‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 Has Officially Started Filming!
The Stranger Things team shocked us a few months ago with the news that the Duffer brothers were already working on a script for their third season and had already released a casting call for new characters so soon after Season 2 came out. Now speaking to Collider, series producer Shawn Levy (Last Man Standing, Arrival) revealed that Season 3 has officially started filming.
Levy discussed the trials filming of Season 3 and his experiences stepping in to direct several episodes:
“I’m once again directing the third and fourth episodes so that I can give the Duffers a breather, and send them back into the writing cave, so that they can buff out the rest of the season. That’s why I took on these episodes in Season One, and now the three of us are just a little too superstitious to mess with what’s worked so far. The prep beyond that, it’s really a similar juggling act where the Duffers, because they always understandably want to direct the kick-off episodes, they have to juggle their limited time between writing and re-writing and prepping as directors, all at the same time.”
He also brought up the topic of Andrew Stanton (John Carter, Wall-E), who directed several episodes for Season 2, as well as his absence from the upcoming season:
“We had some schedule issues trying to figure out how to bring Andrew back, because we were beyond thrilled with him as a human being and his episodes. So the only answer I can give you today is it’s not Stanton, though we very much hope to keep him in the director club of Stranger Things as we move on to other seasons.”
Levy also had a lot to say about the possibility of a Season 4, stating that it’s “definitely happening” and that there’s already a fairly clear idea of what the plot will entail:
“I will say we have a good sense of stuff that happens in Season 4. Season 4 is definitely happening. There’s very much the possibility of a season beyond that one, that’s currently undecided. And what I would just say is part of the chaos and fun of this particular show is that while the Duffers and the writer’s room and we producers outline the entire season, the Duffers really use the writing process to revisit, reassess and question all of their prior assumption. So even though we always start off with a good sense of the major arcs of the season. We’re always ready for shifts and surprises because if the Duffers stumble into a different or surprising inspiration while they rewrite the script, we’re going to follow that inspiration and throw out some ideas in order to embrace some new ones that are more exciting. And I have no doubt that Season 3 will be no exception.”
While it may seem surprising that Season 4 is already signed and planned before Season 3 even comes out, the Duffers and co. have made it very clear that they’re surging ahead with the series. No release date for Season 3 has been nailed down yet, so stay tuned.
