Stranger Things fans are eagerly awaiting season 4 volume 2 at the moment, as the final two episodes prepare to drop on Friday, July 1 – but even the most dedicated viewers may not have noticed that the show has actually been changed a few times following release.
The series’ co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer have revealed that they have made tweaks to episodes after their Netflix airing, without letting on to fans.
“We have ‘George Lucas-ed’ things also that people don’t know about,” Matt told Variety – referring to the Star Wars creator who famously made changes to the films for re-release.
The pair were discussing a decision to go back and change a mistake in series 4, which they admitted to in a previous interview with Variety. Fans spotted that episode 4 featured a rolling camera with the date March 22 – which had previously been confirmed as Will’s birthday back in series 2 – but the newer episode made no reference to his special day.
“The honest response is, clearly like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will’s birthday. So the debate now is whether we adjust Will’s birthday or we just let it be really sad,” Matt said.
“So Ross and I, and my memory’s not great, but we love Will, and I don’t want people to think we don’t love Will because we forgot — we do! But now we mentioned Dustin’s birthday this season, so we’re being very careful for people not to forget, in case the timelines…”
Courtesy of Netflix
Ross then added: “Here’s what I think. I think what we’re going to do is we’ll go and George Lucas it.”
And Matt explained: “We’re thinking his new birthday is going to be May 22nd, because “May” can fit in Winona’s mouth [in the season 2 scene in which Joyce reveals Will’s birthday]. So that would be us George Lucas-ing the situation.”
The pair didn’t reveal what else they’ve changed within past episodes of the series, though no doubt there’s some Stranger Things superfans out there who will be right on the case. The countdown is on for the next instalment…