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Stranger Things crew will be returning to Hawkins sooner than expected, as executive producer Shawn Levy recently confirmed that production of season 3 will begin as soon as April 23rd - this coming Monday.
Collider recently interviewed the producer and director, who shared that the team has completed the table read of the season, which included the first four scripts – as the Duffers prefer to write the rest of the episodes as the season is shot. Levy explained:
It is the same number of scripts as last year. The rest of them kind of get written as we shoot, as we edit, as we go. I’m once again directing the third and fourth episodes so that I can give the Duffers a breather, and send them back into the writing cave, so that they can buff out the rest of the season. That’s why I took on these episodes in Season One, and now the three of us are just a little too superstitious to mess with what’s worked so far. The prep beyond that, it’s really a similar juggling act where the Duffers, because they always understandably want to direct the kick-off episodes, they have to juggle their limited time between writing and re-writing and prepping as directors, all at the same time.
As Levy stated; he'll be returning to direct episodes three and four, as he has done with the previous seasons - but Pixar legend Andrew Stanton (known for WALL-E, Finding Nemo, and plenty of other animated classics), who directed multiple episodes of the previous season, will not be returning due to unfortunate scheduling issues.
No, you know what? We had some schedule issues trying to figure out how to bring Andrew back, because we were beyond thrilled with him as a human being and his episodes. So the only answer I can give you today is it’s not Stanton, though we very much hope to keep him in the director club of Stranger Things as we move on to other seasons.
Looking further into the future, Levy reaffirms that Season 4 will “definitely [be] happening” - along with the potential for more after that.
I mean I will say we have a good sense of stuff that happens in Season Four. Season Four is definitely happening.
There’s very much the possibility of a season beyond that one, that’s currently undecided. And what I would just say is part of the chaos and fun of this particular show is that while the Duffers and the writer’s room and we producers outline the entire season, the Duffers really use the writing process to revisit, reassess and question all of their prior assumption. So even though we always start off with a good sense of the major arcs of the season. We’re always ready for shifts and surprises because if the Duffers stumble into a different or surprising inspiration while they rewrite the script, we’re going to follow that inspiration and throw out some ideas in order to embrace some new ones that are more exciting. And I have no doubt that Season 3 will be no exception.
Season 3 will see the return of Hopper, Eleven, and the rest of the gang, but also introduce some new faces. Cary Elwes was recently revealed to be playing the “sleazy” mayor of Hawkins and Jake Busey will be a local reporter with questionable morals. Priah Ferguson, who played Lucas’ little sister Erica, is now considered to be a series regular and Maya Thurman-Hawke has also joined the cast as an "alternative girl." For more on that, click here.
That’s all we currently know about the third season, but with production beginning in a few days, expect some more intriguing updates in the coming weeks.
Are you excited for Stranger Things Season 3? What do you think about the producer's comments?