Darker Things? The show’s producers Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer have revealed their vision for the second season at the TCAs. Photograph: Netflix

Thursday 28 July 2016 11.45 EDT
Last modified on Thursday 11 August 2016 05.21 EDT

Stranger Things, the 80s nostalgia-filled series starring Winona Ryder, hasn’t been picked up for a second season yet by Netflix, its creators the Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross) spoke about possible directions for the show at the Television Critics Association (TCAs) in Los Angeles.

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“We thought about a lot of it,” Matt Duffer said on Tuesday, speaking during the Netflix panel at the TCA summer tour, according to the Los Angeles Times. During the discussion, Matt referred to the potential season as a “sequel” – should it be green-lit.

Set in 1983, the supernatural series, which debuted to strong reviews, centers on a group of kids trying to uncover the mystery behind the unexplainable disappearance of one of their friends, Will.

Ryder, in her most high-profile role in years, plays the missing child’s mother, who becomes convinced her son’s still alive when strange things begin occurring around her home.

“We kind of hint about where we might go at the end of the season,” Matt said. “Will was living in this upside-down other dimension for about a week. The repercussions of that can’t be good. And the inter-dimensional rift – at least how we left it – is still very much open. So that also can’t be good. So it’s exploring that.”

The brothers stressed that while they want to retain the fun retro tone of the first season, it will be markedly different and darker.

“It’s not about just another monster comes and it’s a bigger, badder monster,” said Matt. “We want it to feel a little bit different, maybe a little bit darker, but still have the sense of fun.”

Matt also teased that the second season, which the pair confirmed hasn’t been written yet, would ramp up the action slowly. In the first episode, Will is abducted before the show’s opening credits even roll but the Duffers envision a second outing where “Joyce isn’t at an 11 from the beginning.”

One of the things the duo said they’d like to keep consistent, however, is the length of each season. Stranger Things only consisted of eight installments that ran between 45 to 55 minutes and they added the second season would be eight episodes long if it’s green-lit.