Stranger Things creators, The Duffer Brothers, and Netflix are being sued for copyright infringement over the hit show.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, Irish Rover Entertainment alleges that Netflix and The Duffer Brothers stole the idea for Stranger Things from a script from an unproduced film known as Totem, written by Jeffrey Kennedy. The lawsuit alleges that the Netflix show copied “plot, sequence, characters, theme, dialogue, mood, and setting, as well as copyrighted concept art.” The link between the two projects is a man named Aaron Sims who allegedly worked closely with Jeffrey Kennedy during the writing of Totem and was later hired to do concept art for Stranger Things and cited various examples of similarities between the two.
A representative of Netflix outright denies the claim and says that Jeffery Kennedy had been trying to get some kind of pay off from the company for years and that the Duffer Brothers came up with Stranger Things on their own:
“Mr. Kennedy has been peddling these far-fetched conspiracy theories for years, even though Netflix has repeatedly explained to him that The Duffer Brothers had never heard of him or his unpublished script until he began threatening to sue them. After we refused to give in to his demands for a payoff, he filed this baseless lawsuit. There is no shortage of people who would like to claim credit for creating ‘Stranger Things.’ But the truth is the show was independently conceived by The Duffer Brothers, and is the result of their creativity and hard work.”
What do you all make of this lawsuit? Could the Duffer Brothers have taken their ideas from Stranger Things from this script? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Here is the official synopsis for the third season of Stranger Things:
“It’s 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana, and summer’s heating up. School’s out, there’s a brand new mall in town, and the Hawkins crew are on the cusp of adulthood. Romance blossoms and complicates the group’s dynamic, and they’ll have to figure out how to grow up without growing apart. Meanwhile, danger looms. When the town’s threatened by enemies old and new, Eleven and her friends are reminded that evil never ends; it evolves. Now they’ll have to band together to survive, and remember that friendship is always stronger than fear.”
Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, and Cara Buono.
Stranger Things 3 is now available on Netflix. Stay tuned for all the latest news on Stranger Things and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more video content!
Source: The Wrap