes through December and January. Andrew Stanton, most well known as a director and screenwriter for Pixar Animation Studios, directed the fifth and sixth episodes. On March 22, Stanton announced he had finished directing his episodes.

Casting
Executive producer Shawn Levy said they will service the core group first and foremost, while also adding a handful of new characters.

During a panel at New York Comic Con, David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown heavily implied that Eleven would return. After rumors that Eleven's return was confirmed had circled on the internet for over a week, it was officially confirmed on November 4 when a photo of a table read, where Brown was present, was posted on the official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

When asked if fan-favorite Barb would return for the second season, the Duffer Brothers stated that they "can't see it happening," but promised there would be justice for her character. They also suggested that Dr. Brenner, whose fate was left open-ended in season one, would be seen again. The Duffer Brothers revealed in an interview that four new characters will be introduced. They later added that the characters are Billy, Max and two new adults: one is involved in Joyce's life, whereas the other is involved in the labs.

In a casting breakdown obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, two regular characters and one potential regular character was revealed with a name and description: Max, a tough and confident 13-year-old tomboy with a tough past; Roman, male or female aged 30-38, an outsider with a troubled childhood; and Billy, Max's super muscular, overconfident step-brother, who has a violent and unpredictable nature. Matt Duffer said they did a "wide, wide search for one new kid that we're adding. She's a cool new character," most likely alluding to the character Max.

On October 14, 2016 it was announced that Sadie Sink had landed the role of Max and Dacre Montgomery had been cast as her step-brother Billy. Additionally, Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery were promoted from recurring to regular cast members. Three new additions to the cast were announced on November 7, 2016. Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen was cast in the role of Kali Prasad, who was revealed to be the young adult character "mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab." Sean Astin was cast as Bob Newby, a nerd who formerly went to high school with Joyce and Hopper and now manages the local RadioShack. Paul Reiser was cast as Dr. Owens, "a high-ranking member within the Department of Energy on a ‘clean-up’ assignment, tasked with containing the events of last year.”

On November 18, 2016 The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Brett Gelman had joined the cast as Murray Bauman, "a disgraced journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist who is investigating a cold case in Hawkins."

Casting TaylorMade, the company that handled extras casting for season one, were brought on for season two. They posted a casting call looking for males and females ages 17 and older with 1980s hair styles, as well as vehicles from the period, with filming "beginning this November."

On May 3, 2017, TV Line reported that actor-singer Will Chase had been cast as Neil Mayfield, who was described as "the father of a family of recent transplants to Hawkins, Indiana from California."

Production
On October 31, David Harbour posted a picture of himself in his Chief Hopper costume with the caption "Hopper's back," confirming that he was back on production.

In the first week of November 2016, table reads for a "bunch of episodes" started. The season was officially confirmed to be in production on November 4, 2016 in a social media post by Stranger Things. It was accompanied by a photo of some of the cast members at a table read.

At the beginning of May 2017, Finn Wolfhard told Emmy Magazine that the second season would be much darker and more horror-oriented than the first.

Filming
Filming of the season started on November 7, 2016.

An extras casting call revealed that filming was planned for November 11, 15, 16 and 18 for scenes at the Middle School and November 14, 15 and 16 and December 8 at the High School. On November 14, 2016 photos of the cast on set in Atlanta were published. Seen in the photos were the main cast of kids and teens from the previous season, minus Millie Bobby Brown and Natalia Dyer, though who appeared to be a body double for Nancy was present. Chelsea Talmadge, who portrays the recurring character Carol, was also present. None of the new cast members were spotted, but the names Max and Billy were seen on the cast trailers, implying that newcomers Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery were present that day.

By early April, the final two episodes had commenced filming, shooting scenes in woodland seen previously in Season 1. On June 3, filming for the season officially wrapped.

Music

 * Main article: Stranger Things/Music

Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein returned to compose a new score for season two. They were working on it by early 2017. In an interview, Dixon stated that "There are new characters, fun, and the Upside Down will be more of a place—you'll spend more time," and said "we'll make a lot more weird music this time around."

Dixon and Stein introduced new styles of composition for Season 2 and created new elements that were "necessary to support the story." Still, they stated that they "want to remain true to the sound of Season 1" and revisited old themes "when appropriate."

Two weeks prior to the premiere of Season 2, the release of the soundtrack album was announced along with the track list and the song "Walkin' in Hawkins". It was digitally released on October 20.

Post-production
Due to a very tight filming schedule, visual-effects supervisor Paul Graff and producer Christina Graff acknowledged that it was challenging to deliver the final visuals for every shot, because there they had to continue moving from one episode to another without making any mistakes. Nevertheless, they impressed the Duffer brothers with a plethora of staggering effects and seamless cinematography, most notably the CG shots for the season finale.

Trailers
The season was announced in a trailer published across social media on August 31, 2016, listing the titles of the episodes. The trailer also revealed that the season would be set in the fall of 1984, a year after the previous season. Netflix was initially going to use a trailer with content from the first season and had the idea to announce the season using the title sequence, but the idea to include the chapter titles came from the Duffer Brothers. Matt Duffer said they had titles they didn't want to add to the trailer because they were too revealing, and some of the announced titles are still subject to change.

At the 2017 Superbowl, a 30-second ad premiered, revealing footage from the first four to five episodes. The footage included the Season 1 characters Eleven, Hopper, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, Will and Joyce, and teased a new supernatural threat to Hawkins. The ad also announced that the season would be released on Halloween (October 31). However, the release date was later changed to October 27.

Netflix scheduled a Stranger Things panel for the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con with the show's cast and creators. The panel revealed the season's first full-length trailer featuring never before seen footage set to the song "Thriller".

The season's final trailer was released on October 13, 2017.

Stranger Thursdays
As part of the online marketing campaign for Season 2, the show's social media accounts hosted "Stranger Thursdays" where fans were encouraged to rewatch the first season along with the cast and crew. Every Thursday for eight weeks, special behind-the-scenes extras were released, corresponding with each individual episode. In addition, a variety of posters were released featuring Season 1 characters and elements. These posters served as homages to 1980's cinema, the principal influence on the show.

Stranger Things: The Game

 * Main article: Stranger Things: The Game

In the weeks leading up to Season 2's release, a Stranger Things mobile game titled "Stranger Things: The Game" was released. The game contains exclusive footage from Season 2, and received an update on the day of the season's release.

Beyond Stranger Things

 * Main article: Beyond Stranger Things

Alongside the premiere of Season 2, an after-show titled "Beyond Stranger Things" was released, showcasing behind-the-scenes elements and featuring the cast and producers in a talk show format. It is intended to be watched only after screening the entire season.

Home media
Like the first season, the second season was released in a collector's edition DVD/Blu Ray set in VHS-style packaging. The set was released on November 6, 2018 exclusive to Target retailers.