Paramount continues to make waves with splashy deals following Skydance’s acquisition. We’re hearing that Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer are in talks for a massive overall deal at the David Ellison-run media company. Details are still being worked out, and sources caution that things still could fall through, but we’re hearing it would include both streaming and features with a big theatrical component, something the pair have not been able to get at their current home of more than a decade, Netflix.
A rep for Paramount declined comment.
The high-profile talent poaching would mark the first major move for Cindy Holland, Paramount’s Chair of Direct-to-Consumer, who, as Head of English-language original series at Netflix, championed Stranger Things. In fact, the Duffers would be reunited with two executives who were key to Netflix betting on them and their 1980s supernatural drama.
“Ted Sarandos, Cindy Holland, Brian Wright and Matt Thunell took a huge chance on us and our show — and forever changed our lives,” the Duffers said in 2019 when Stranger Things was renewed for a fourth season and they signed a big overall deal with the streamer.
Thunell is now President of Paramount TV Studios, whose focus will be developing and producing series for streaming.
Since the Skydance-Paramount Global merger closed last week, Paramount has made a $7.7 billion deal with the UFC and has landed the James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet package High Side, both in a competitive situation. At a press event this week, the new Paramount leadership expressed their univocal support for theatrical movies.
The news about the Duffers’ pending Paramount deal comes as Stranger Things is coming to an end with its upcoming fifth season on Netflix.
In 2022, the Duffers launched their production company, Upside Down Pictures, for film and television projects as part of a new overall deal with Netflix. They described Upside Down’s mission at the time as aiming to create the kind of stories that inspired them growing up — “stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism.”
Under that pact, the Duffer brothers are executive producing new Netflix supernatural series The Boroughs, which stars Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Clarke Peters, Bill Pullman and Denis O’Hare. They also have been working on a Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 animated series and a live-action Stranger Things spinoff series. Stranger Things extensions would be carved out of the Duffer brothers’ Paramount deal.
Stranger Things was the first Netflix original series to become a pop culture phenomenon and branch out beyond the platform with Halloween costumes, toys and a presence at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights en route to becoming a merchandising juggernaut. Netflix and the Duffers also successfully expanded the franchise to the stage with the award-winning play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which has had successful runs both in the West End and on Broadway.
Season 5 of Stranger Things will debut with four episodes on November 26, followed by three episodes on Christmas, and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Stranger Things 4 is the third most-watched English-language series title on Netflix with 140.7 million views. The show’s third season is No. 10 on the most popular list with 98.4 million views.
The Duffers are eight-time Emmy nominees. Prior to Stranger Things they were co-EPs on the 2015-2016 Fox series Wayward Pines. They are repped by CAA, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
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