Stranger Things

stranger things

Netflix has recently revealed that Stranger Things, Season 3 won’t be launching until the summer of 2019.  That’s right, the extremely popular series on Netflix is reportedly going to be delayed by several months from the “normal” time that it gets released.  And when I say normal time, I simply mean, that Netflix tends to launch the show around Halloween.  Well, maybe that’s not always the time that it gets released, but why is it taking so much longer?  Maybe it’s not.  There were 15 months between the first and the second season, and now 18 months between the second and the third.  While that is longer than 15, it’s not that much of a stretch though.

Why is it going to take longer?  Both the Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross), as well as the executive producer, Shawn Levy revealed that the stakes are high with this season and they want to provide bigger and better material than they did in the previous season.  The reason for this is because season two didn’t quite live up to season one, and Netflix wants to attract more people.  Netflix had actually renewed the series before the second season had aired.  Even though it didn’t’ do all that well, it is still one of Netflix’s biggest draws.

But maybe that’s not the only reason for the delayed release?  Netflix has also revealed that The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will be available on Netflix starting October 26.  I don’t necessarily think of this as a Halloween type show, it does indicate that Netflix does.  Which, is the same reason that I was equating Stranger Things and Halloween.  The series Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) in the title role and reimagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult, and witchcraft. We should point out that Netflix has already given the green light for season 2 of Sabrina.

Is that a good idea though?  They did the same thing with Season 3 of Stranger Things, and while I’m not saying that the show is bad, it just makes you wonder if Netflix jumps the gun a bit.  Sure, they can see the show before it’s launched, and I’m sure they test the show with focus groups, but should they be approving the shows in advance of the next season?  On one hand, they don’t want to delay the progression of the show, but on the other hand, they are taking a risk in green lighting another season of a show that might not be successful.

All of that said, Netflix might not be too worried about this considering that they have about 700 shows/movies that fall into the original content category lined up for 2018. That’s right, 700 pieces of original content for just one year.  This includes shows like Sabrina, Disenchantment, and Narcos: Mexico.  Unfortunately, even though they have so many great shows, Netflix hasn’t been able to attract many new viewers, as it might have liked.  Which means, they need to attract more people to the shows that they love, like Stranger Things, in order to keep their growth on track.