Over a dozen networks passed on Stranger Things before Netflix said yes
When the creators of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer, began to come up with ideas for their mega-hit Netflix series, they were writing scripts for M. Night Shyamalan’s (now cancelled) show Wayward Pines. They had been fans of Shyamalan’s scary films for a long time, and seeing him channel his creativity into a TV show got them thinking it could work for them. “We were seeing TV becoming increasingly cinematic, with stuff like True Detective,” Ross Duffer told The Guardian. “And Game of Thrones opened up ‘genre TV’ and showed it doesn’t have to be cheesy.”
"So the idea was, could we take – what Spielberg did in the 80s was he took these kinds of B-movie ideas, like flying saucers or killer sharks, and he elevated it. In this new medium, can we go back and try and do a little of what he did, take something that’s been relegated to being cheesy, and can you do an elevated version of that?"
Matt agreed. “I don’t think anyone imagined, six years ago, that a show with dragons in it would be the biggest show in the world,” he said. “When I was reading the Game of Thrones books in college, I couldn’t get anyone else to read them cos they looked so nerdy. It had a puffy sword on the cover, you know what I mean?”
Nowadays, as Matt points, you don’t have to be a comic book fan to enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a fantasy fan to like Game of Thrones. But he remembers when it was different. “I always loved fantasy, or the fantastical. I loved the Lord of the Rings books, The Hobbit. And my parents, they still don’t understand it because they hate fantasy stuff. Neither of them are into it. So I don’t know where it comes from. We just loved scaring ourselves.”
But even though the genre revolution was well on its way by the time the Duffers were pitching Stranger Things to networks, getting executives to understand what they were going for was still an uphill battle. Talking to Rolling Stone in 2016, Matt estimated that between 15 to 20 networks passed on the show. “You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town,'” Matt remembers one executive telling him. “Then we lose everything interesting about the show…There was a week where we were like, ‘This isn’t going to work because people don’t get it.’”
It was different when they finally hooked up with Netflix, who put them in contact with producer Shaun Levy. “[W]ithin 10 minutes I knew that these were future major guys,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “They had a self-assurance that was self-evident. So, we pitched it to Netflix, and within 24 hours, we had the whole season bought. We decided that we would direct all of the episodes ourselves.”
RELATED PRODUCT
Oakland Athletics Game Of Thrones Ice Dragon Bobblehead
Buy Now!
Buy Now!
And the rest is history. And Stranger Things is far from the only hit show for networks to pass on. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and The Sopranos were all shopped around before finding a home. Hollywood must be full of executives kicking themselves all the time.
Stranger Things season 3 debuts in the summer of 2019.
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
h/t CNBC