Why Stranger Things' Creators Decided Not To Introduce New Monsters In Season 5

"Stranger Things" has given us an array of terrifying monsters across four seasons. For the fifth and final season, however, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer packed the episodes with so much material that they felt focusing on new creatures would have been a step too far. Rather than trying to top themselves by cramming the fifth and final season with entirely new demonic abominations, they decided instead to focus on the creatures that have already been established in the world of the show. 

The kids of "Stranger Things" have got to be some of the most formidable heroes in modern pop culture. These youngsters (who, technically, aren't that young any more) have faced off against some of the most terrifying, hellish beasts imaginable over the course of five seasons, battling Demogorgons, Demodogs, and the Lovecraftian Mind Flayer and living to tell the tale. Of course, not everyone has made it through these battles alive. There have been some absolutely brutal moments in "Stranger Things," many of which have resulted in multiple tragic deaths from which we're all still recovering. But on the whole, the core "Stranger Things" cast has remained intact despite facing down some truly nightmarish antagonists.

The obvious thing to do, then, is to ratchet everything up to 10 for the final season and introduce a host of new nasties to terrorize the characters still standing. But with season 5, which has added several new cast members (including '80s icon Linda Hamilton as a new villain), the Duffers already had so much to do that they decided to keep things focused on Jamie Campbell Bower's big bad Vecna rather than risk overstuffing the new episodes.

The fifth and final season of "Stranger Things" is set to be nothing short of a cultural event. The Duffer Brothers are dropping what will no doubt be the wildest run of episodes in the show's history, in which the series' overarching villain, Vecna, will be more powerful and deadlier than ever. That should provide more than enough of a challenge for the kids of Hawkins, Indiana and, as such, there's really no need to start adding more Upside Down monsters for the new season ... though the brothers did consider it.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Duffer was asked whether there'd be any fresh monsters for season 5. "No, I don't think [so]. We talked about it, but a lot of this season is about returning to the prior seasons, and we didn't want to overstuff it with new creatures," he explained. "So, as we worked on the season, we thought, 'Let's just have fun with what we've previously established.'" According to Ross Duffer, the new episodes are following the example of a sci-fi classic. "It's more like taking what we've done and then amping it up, like what [James] Cameron did from 'Alien' to 'Aliens.'" he remarked. "That's how we see this season."

Cameron's 1986 sci-fi actioner was a major tonal shift from Ridley Scott's original "Alien" in 1979, ratcheting up the action and pitting Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley against the Xenomorph queen and her hive of underlings rather than the singular Xenomorph of Scott's movie. With season 5 of "Stranger Things," then, it seems we can expect Vecna to unleash the full force of the Upside Down and its various eldritch brutes on Hawkins.

"Stranger Things" is streaming on Netflix.