There’s no getting around it: it’s been a fairly terrible year so far for summer blockbusters.

Many of this year’s huge tentpole releases are proving big, blustery disappointments – but Netflix has an ace up its sleeve for those yearning for the simpler, more character-driven days of classic Spielberg sci-fi thrillers or the likes of JJ Abrams’ nostalgic adventure Super 8.

Summer might have just been rescued by mystery show Stranger Things. The eight-episode series, debuting in full today, is in thrall to the allure of Eighties pop culture – a science-fiction mystery set in small-town America, where kids ride BMX bikes through sleepy cul-de-sacs and things go bump in the night.

The show focuses on the vanishing of young boy Will Byers – which is just one of many bizarre events unfolding across the town, from electrical disturbances to hints of an experiment gone wrong. In the wake of Will’s sudden departure, his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) and his group of friends attempt to find out what happened to him.

From the heavily stylised neon font of the title sequence (think Nicolas Winding Refn does John Carpenter) to the fast-paced insult-laden dialogue between the kids in its cast, it’s an authentic love letter to a bygone era of filmmaking, and a more innocent generation of youth.

The series was created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, and executive produced by Shawn Levy (Night At The Museum, Real Steel) – we spoke to Levy about the series, how viewers should watch it, how the monsters were made, and whether there will be more strange things to come after Season 1.

How should people watch Stranger Things – do you want people to binge it, or take their time?

I’ll be amazed if people have the fortitude to take their time with Stranger Things. If they can watch an episode every several days, we’ve probably failed.

'The Duffers have a really sincere love of monster movies, John Carpenter, and Stephen King' Shawn Levy

We knew we were making this for Netflix, they were our first choice, they bought it on the first day of pitching. While it’s not necessary to binge it, we made, in our minds, an eight-hour movie. Take some breaks for nutrition and bathroom breaks – but we very much made these episodes so that they could be watched, if not full-on binged, in a concentrated period of time.

In the episode you directed, you get the honour of bringing the monsters to the screen for the first time – how did you go about deciding what to show?

We wanted to keep it fairly fleeting and obscured with the strobing light effect. We tried to maintain that brevity and that mystery until the very last episode – at which point I promise the audience satisfaction.

We ended up using a combination of practical monsters and CGI. I learned very helpfully on Real Steel that blending practical effects with CG creates for a better experience for the audience, and keeps the visual effects artists honest, if they have the real thing in certain frames to compete with and compare to. We took that paradigm, and some shots are man-in-suit, and some shots are fully digitally-rendered-monster.

What were the influences for the look of the monsters in the series?

We always knew we wanted a humanoid monster with a completely inhuman face, or lack thereof. The Duffer Brothers and I are very similar in our love of Spielbergian ethos, but they have a really deep and sincere love of horror and monster movies, and John Carpenter and Stephen King, way beyond my own casual fandom. I can simply say, we talked about everything from The Thing to Alien, but their points of reference are far more specific and far-flung than my own.

"Winona Ryder’s got these eyes. They’re like giant pools of emotion" Shawn Levy

Interestingly, it connects to something else which is that, for me, being in my forties, the show is a bit of a nostalgia trip, but the Duffers were born in the early Eighties, and whenever I would say ‘what’s your fascination with the Eighties?’, they’d say, it’s not – it’s with the movies of the Eighties that we grew up on. They’re genuine cinephile nerds, they’re film geeks, and the movies that influenced them are everywhere throughout the series and it’s why you’re seeing those references all over the place.

The kids in the show are so entertaining – what sort of energy did they bring to the set?

Really, really, authentic energy. The Duffers and I, especially the Duffers, were vehemently stubborn throughout casting. We passed over many, many extremely talented kid actors in the search for talented kid actors who felt authentic, who felt unsullied by too much training, too much experience, and simply looked and felt like the kind of kids we don’t see on TV.

When we ended up with these kids, because they feel real and authentic, as a result the atmosphere on set was a very real, kid, fun energy. Sometimes hard to wrangle, but always natural and free-flowing, which makes for a better series.

What was it like when you got them all into a room for the first time?

It was like wrangling puppies. We knew as soon as they were together in a room that there was something special there. They are real boys who really enjoy each other and who show that alternately through affection and kindness and insults and barbs.

It’s so great to see Winona Ryder back on the screen – what made you choose her for the role of Joyce Byers?

It might be generationally appropriate to have Winona, but truly we cast her because we knew this was a harrowing role. We knew this role would require an actress going to dark places, and Winona has access to those depths.

She is a lovely, emotional, feeling person, and she dove into this part, even though she barely understood what streaming platforms were.

She’s such an absolute pro that once she got her head around the writing, getting her to the performance did not take a lot of work. She delivers, that’s what pros do. They prepare, and then they show up and deliver, and she is of that ilk.

Were there any parts she’s played in the past that made you think of her for Joyce?

You know, Winona’s got these eyes. They’re like giant pools of emotion.

Joyce Byers is the emotional centre of the series. Her pain and her anguish is like an anchor for the show. Winona, whether it’s Reality Bites or Edward Scissorhands, her eyes are so uniquely expressive.

We wanted to lean in to that, it’s why we really created a character that goes to dark, deep, emotional places, because we knew Winona could do it.

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and it's just as good as it ever was ITV 7/29 Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV 8/29 Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky 9/29 One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit 10/29 Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh 11/29 The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem 12/29 The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC 13/29 Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC 14/29 Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC 15/29 Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series 16/29 Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky 17/29 The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms 18/29 Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV 19/29 Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day 20/29 Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem 21/29 Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO 22/29 American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox 23/29 Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall 24/29 The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries 25/29 War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins 26/29 Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian 27/29 Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC 28/29 Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire 29/29 Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

What’s the future of Stranger Things – is it a one-off, or are there more strange things to come?

There are many more strange things to come. It is very much a television series, it’s not a limited run, it’s not an anthology, it’s not Fargo – which did it so brilliantly.

In fact, on this day that we speak, I’m going from this interview to the writers’ house where we’ve convened a small group of our favourite writers from Season 1 to start imagining where Season 2 will take us.

And believe me, Episode 8 satisfies everything you’d want in giving answers, but leaves certain huge questions open to rumination and curiosity.

We don’t even know officially that we’ve got a Season 2, but we are very hopeful, and we built the show so that we can pivot right into a second adventure.

Would Season 2 continue the central mystery of Season 1, or would it put the characters in a new situation?

The latter. The main mysteries, i.e. what happened to Will Byers, is solved by the end of Season 1. Please don’t make me say more!

Stranger Things is available now on Netflix