Stranger Things Wasn't Netflix's Luck: It Was 20 Different Networks' Dumbest Mistake
Good thing the Duffer Brothers didn't give up on their future hit.
Stranger Things is definitely Netflix 's pride and joy with billions of hours viewed and the title of the platform's most watched English-language show in its first 28 days of streaming.
But what if we told you that this success could belong to any of the dozens of networks the Duffers pitched their show to before eventually turning to Netflix?
Because yes, it turns out that Matt and Ross Duffer tried their luck with 15 to 20 networks, as the brothers revealed to Rolling Stone back in 2016.
The studios were not fond of the idea of a sci-fi show starring kids that was not actually aimed at kids.
It's true, you might want to keep your kid away from the small screen when Stranger Things is on, as the show relies heavily on its horror element despite also being a nostalgic nod to the 80s filled with humor, friendship, and romance.
″'You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town,'" the brothers recall one executive telling them.
Matt, however, felt that following that advice would "lose everything interesting about the show."
Well, turns out he wasn't wrong.
Stranger Things is currently heading into its fifth and most likely final season. Still, the franchise isn't going anywhere, with spinoffs and prequels already in the works.
Netflix has ordered an animated spinoff that we don't know much about yet; and one of the franchise's most beloved characters, Eddie Munson, will receive his own prequel story in the upcoming novel Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus.
What can we say? Even though we don't know which networks rejected the Duffers' Stranger Things pitch, we feel sorry for them.