Stranger Things season 1: release date, number of episodes and full file
Season 1 · File · Release, episodes, runtimes
Season 1 dropped in one go on Friday, July 15, 2016, with eight episodes of about fifty minutes, without a massive ad campaign. In a few weeks, it became the series of the summer. Here is its full recap sheet.
The essentials
- Release date: July 15, 2016
- Episodes: 8, from 42 to 55 minutes
- Total runtime: about 6 hours 40 min
- Filming: November 2015 to March 2016, in Georgia
Contents
A quiet release, an immediate hit
On July 15, 2016, the platform puts the eight episodes online, with a trailer and little promotion. Word of mouth does the rest: in a month, the show is the subject of the summer, and season 2 is ordered at the end of August. The title, the title sequence font and the Demogorgon enter popular culture in a few weeks.
The season received eighteen Emmy Award nominations, including outstanding drama series, and won those for casting and the title sequence.
The 1983 T-shirt, for the first season.
In the shopHawkins Strange School 1983 crop top34,90 €See the product
The eight episodes
| No. | English title | Original title | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Vanishing of Will Byers | The Vanishing of Will Byers | 48 min |
| 2 | The Weirdo on Maple Street | The Weirdo on Maple Street | 55 min |
| 3 | Holly, Jolly | Holly, Jolly | 51 min |
| 4 | The Body | The Body | 50 min |
| 5 | The Flea and the Acrobat | The Flea and the Acrobat | 52 min |
| 6 | The Monster | The Monster | 46 min |
| 7 | The Bathtub | The Bathtub | 42 min |
| 8 | the Upside Down | The Upside Down | 55 min |
Each episode carries the subtitle “Chapter One,” “Chapter Two”… like the chapters of a novel, a convention kept through season 5.
Making of
| Post | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creators | Matt and Ross Duffer |
| Directors | The Duffers, Shawn Levy, Rebecca Thomas |
| Music | Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein |
| Casting | Carmen Cuba |
| Filming | Atlanta and its region, November 2015 - March 2016 |
| Estimated budget | about 6 million dollars per episode |
The working titleDuring development, the show was called Montauk, after the Long Island town where the story was supposed to take place, before the move to Georgia and the invention of Hawkins.
Where and how to watch it
Season 1 is watched in one sitting, in one long evening or two short ones: that is how it was designed, with episode endings that call for the next. The French version was dubbed at release; the original with subtitles is the one most fans prefer, for the children's voices. The show does not exist on DVD in France, which is the subject of another article.
Audience and awards
The streamer was not yet publishing its numbers in 2016; independent firms estimated Season 1 at more than 14 million American viewers in thirty-five days, a record for a new streaming show. At the 2017 Emmy Awards, it wins the awards for casting, main title design, and stunt coordination, and Millie Bobby Brown is nominated for outstanding supporting actress.
At the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the cast receives the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series, with David Harbour's now-famous speech.
Markers
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| April 2015 | The project is bought |
| November 2015 | Start of filming |
| July 15, 2016 | Release of the eight episodes |
| August 31, 2016 | Season 2 ordered |
| January 2017 | Outstanding ensemble prize at the SAG Awards |
| September 2017 | Emmy Awards: three awards |
The figure of your 2016 character.
In the shopLego gray Demogorgon mini figure14,90 €See the product
The season fact sheet
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Announcement | Early April 2015, for a release planned in 2016 |
| Start of filming | September 25, 2015, in Atlanta and around it |
| End of filming | Early 2016 |
| Release | July 15, 2016, all 8 episodes the same day |
| Directors | The Duffer Brothers (6 episodes), Shawn Levy (2) |
| Camera | Red Dragon, digital image |
| Studio | Screen Gems Studios, Atlanta |
| Soundtrack | Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, 2 volumes, August 2016 |
The town of Jackson, Georgia, served as the model for Hawkins. The lab was shot in a former state psychiatric institute, the quarry at Bellwood Quarry, and the middle school in a Stockbridge high school. The Duffers, who grew up in North Carolina, found in those landscapes those of their childhood.
The reception numbers
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season shows 97 % favorable reviews on 92 critics, with an average score of 8,2 out of 10; the site's consensus praises "an addictive homage to Spielberg films and 80s television." Metacritic gives it 76 out of 100. A research firm, Symphony Advanced Media, estimated that the season had gathered about 14 million adults aged 18 to 49 in the United States in its first 35 days, a huge figure for a show with no star and no massive promotion.
On the awards side, the season was nominated at the Emmys in the outstanding drama series category, with nominations for David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown; it won technical Emmys, including casting and the title sequence. The cast received in January 2017 the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.
Why eight episodes, and not twenty-two
The format is a Duffer choice, made possible by the platform. A 22-episode season, the American-network standard, would according to them have kept them from “telling a movie story”: with that many episodes, they would have had to, as soon as the monster appeared, stick to a horror film and sacrifice the characters. Eight episodes left time to build the group, Joyce, Hopper, before unleashing the Demogorgon.
That format became the show's norm: eight episodes in seasons 1, 3, and 5, nine in seasons 2 and 4. What changed is the length of each chapter, from 42 to 55 minutes in 2016 to more than two hours for the last one of 2025.
Before Hawkins: the “Montauk” project
The show was sold under the title “Montauk,” from the Long Island town associated with legends of government experiments. The story was supposed to be set there, by the sea. But the shoot was scheduled for November, too cold for Long Island, and production looked for locations around Atlanta. The move gave birth to Hawkins, a fictional Indiana town, and to the final title.
The pilot, accompanied by a twenty-page dossier, had been turned down by many cable networks that did not believe in a show carried by children. It was Dan Cohen, of Shawn Levy's company, who had his boss read the script in early 2015; the rights were bought, and the platform ordered the whole season on a read of the pilot.
The Season 1 poster.
In the shopOversized Hawkins Strange School 1983 sweatshirt59,90 €See the product
TakeawayReleased July 15, 2016, eight episodes at once. About 6 hours 40 min of show, shot in Georgia in late 2015. Eighteen Emmy nominations, three awards. Season 2 ordered six weeks after release.
Frequently asked questions
When did season 1 come out?
On July 15, 2016, the eight episodes all at once.
How many episodes does Season 1 have?
Eight, from 42 to 55 minutes, about 6:40 in all.
What is the first episode?
"The Vanishing of Will Byers" (The Vanishing of Will Byers), 48 minutes.
Did Season 1 win awards?
Yes: three Emmy Awards (casting, title sequence, stunts) and the outstanding ensemble prize at the 2017 SAG Awards.
How many viewers did season 1 get?
The platform did not publish numbers at the time. An outside estimate, by Symphony Advanced Media, gave about 14 million adults 18 to 49 in the United States in the first 35 days.
Why was the show called "Montauk"?
Because the story was supposed to be set in Montauk, on Long Island, a place of legends of secret experiments. November cold moved the shoot to Georgia, and Montauk became Hawkins.