Stranger Things Season 4 releases this month, and while it has one less episode than Season 3, the overall runtime is “almost twice as long,” according to co-creator Ross Duffer. He revealed this to IGN, while director Shawn Levy confirmed that Season 4 has multiple episodes that are longer than some of his movies.
“I’ve released two movies in the time we’ve been making Season 4,” Levy said. “We have multiple episodes that are longer than both Free Guy and The Adam Project.”
For comparison, Free Guy is 1 hour and 55 minutes, while The Adam Project is 1 hour and 46 minutes.
Ross Duffer went on to say that Season 4 is so long as a means to help its characters have “their time to shine” and to give space for additional character development.
“We’ve talked about this being a very revelatory season, in that there’s a lot of stuff that we want to tell the audience about and reveal in terms of the Upside Down and what is really happening here in Hawkins,” Ross Duffer said.
Netflix is reportedly spending $30 million per episode for Stranger Things Season 4, making it one of the most expensive TV show productions in history.
Also in the interview, Matt Duffer said Season 4 aims to be similar to the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back in that it is aiming for a darker setup. “We talked a lot about that and wanting to capture that tone,” he said.
Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 releases on May 27, 2022. The second wave of episodes releases on July 1, while a fifth and final season is coming later. Beyond that, spin-offs could follow to extend the wider Stranger Things universe.
In other news about Netflix, the company just laid off 150 people, following a big loss in subscribers.
