Shawn Levy calls Stranger Things Season 2 darker, more ambitious

We’re still a few months away from the return of Hawkins, Indiana and the fan-favorite kids and monsters that live there. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter (via /Film), Stranger Things series executive producer Shawn Levy opened up about what we can expect and just how scary they’re planning to get with the new episodes.

“Season two makes the Demogorgon look quaint. I was just in the edit room with the brothers yesterday, and we’re like, ‘this is definitely darker, I hope everyone’s down with this,’ because the threats to Hawkins and to our characters are bigger, darker, often times scarier. So people who found season one too scary for them, probably you’re going to be more scared by season two. But again, the best thing I can tell you is that through it all, it’s got the best heart. But it is, cinematically and budgetary, it’s definitely more ambitious.”

Levy also exercised caution, however, telling fans to brace themselves for things they may not like:

“We are going to do things that fans will be disappointed in, but I think they will be more satisfied by… I’ll give one example that I’ve been asked about a hundred times which is people still think Barb’s alive. Because you think you want that, but you wouldn’t really want that. I’ve had a lot of people, some huge celebrities come up to me at these awards shows, like, ‘So, between us, Barb’s coming back, right?’ I’m like ‘No, you saw, she had like a creature, slug, worm, snake, coming out of her mouth. I don’t know that there’s a bounce back from that!’ So no, we are not going to cravenly service the wish-list of fans, we’re going to service the Duffer instincts and what they feel is the right story to tell.”

The second season, which will premiere on Halloween 2017, is set a year after Will’s return, and everything seems back to normal… but a darkness lurks just beneath the surface, threatening all of Hawkins.

Stranger Things Season 2 will star Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer, Cara Buono, Charlie Heaton, and Matthew Modine. New cast additions include Sadie Sink (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers), Brett Gelman (Blunt Talk, The Other Guys), newcomer Linnea Berthelsen, and ’80s icons Sean Astin (The Goonies) and Paul Reiser (Aliens).

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