{"id":34289,"date":"2026-01-03T00:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34289"},"modified":"2026-01-03T00:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:04:20","slug":"duffer-brothers-address-stranger-things-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34289","title":{"rendered":"Duffer brothers address \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Matt and Ross Duffer, creators of Stranger Things, addressed the backlash following the penultimate episode of the series, which dropped on Netflix on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n<p>The episode, titled \u201cThe Bridge,\u201d features Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, coming out as gay to his friends before confronting Vecna.<\/p>\n<p>The scene sparked online review bombing, with the season\u2019s Rotten Tomatoes score dropping to 56%, the lowest in the series\u2019 history. Episode seven received a score of 5.6 out of 10 from 96,000 reviews, compared with previous seasons, which scored between 86% and 96%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coming out scene is something we\u2019ve been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah \u2014 not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view,\u201d Ross Duffer told Variety on January 1.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the show has always centred on characters overcoming evil, with Vecna representing \u201call the dark thoughts and the evil of society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matt Duffer explained, \u201cVolume 1 is really about self-acceptance. Will is talking to Robin \u2014 it\u2019s something that he wants to do. He finds the courage to be able to do it. And it\u2019s really the ultimate f\u2014 you to Vecna. That was the intention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the criticism, the Duffer Brothers expressed pride in the episode and in Schnapp\u2019s performance. Ross said, \u201cWe\u2019re proud of the episode, and we\u2019re proud of Noah, who gave a really brave, very vulnerable performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The brothers emphasised their focus on supporting Schnapp, ensuring the scene resonated with him personally. Matt noted, \u201cWe were definitely nervous about how it\u2019s going to go over with everyone. But not as nervous as we were handing it over to Noah. It really worked and resonated for him, which was great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Duffer Brothers remain committed to their vision, acknowledging the mixed reception while highlighting the scene\u2019s significance in Will\u2019s story arc.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matt and Ross Duffer, creators of Stranger Things, addressed the backlash following the penultimate episode of the series, which dropped on Netflix on Christmas Day. The episode, titled \u201cThe Bridge,\u201d features Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, coming out as gay to his friends before confronting Vecna. The scene sparked online review bombing, with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}