Stranger Things fans have been left in confusion, as reports made their way across the web that Netflix and the makers of the sci-fi horror drama, the Duffer Brothers, have been going back to retroactivly edit the show.
The speculation appears to have begun from a TikTok account (opens in new tab) that scenes of Jonathan Byers spying on Nancy Wheeler in the first season of Stranger Things have now been deleted or changed. This claim was then found to be false with the scenes still on Netflix and the official Stranger Things writer's account (via Twitter (opens in new tab)) stating that nothing has been taken out.
So why did this take off and why did Stranger Things fans believe Netflix was editing scenes? It was spurned on by comments from the Duffer Brothers in June where Matt Duffer told Variety (opens in new tab) that they would be up for "George Lucas-ing" parts of the show. Star Wars creator George Lucas infamously edited the original trilogy over the years, changing up the CGI and changing up how scenes play out – most notably, when Han Solo shoots Greedo.
Additionally, Duffer said: "We have George Lucas’d things also that people don’t know about." This has only further fuelled the speculation. T3 has reached out to Netflix for comment.
The biggest change under consideration was the altering of Will Byer's Birthday, a contingency error that came to light in Stranger Things 4 where everybody (including the writers) seemingly forgot the date. To fix this, Ross Duffer explained that the aim is to switch out the month to May, as this would fit in Winona Ryder's mouth when she speaks. It's unclear at this time whether this change has come into effect.
"PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be," wrote the Stranger Things writer's account.
PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be. pic.twitter.com/H0j8JwidLsJuly 26, 2022
Stranger Things 4 left on a major cliffhanger with fans no doubt dying to see the finale of what will happen to Hawkins and how the loveable group of characters will save the day... if they do at all. We previously wrote about our love of the show and how Stranger Things 4 goes Resident Evil and turns the horror up to Eleven.
Another report making the rounds is that Netflix might be set to lose some of its most popular shows in the US with Breaking Bad being, arguably, the biggest casualty of the lot.