Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer recently announced that the imminent second season of their supernatural drama will see Will and the gang make their way out of the tree-lined streets of Hawkins and into the big city. As they explained earlier this year, so many terrifying incidents can’t really be restricted to one town, and now it looks like they’ve realized their story can’t be told in four seasons. Co-executive producer Shawn Levy tells Entertainment Weekly that after the Duffer brothers suggested wrapping the series after a fourth season, there was a round of heartbreak and anxious phone calls from some of the actors’ agents. But, Levy says, “the truth is we’re definitely going four seasons and there’s very much the possibility of a fifth.” Just don’t expect a sixth season: “Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely.”
Astute readers will note that a fourth season hasn’t been ordered yet, but Netflix might just be withholding that renewal for the premiere of season two on October 27. A fifth season would put the boys in college, according to the Duffer brothers’ own timeline; dorm rooms seem just as a good a place as any to play an RPG, after all. Netflix, however, might not be so keen on the time lapse—the streaming platform reportedly wanted to shoot seasons three and four back to back, to avoid the post-pubescent awkwardness.