In this week’s new episode of “Remote Controlled,” a podcast from Variety, the creators of Netflix’s Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers, sat down for a lengthy chat about the series and the upcoming second season.
One of the things host Debra Birnbaum had to ask Matt and Ross Duffer about was Barb (Shannon Purser) and the lasting impact her death in season 1 has had over the Stranger Things fanbase. When asked if there would be any resolution to Barb’s story or justice for her character, the brothers offered a few shreds of hope. “There’s plenty of Barb talk to satisfy fans,” Ross said. But don’t get your hopes up too quickly Barb diehards, because Barb is still dead:
“There’s plenty of Barb talk to satisfy fans,” Ross said. But don’t get your hopes up too quickly Barb diehards, because the brotherly duo assured that Barb is still very much dead:
Ross: She is dead still.
Matt: There’s no Barb coming out of the grave.
Ross: No, there’s no resurrecting Barb, but there is plenty of Barb talk. We make clear that some people still care. Some people care about her.
Even after all this time, the brothers are still surprised by how much Barb’s legacy has lingered:
Ross: It really was surprising how much she took off.
Matt: That was the biggest shock.
Ross: We really love Shannon [Purser] and we love how she did Barb. We love Chris Sullivan as Benny too but no one cares about Benny. Poor Benny.
Matt: They care just, at least not to the degree of Barb.
Matt went on to share that they were somewhat prepared for the response to Barb, just not to the level at which fans responded:
Matt: We would get those notes from Netflix constantly, ‘What about Barb?’ ‘What about Barb?’
Ross: Before the show came out, there was this running joke in the writer’s room that we needed a separate web series of people talking about Barb.
The brothers also credited Purser and her performance with creating the buzz around the character:
Ross: But Shannon did such a good job. She only had 23 lines or something.
Matt: That’s why we didn’t anticipate it. Because her screen time is so limited.
Ross: But she did such a good job bringing her to life that people related to her… the outsider.
Stranger Things season 2 stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Noah Schnapp. The series has also added Sean Astin (The Goonies), Paul Reiser (Aliens), Brett Gelman (Jobs), Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers), Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, and Broadway star Sadie Sink into the mix as well.
Stranger Things season 2 hits Netflix this Halloween.
Source: Variety
