In Hollywood’s competitive dealmaking world, unexpected moves happen — like Matt and Ross Duffer leaving Netflix for a big new overall deal at Paramount.
The Duffer Brothers, who created the Netflix hit “Stranger Things,” are close to signing a deal to make films and TV shows — focusing on big-budget movies — at the historic studio now owned by David Ellison’s Skydance. This move would reunite them with Cindy Holland, Paramount’s new head of streaming, who originally approved “Stranger Things” at Netflix.
Read More: Duffer Brothers Confirm No Spin-Offs: Stranger Things Characters Won’t Return After Season 5!
They would also work with Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, who oversee both film and TV projects. The Duffers’ representatives had no comment, and a Paramount spokesperson didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Duffers still have major projects with Netflix through their company, Upside Down Pictures (named after the alternate dimension in “Stranger Things”), run with producer Hilary Leavitt. They’ve finished production on two new series coming to Netflix in 2026: the adventure show “The Boroughs” starring Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, and Alfred Molina; and the relationship-horror series “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen” with Jennifer Jason Leigh.
A preview of the animated prequel “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” was shown at the 2025 Annecy Festival in June. After the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” premieres in November, the brothers are expected to start work on an unannounced live-action spin-off series.
Before “Stranger Things” made them famous, the Duffers’ careers almost ended early when Warner Bros. shelved their first movie, the post-apocalyptic thriller “Hidden,” for years, eventually releasing it quietly on VOD. M. Night Shyamalan liked their script so much that he hired them as writers for his 2015 Fox series “Wayward Pines.”
Their pilot script for what became “Stranger Things” was rejected by nearly every network until Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps joined and sold it to Netflix. The first season, with the Duffers directing six of the eight episodes, became an instant hit when it debuted in July 2016 — Netflix’s first major original success without a famous creator or known subject. The fourth season became Netflix’s most-watched English-language series ever when it was released in 2022.
Source: Variety