<P> The series was originally known as Montauk, as the setting of the script was in Montauk, New York and nearby Long Island locations . The brothers had chosen Montauk as it had further Spielberg ties with the film Jaws, where Montauk was used for the fictional setting of Amity Island . After deciding to change the narrative of the series to take place in the fictional town of Hawkins instead, the brothers felt they could now do things to the town, such as placing it under quarantine, that they really could not envision with a real location . With the change in location, they had to come up with a new title for the series under direction from Netflix's Ted Sarandos so that they could start marketing it to the public . The brothers started by using a copy of Stephen King's Firestarter novel to consider the title's font and appearance, and came up with a long list of potential alternatives . Stranger Things came about as it sounded similar to another King novel, Needful Things, though Matt noted they still had a "lot of heated arguments" over this final title . </P> <P> To pitch the series, the Duffer Brothers showcased images, footage and music from 1980s films such as E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poltergeist, Hellraiser, Stand by Me, Firestarter, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Jaws, in order to establish the tone of the series . </P> <P> With the critical success of the first season after its release in July 2016, speculation on a possible second season was raised . The Duffer Brothers initially intended for Stranger Things to either be a standalone miniseries or an anthology series . They also considered the possibility of setting a potential second season (which they referred to as a "sequel") in the early 1990s and featuring an older version of the characters, along with all new characters, who are drawn back to Hawkins after supernatural events begin occurring again . However, following the release of the first season, they realized that the likability of the characters--especially the children--was key to the series' success, and they decided to set the second season in 1984 and focus on the same characters . By the end of July, the Duffer Brothers had outlined a plan for such a season if it was green - lit, and Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings said in early August that the company "would be dumb not to" renew Stranger Things for a second season . On August 31, 2016, Netflix announced it had renewed Stranger Things for a second season of nine episodes, to be released in 2017 . The Duffer Brothers revealed that the series had been renewed for a second season before the first premiered . Regarding the decision to wait more than a month after the first season premiered to announce the renewal, Matt Duffer said, "it actually ended up working because it had built up to this fever pitch . I guess that's what (Netflix) were intending to do all the time ." </P> <P> The Duffer Brothers wrote the second season to make the combined first and second season feel like a complete work, but setting elements in place to go forward with additional seasons if they are green - lit . While most of the story for the second season had been decided before the first season aired, the Duffer Brothers took in the audience reactions from the first season to adjust some of the details within the second season . They knew they would not have the same element of audience surprise as when the show aired anew, and were aware fans wanted to see certain elements, but Ross said "...the point is not to give everyone what they think they want . Because I don't think they really know what they want ." The Duffer Brothers felt that the second season should be treated more as a sequel rather than a continuation, and thus have opted to call the second Stranger Things 2 . This approach had some trepidation from Netflix, since the company felt movie sequels typically have a bad reputation, but the Duffer Brothers pointed out that there had been many successful sequels that surpassed the original film, and felt confident with this name . Despite revealing episode titles for the season in the announcement teaser in order "to provide some hint of where we were going in season two without giving anything away," Matt Duffer stated that some of the titles would change, since there were some things "we didn't want to put on there because we felt like it would give too much away," and because "people are smart on the fucking internet" with fan - created "videos analyzing the chapter titles...right on a lot" of how the titles related to the plot of the season . In early October 2017, the Duffer Brothers revealed the final titles for the first six episodes of the season . </P>

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