This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things 4 episode 9.
Matt and Ross Duffer, the co-creators of Stranger Things, have launched a new production label — Upside Down Pictures — which will continue the partnership between the brothers and streaming giant Netflix.
There are several projects in the works already with Upside Down Pictures at the head. Fans of Stranger Things will be ecstatic to hear that a spin-off series is in the works. The spin-off is a completely original idea. Also set in the world of and using the mythology of the Stranger Things universe is a stage play, co-produced by Sonia Friedman, Stephen Daldry (The Crown), and Netflix.
But expanding the Stranger Things universe isn’t all that is planned for the Duffer Brothers’ new endeavor. Upside Down Pictures will take on another live-action adaptation of the highly renowned Japanese manga and anime series Death Note. Death Note was originally written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, and follows the story of an intelligent teenager who discovers a mysterious notebook that gives him the power over an ancient Shinigami — Ryuk — and therefore life and death. The story is dramatic, angsty, full of death and monsters and ultimately surrounds a teenager, which is certainly perfect for the Duffer Brothers.
If you caught Lucas reading Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman to Max in the Stranger Things 4 finale, you were probably waiting for some sort of connection, and now we have it! Upside Down Pictures will adapt the 1984 novel into a series alongside Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Pictures with Stranger Things co-EP and writer Curtis Gwinn creating the series. Another story of alternate dimensions of sorts for the Duffers, the novel explores many themes and genres — science fiction, horror, angst, drama, and much, much more.
In addition to the above projects Upside Down Pictures will hail an original series from creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance).
The focus for Upside Down Pictures projects is said to be on “stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism.” Hilary Leavitt (Shining Girls, Orphan Black, Ozark) will run the label.
Stay tuned with Nerds & Beyond for more updates on Upside Down Pictures’ projects as they come.
