Stranger Danger

It’s the series that turned your summer upside down. So how will stranger things out do itself in season 2? Read on...

- Tim Stack

TRAVELING BACK IN TIME TO THE ’80S DOESN’T ALWAYS REQUIRE A DELOREAN and a flux capacitor. Inside an abandoned laundromat outside Atlanta, the production team behind Netflix’s retro phenom Stranger Things has transformed the wash-and dry facility into the Palace, an arcade straight out of the Reagan era. Vintage editions of Whac-A-Mole, Galaga, and Pac-Man and his missus all line the main game room, while Charleston Chews, Clark Bars, and hot dogs are the top menu items in the front snack bar. But the main action on the show’s season 2 set is centered on the classic medieval game Dragon’s Lair. Things’ core geek tween posse—Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Will (Noah Schnapp)— are hovering around the game, with Dustin being loudly coached on his knight skills.

Behind the monitors is Things’ real-life geek brain trust, Ross and Matt Duffer, the twin brothers who created the series inspired by their childhood love of ’80s pop culture. “Gaten, this is like going to war for you,” Matt Duffer jokingly directs the young actor about the videogame battle.

Slaying a dragon and winning the heart of the princess is easy compared with the expectations in front of the Things team. The series—which debuted last July on the streaming site—was the show to binge and talk about in 2016. “It’s really permeated the culture,” says David Harbour, who plays tortured town sheriff Hopper. “People love the characters so much, and they have such an emotional response.” A hodgepodge homage to ’80s classics like The Goonies, E.T., and It,