Stranger Things is Netflix’s flagship show that also seems like its saving grace. The show debuted in 2016 and since then has been charting never before seen numbers. While the first three seasons of the show were seemingly back to back, the 4th Season is back almost after three years. Although, Netflix was smart enough to not let us cherish the entire season all at once. They released the Vol. 1 of the 4th Season that consisted of 7 episodes. They slated Vol. 2’s release dated 5 weeks later i.e., 1st July 2022. Just saying, Vol. 2 is only a day away. Vol. 2 consists of 2 episodes making the total season tally to 9 episodes, similar to the 2nd Season of the show. All the 7 episodes we got this were hefty ones, with their runtime lying between 60 minutes to 100 minutes.
That is almost each episode being feature length. If that seems a lot then get ready for the final 2 episodes. The finale of Season 4 is clocking at 2 hours and 19 minutes or 139 minutes. That is longer than the movies we watch. While Season 4 was adored and celebrated by most, there were people pointing out the Season was over ambitious and slow. So, naturally after hearing the runtime of the finale there was criticism over the internet. The show was facing heat where people were asking, “How much Stranger Things is too much Stranger Things?” Given this in a recent promotional event the Duffer Brothers had their say on the runtime of the finale.
The Duffer Brothers say the Finale’s Length wasn’t Planned
Stranger Things 4 was captioned by many as Netflix’s last chance at retaining their subscribers and thus they’re ruining their Flagship show by making it bigger and longer with every season. Well, I won’t deny that Netflix always milks its best shows to the bone but it seems like the eccentric runtime of the show was the showrunner’s decision. To answer the skeptical eyes, the Duffer Brothers told Variety about the Behind Scenes in the Stranger Things writer’s room.
“We looked at the final episode ’cause it’s so long. There really wasn’t a good spot to break it,” Ross Duffer told Variety. “So it’s like, why — at the end of the day, you know, if someone wants to pause it, they can.” The Duffer Brothers also mentioned they’d anticipated the finale to be gigantic but they didn’t think the other 8 episodes would be supersized as well. It was only at the editing stage when they realized, “oh, God, these are really long,” Ross Duffer told Variety.
To conclude the Duffer Brothers added, “You look at one of the episodes, like, you couldn’t cut it out 15 minutes early,” Matt Duffer said. “Structurally we have this year — I think it was four major storylines. And they each have three or four beats per episode. So they’re all building toward a specific point.” Well, I cruised through the first 7 episodes and frankly I wished there was some more material. The 7th episode’s cliffhanger left me absolutely helpless until Vol. 2.
Stranger Things Season 4 Vol. 1 Viewership Figures
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1 recently completed its 28-days window that Netflix uses to check viewership of their shows. Stranger Things 4 gathered 930.8 Million viewership hours, the most by any English Language series. Second to only the Korean Drama Squid Game that has 1.6 Billion viewership hours in its first 28 days. While Vol. 2’s viewership hours will be added to this number that will only make it rise further. Although, the likelihood of it surpassing Squid Game’s viewership hours looks quite dim.
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1 is currently streaming on Netflix. Vol. 2 will release on 1st July 2022. Check out the trailer for Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2:
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