Netflix’s spooky, breakout science fiction series, Stranger Things, is coming back for a second season sometime in 2017—and rumors about possible storylines are at an all-time high among fans of the show. Vanity Fair spoke with the show’s cast and creative team to get some answers about the highly anticipated-show while attending the annual BAFTA Awards Season Tea Party on Saturday afternoon.

“Season 2 is bigger and potentially darker in its stakes,” said Shawn Levy, director and executive producer of the 80s throwback series. “The threat, which in Season 1 was to Will Byers, has grown. That’s all I’m going to say! But, I will say Season 2 has a bigger cast and is definitely loyal to the kind of magical storytelling that we established in the first season. It’s character-based and still about our core group of characters.”

The series’ original cast, including Winona Ryder and fan-favorite Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, will all return for another go this year. Joining them are Lord of the Rings alum (and Goonies star) Sean Astin, as well as Mad About You alum Paul Reiser. Levy wouldn’t divulge any more details, or the exact 2017 premiere date—but Noah Schnapp, who played Ryder’s missing son Will Byers, has been upgraded to series regular, and he gave us some new insight about Season 1’s cliffhanger finale.

“You’ll be seeing more of me. I’ll be there,” said Schnapp. “In the last episode, I threw up a slug, so Season 2 begins with what happens from there. There may have been some effect on him. I may or may not have turned into a monster. You’ll have to watch to find out.”

Finn Wolfhard, who plays Will’s friend Mike Wheeler, reveals that the new episodes will show personal growth among the middle-school-friends-turned heroes.

“Now that we’ve done a season, we know exactly about our characters. We are very conscious of them and can take them to the next level,” said the 14-year-old actor. “I think we’ve grown up a little bit, and our characters have too. They have been through a lot and have used those experiences to help them grow and to be stronger in Season 2.”

The cast has been busy filming in Atlanta for the past three months. They’re taking a brief break to celebrate the show’s critical success and to partake in awards season. Stranger Things received a Golden Globe nomination for best drama series, and Brown also nabbed a Screen Actors Guild Award nod for her acting debut as a mysterious, telekinetic girl named Eleven. She will compete against the likes of Robin Wright, Claire Foy, Thandie Newton and her costar Ryder in the best female actor in a TV drama category.

“I do have to pinch myself, because I can’t believe this is all happening,” Brown told Vanity Fair. “I am so honored to be nominated for a SAG award. It’s exciting. I never expected it. And to be nominated with Winona is amazing. She’s such an incredible actress, and I love her. I look up to her. She’s already the best actress.”

The whirlwind experience of attending award shows for the very first time and hobnobbing with celebrities has been “crazy” for Wolfhard. At the BAFTA Tea Party, Andrew Garfield chatted with him while Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling got a photo taken with Brown. Meeting their favorite celebs is only one of many surreal moments the teen stars have experienced since their show blew up: a diehard fan even asked Schnapp to be her date to the prom.

“She actually really meant it. She was like, ‘Here’s my address. Be there at 7.’ It was hilarious,” said Schnapp. “I did say yes. It’s coming up. Since I said yes, I have to keep my promise and really go to the prom with her.”

For Brown, her most unreal moment was when she saw fans dressed up as Eleven last Halloween. “It was incredible,” she said with a big smile. “I took a few pictures so I could always remember that moment. I couldn’t believe it.”