Stranger Things showrunner Matt Duffer has responded to cast member Millie Bobby Brown’s criticism about the show’s latest season.
During an interview on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, Matt – who co-created Stranger Things with his brother Ross – was asked about Millie’s remarks about the show’s reluctance to kill off characters.
“The cast is way too big,” the Emmy nominee previously told TheWrap. “Last night, we couldn’t even take one group picture because there was like 50 of us. I was like, ‘You need to start killing people off’.”
She added: “The Duffer brothers are two sensitive Sallies that don’t want to kill anyone off. We need to be Game Of Thrones.
“We need to have the mindset of Game Of Thrones… they tried killing David [Harbour] off and they brought him back. It’s ridiculous.”
Revealing he’d “heard” Millie’s comments, Matt responded: “She said we were ‘sensitivie Sallies’. She’s hilarious. Believe us, we’ve explored all options in the writing room.”
On their avoidance of storylines that are too “depressing”, he continued: “We aren’t Game Of Thrones. This is Hawkins, it’s not Westeros. The show [would become] not Stranger Things anymore, because you do have to treat it realistically, right?
“So even when Barb dies, there’s two seasons worth of grappling with that, so imagine - is that something we’re interested in exploring or not interested in exploring?”
However, with one season left of the hit sci-fi drama, Matt insisted that major deaths could still be “on the table” in the future.
“This is me basically defending myself against these Millie Bobby Brown accusations,” he joked. “It’s nothing to do with my sensitivity. So there you go Millie.”
The fourth season of Stranger Things is now streaming in full on Netflix.
After their release on the streaming platform, the new episodes have received huge critical acclaim and helped spark a return to the charts for Kate Bush.