This just in: The STW Daily News Round Up featuring all the streaming news that’s fit to (digitally) print for Wednesday, July 6th, 2022. Are we getting a Stranger Things spinoff?
A Stranger Things Spinoff?
Well, ahem, “Stranger things have happened.” Even though the bodies left in Season 4’s wake aren’t even cold yet and there isn’t a release date in sight for the final season, the creators of the wildly popular 1980’s sci-fi nostalgia-fest Stranger Things are already talking about what’s next when the show does end. Could we see a Stranger Things spinoff?
The Duffer brothers, the creators of Stranger Things who also write and direct most of the show’s episodes, threw around their ideas for a spinoff on a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, but they were light on any real details.
In fact, they haven’t even shared their pitch with Netflix yet, but they made a point to stress that the next series will be “1000% different” from what viewers have seen thus far in Hawkins, Indiana.
“I’ve read these rumors that there’s gonna be an Eleven spinoff, that there’s gonna be a Steve and Dustin spinoff or that it’s another number. That’s not interesting to me because we’ve done all that. We’ve spent I don’t know how many hours exploring all of that. So it’s very different,” the creators tease.
In addition to ruling out a spin-off following one of the other children with super powers from from Dr. Brenner’s lab, the Duffers have also ruled out following Hopper’s character as a teen. Given that…in which direction will the new show spin off?
According to the Duffers, “The most important connective tissue I would say is the storytelling sensibility of it. There is story that connects to the Stranger Things spinoff world, but it really is more about how we’re telling that story.”
Part of the Duffers’ plan for telling that story involves letting other voices tell it. While they “want to be very involved,” Ross Duffer says they’re looking for someone else to take the reins “while we go on to do new stuff.”
“The idea, ultimately, is to pass the baton to someone else, someone who’s hopefully really talented and passionate,” Matt Duffer agrees. “Even the idea of Ross and I, say, doing a pilot and leaving it, it just feels silly to me. You really need to be there from the beginning to end. I think we need to find a partner to help us with that.”
What do you think? Do we need a Stranger Things spinoff?
Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk Inspo
The versatile actress behind many distinctive characters in the clone series Orphan Black, Tatiana Maslany, is set to make her Marvel debut in the new Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law premiering on August 17th.
Maslany describes her character Jennifer Walters as “the antithesis of most superhero narratives,” different from any of the characters that the MCU has pumped out before. What about She-Hulk makes her different from the hero hall of fame that has come before?
For one, an “element of denial” and “rejecting what’s happened” regarding her new abilities. That’s not exactly the most unique quality for a budding hero, but it does cause “the fun tension between Jennifer and She-Hulk,” according to a recent interview Maslany did with Empire.
For another, Jennifer already functions as something as a superhero in her plain-clothes job as a lawyer. Clawing her way to the top of a profession that is male-dominated, incredibly vicious, and hierarchal involves its own amount of super powers. But it’s this environment that creates for some of the most appealing moments of the show, according to Maslany.
“When she’s heading this superhuman firm, that’s where we get some really fun characters that she’s either defending or in opposition of. It’s like this really absurd take on a legal show.”
The actor reportedly did a deep-dive into the comics to get into Jeniffer’s mindset, but she also looked outside of Marvel for her inspiration: “I always come back to Sophie, who’s this amazing trans artist who unfortunately died last year,” she explains. “What I love about Sophie’s music is this combo of organic and electrical, industrial-type sounds that felt connected to She-Hulk.”
Devoted Sophie fans will definitely appreciate that her influence now extends to a cultural monolith like the MCU.
Deja Vu All Over Again
Good news for fans of time loopy narratives who like their sci-fi to be couched in some arthouse aesthetics. Netflix has ordered the new comedy One More Time from Swedish director Jonatan Etzler that will center around the repetition of a one-day loop a la Groundhog Day, Palm Springs, Happy Death Day, and Netflix’s own Russian Doll.
According to Deadline, Hedda Stiernstedt of HBO’s Beforeigners is set to star in the Swedish director’s project who will be working off a script from Tove and Sofie Forsman, the writing duo behind Netflix’s Young Royals.
In One More Time, Stiernstedt will play Amelia, a woman who gets hit by a bus on her 40th birthday. When Amelia wakes up after the collision, it’s 2002, and she’s celebrating a different birthday—her 18th. At first, she thinks she’s being given the chance to do things differently and change her life for the better.
But when she becomes stuck in a time loop, awaking on the same 18th birthday each morning, Amelia realizes something more complicated is at hand, and she has more work to do before getting a fresh start.
Along with Groundhog Day and Russian Doll vibes, expect a healthy dose of early 2000’s nostalgia.
One More Time is in early stages of production, so no release date has been set.