In this golden era of television and technology, nothing threatens the success of a series like spoilers and leaks.
Since it was announced that last summer’s sleeper hit Stranger Things would return for a second season, fans have been sniffing around for something, anything, to give us a clue of what’s become of Hawkins, Indiana’s youngest motley crew. And each time we've come up cold.
Apparently, there’s a reason for this. Stranger Things producers consulted with the Game of Thrones team on how to keep spoilers under wraps. In an interview with ET, Stranger Things' executive producer and director Shawn Levy explained how they’ve kept so much about the upcoming season under lock and key.
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“Literally one of our producers consulted with the Game of Thrones producers to learn about their security protocols," Levy said. "Because suddenly we were just this little show by two twin brothers [The Duffer Brothers] and a film director and we're like, we think it's cool, but we don't know if anyone's going to watch it. And now we're this thing that the world is paying attention to, and so we definitely had to be a little more careful...with our creative secrets."
Considering how much attention the Netflix series and its stars have received, this is no easy feat. And considering that the Stranger Things team are major fans of the hit HBO series, it’s not hard to see why they approached the show for advice.
"If you're gonna look up to a big brother television show, Game of Thrones is a good one. Maybe there's a dragon in season 2, or maybe not," Levy joked, after being asked whether they’d borrowed one of Khaleesi's formidable offspring for their sophomore season. "Maybe we have things in season 2 that make the queen of dragons, mother of dragons, our creatures look quaint."
In April, another hit Netflix series, Orange Is the New Black, was the target of a major leak. Fortunately the series was able to get back on track: the fifth season was released today and it’s back to business as usual.