‘Stranger Things’ creators say they regret killing off new character

The creators of Stranger Things have expressed their regret over killing off a new character in the first episode of season four.

Seven new episodes (or ‘chapters’) of the hit sci-fi fantasy landed on Netflix late last month, serving as the first volume of the current run. Two final instalments (titled ‘Papa’ and ‘The Piggyback’) will be released on July 1.

In episode one of Stanger Things 4, viewers were introduced to popular Hawkins High student Chrissy Cunningham (played by Grace Van Dien) who’s experiencing distressing visions and other forms of psychological torment.

As well as attending school counselling sessions, Chrissy meets up with Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) to buy some drugs. She is later possessed by the sinister villain Vecna, who brutally kills her in Eddie’s caravan.

Now, Stanger Things creators and showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer have said that they were perhaps wrong to end Chrissy’s story so soon.

“We always have those moments [of ‘What have we done?’],” Matt explained in an interview with TVLine. “We shot the quote-unquote drug-deal scene in the woods pretty late, actually, into shooting.”

Ross added: “We had already killed Chrissy when we shot that.” Matt continued: “The scene came alive in a way that was just so beautiful.”

The Duffer Brothers went on to compare Chrissy’s premature departure from the series to the similarly-gruesome exit of the much-loved character Bob Newby (Sean Astin) from season two.

“When we killed Bob in Season 2, I didn’t want to do that. We had fallen in love with both the character and Sean Astin,” Matt said. “And Sean didn’t want to die. Winona Ryder didn’t want him to die.”

But it seems that both Chrissy and Bob could be set to return in some form. “We’ll find something else to do with Grace, something else to do with Sean,” Matt added.

Earlier this week, Stranger Things officially become Netflix’s most-watched English-language TV show. You can check out NME‘s four-star review of season four here.

The Duffer Brothers also recently confirmed that season five will be the series’ last.

“We do have an end [in mind],” Matt Duffer told NME in a recent interview. “I’m sure a lot of it’s going to change, but now [it’s] the end.

“It’s just one of those things that you come up with and you go, ‘That’s it, that’s right, that’s inevitable – that’s what it has to be.’”

See a selection of preview images from Stanger Things season 4, volume two here.