'Stranger Things' Season 4 Vol 2: Duffer brothers defend the finale being over 2 hours long
The whole ‘Stranger Things’ fan base was left stunned when the official runtime for Season 4 episodes was announced. It was the first time that every single episode of the Netflix sci-fi series had an average runtime of 75 minutes and included some of the most iconic moments in the show’s history. However, the Duffer brothers sent everybody into a frenzy when they revealed that the final episode of Season 4 will be over two hours long.
During volume one of Season 4, we saw Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) getting caught by Vecna and her friends helping her out in one of the most epic scenes. Elsewhere, Nancy, Steve, and Robin are in the Upside Down to neutralize the threat of Vecna. In the final moments of Volume 1, we get to know that Vecna was actually the first subject of Dr. Brenner and sent to the alternate dimension that exists in parallel to the human world. As soon as Season 4 aired on Netflix, fans came in support of the super-sized season and defended the makers for such long episodes.
Now that the finale is just around the corner, the Duffer brothers have come out to defend their decision of having the finale episode over 2 hours long. In a recent interview, co-creator Ross Duffer revealed that it was very difficult for them to delete things because they felt everything that they shot was “necessary”. He also noted that when they saw the finale, they couldn’t find a single spot where they felt that there was a need to break it.
“We looked at the final episode because it’s so long. There really wasn’t a good spot to break it. So, it’s like, why – at the end of the day, you know, if someone wants to pause it, they can,” Variety quoted Ross Duffer, as saying.
However, the Duffer brothers never anticipated that other episodes will turn out to be long as well. They only realized how long these episodes were when they sat at the editing table. But they knew that everything they filmed was important for the story and felt that the show’s multiple plotlines demanded the length. They added, “You look at one of the episodes, like, you couldn't cut it out 15 minutes early. Structurally we have this year — I think it was four major storylines. And they each have three or four beats per episode. So they're all building toward a specific point.”
Some fans might be skeptical about the duration of the finale, but the majority of fans are really happy that they will be seeing an episode that feels like a feature-length movie.
Volume One broke all the viewing records and become the most-watched English-language series of all time. It is also the second most-watched show in Netflix’s history.
The last two episodes of the Season will arrive on Netflix on Friday, July 1 and it is expected to receive a rousing reception just like the first volume. And while we wait for the show’s premiere, here’s a look at some must-read content:
'Stranger Things' Season 4 Vol 2: Will Victor Creel be back? Robert Englund teases one last return