Stranger Things was initially rejected by 15 to 20 networks before it was picked up by Netflix, according to a Rolling Stone interview with Matt Duffer, one of the show’s creators. Most people had balked at the idea of a sci-fi TV show following a group of kids whose target audience was not children. One exec told the Duffer Brothers that they either had to make it into a kids show or center it around “this Hopper [detective] character” played by David Harbour. The Duffers responded to this criticism by saying that doing so would cause them to lose everything interesting about the show.
“This [show] isn’t going to work because people don’t get it,” Matt Duffer said when asked what the brothers had been thinking that week before they were connected with Netflix.
This concept of “not getting it” is a general theme in Stranger Things. The show focuses on a wide range of characters; the only thing they have in common is that each of them is somehow an “outcast” as stereotyped by society.
The show opens with four young boys, Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, playing their favorite game, Dungeons and Dragons. DnD is typically seen as a kind of “nerdy” interest, and this assumption is further depicted in the show when the boys are bullied at school—Lucas because he’s Black, Dustin because of his cleidocranial dysplasia, Will because he’s assumed to be gay, and Mike because he’s friends with them.
Lots of shows and media portray outcasts as main characters, but Stranger Things depicts the things that make these characters “outcasts” as the least interesting things about them, the least “strange” things in this show full of monsters and alternate dimensions.
The plot of Stranger Things could entirely be achieved with a cast of characters who are not societal outcasts, and yet it wouldn’t be the same show without them.
Sci-fi, as a genre, isn’t viewed as anything monumental to cultural change—no one is looking to the demogorgons and children with supernatural abilities to fight racism, homophobia, misogyny, and discrimination based on disabilities and other “outcast” stereotypes. People watch and consume science fiction media for fun, not to confront social injustice.
Stranger Things draws a wide scope of audiences due to its range of themes: science fiction, horror, comedy, coming of age, and family. While the main cohort of viewers are between 18 and 29 years old, there is significant viewership from Gen Z/teen audiences as well as older audiences (Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers) who are drawn to the 1980s nostalgia of the show.
Stranger Things differs from other shows that specifically depict marginalized characters—such as Heartstopper and Atypical—because their plots are entirely centered on the fact that the characters are “outcasts”. This is not a bad thing—these shows are important in highlighting the experiences of people who are not always given a voice—but they don’t draw the broad audiences that Stranger Things does for this same reason.
According to NBC, season three of Stranger Things gained a record of 26.4 million US viewers the July 4th weekend it was released. In this season, Robin Buckley (played by Maya Hawke) is introduced to the show. Robin works at an ice cream shop in the new Starcourt Mall with Steve Harrington (played by Joe Keery), a fan favorite character, and is initially assumed to be his love interest. The show writers were not afraid to let audiences believe that for the majority of the season, only revealing that Robin is a lesbian after Steve confesses his crush on her. This is obviously a much bigger deal at the time period the show takes place, because it was much more socially stigmatized to be queer in the 80s than it is now; but it is still monumental as an emotional coming-out scene in mainstream media depicting an accepting and heartwarming reaction from Steve, who is initially represented as a careless jock, instead of a homophobic one.
This is a stark difference compared to the multitude of shows and media that have been accused of “queer-baiting” (implying queer subtext in a piece of media that stays ambiguous or is replaced by a heterosexual relationship.) Stranger Things had no qualms with doing the exact opposite—effectively “straight-baiting”—by making audiences root for a heterosexual relationship and then revealing that one of the characters is gay. This scene is arguably one of the most widespread coming-out scenes in all of television history, due to Stranger Things’ viewership.
Stranger Things season 5 is being released in two parts, the first over Thanksgiving break and the second over Christmas break. This season is predicted to have the highest viewership yet; the series picked up 404.10 million viewing hours in the first half 2025 in preparation for the new season.
Amidst the current political climate of the US and the recent near-revisiting of Obergefell v. Hodges by the Supreme Court, queer rights are a hot topic right now, and Stranger Things season 5 has the unique ability to affect the opinions of people inside and outside of the US on this topic.
Arguably the most popular and most controversial ship from Stranger Things, “Byler,” emerged from the show’s narrative of queer subtext between the two characters Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. Regardless of whether or not you subscribe to the evidence that defends the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two characters, the existence of their relationship in season 5 could have a monumental effect on the acceptance of queer people in society. The relationship between two characters that Stranger Things’ wide range of viewers are conditioned to root for would challenge the culturally homophobic beliefs that are still prevalent in our society today.
It would mean the existence of gay characters in a mainstream show that isn’t about being queer, proving that queer people can exist without their sexuality being their only defining feature. This could easily shift public opinion, if only slightly, because pop culture media can be incredibly influential in politics and social issues.
Stranger Things isn’t viewed as that socially monumental of a show, because it’s simply about kids fighting monsters. Simultaneously, this is the exact reason why it is so impactful, because the fact that all of the characters are outcasts has absolutely nothing to do with them saving the world.
