The final episode of hit Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things aired on Dec 31, 2025, concluding a nearly ten-year run that began in 2016. But have you seen the Duffer Brothers’ original pitch to Netflix for the show? Here’s a look inside the show bible / pitch that closed the landmark nine-figure Netflix deal (and what it says about the finale).
What did the Stranger Things pitch deck say about the show & finale?
Set in in Hawkins, Indiana, Stranger Things blends 1980s nostalgia with supernatural phenomena, starring a group of kids (and adults) fighting monsters from an alternate dimension called the “Upside Down.” The show was created by twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the Duffer Brothers, who served as writers, directors, and executive producers for the Netflix series. Their original concept for the show was for an 8-hour sci-fi horror epic named Montauk.
Their original pitch deck was styled like a vintage paperback (complete with a fake ISBN and $3.50 price tag) based on an old copy of Stephen King’s Firestarter.
The Montauk pitch deck cleverly uses visual references as if they are part of the book, rather than featuring them as comparables. They described the show as “a love letter to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King,” aiming to combine investigative drama and supernatural horror. Set in 1980, the show would focuses on Camp Hero: an Air Force Base allegedly conducted experiments involving “alternate dimensions, time travel, telepathy, mutant monsters.”
The deck introduces the cast in sections: starting with The Kids and The Outsider (Eleven) followed by The Teenagers and The Adults They hoped to “target film actors” for adult leads (like Marisa Tomei for Joyce or Ewan McGregor for Hopper). Eleven was pitched as “our E.T.” — an orphan with telekinesis who “has little experience interacting with others and no memory of the outside world.” Experiencing real life for the first time would be “both terrifying… and thrilling.”
While fans speculated the finale could end in death for some or all major characters, the pitch suggests otherwise. The Duffer Brothers promised “complete arcs” and “no loose ends” (not a “Red Wedding” style massacre). However, they also included vision for franchise potential: a hypothetical sequel set “ten years later, in the summer of 1990.” The kids would return as young adults “with new lives, new problems” when horror re-emerges in Montauk.
If you enjoyed this, you can see the Duffer Brothers’ full 23-page original pitch for Stranger Things here.
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