Today, Stranger Things is a global phenomenon. But back in 2016, its creators, the Duffer Brothers, were terrified. With little to no advertising and a story that blended genres, they had no idea if anyone would even watch it. Here’s the untold story of the show’s nerve-wracking launch and how it became a hit through pure word-of-mouth.
📺 The Sound of Silence
Weeks before the premiere, the cast and crew were getting nervous. There were no posters, no bus ads, nothing. “We were all freaked out because there was nothing,” Matt Duffer recalled in a 2017 interview. Netflix had warned them, saying, “We are not going to advertise this… That doesn’t mean we don’t care about your show”. The streaming giant was betting on a new model: that the show’s quality would create its own buzz. Actor David Harbour (Jim Hopper) even had a friend on a more popular show tell him, “They’re trying to bury your show”.
😂 Laughter and Chemistry on Set
While the creators were nervous, the set itself was filled with an infectious energy, thanks to the young cast. “The first episode, we could not stop laughing,” said Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas). He remembered it feeling like “there was laughing gas in the air”. Director Shawn Levy called this chemistry a “blessing and the curse,” admitting that if constant giggles were the price for the authentic reality the kids brought to the screen, it was worth it.
📈 The Snowball Effect
On July 15, 2016, all eight episodes dropped. With no opening weekend numbers to rely on, the team watched social media anxiously. “I just saw my Instagram followers going up,” Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) remembered. The gamble had paid off. “We just felt it permeate the culture really quickly,” said Shawn Levy. Netflix was right; the show didn’t need a massive ad campaign. It snowballed through word-of-mouth, becoming the cultural juggernaut we know today because fans simply couldn’t stop talking about it.
Bibliography:
Tanswell, Adam. “The SFX Archives: Stranger Things Season One.” SFX, issue 394, Future plc, August 2025, pp. 56-63.
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