The Harry Potter franchise has set a precedence for many other forms of media, and Stranger Things is definitely one of them.
Stranger Things was released just a month ago today, but everyone is already looking toward season 2 to see what comes next — and that includes the show’s creators!
EW is reporting that the Duffer Bros., Stranger Things’ brilliant creators, have turned to the Harry Potter franchise as an example of how they want to structure their show.
As you all know, the Harry Potter movies followed the students as they made their way through the school year, ending just after the final days of class. Each movie would subsequently pick back up at the start of Hogwarts, leaving the events of the summer to be rehashed once our heroes were together again.
It is because of this structure that we got to see the cast of Harry Potter grow up before our eyes. Little Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint’s awkward growth through puberty and beautiful blossoming into adulthood have been caught on camera to be relived again and again — for better or for worse.
And this is what the creators of Stranger Things want to emulate. They want to see their cast of kids age on screen, too.
“I love watching kids growing up on camera,” Matt Duffer tells EW. “So the idea seeing where these kids and these characters are one year later is cool to me. And it allows us to explore the mythology of our nether.”
The story behind Stranger Things season 2 is still vastly unknown (and hasn’t officially announced yet), but it does look like we’re getting a one-year time jump before we see all our favorite characters again.