Yesterday, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer offered some spoiler-laden hints about one of the show’s standout characters. Everyone’s favorite bespectacled best friend, Barb, didn’t last three episodes in the first season. Despite how little screen time she received, Barb was still one of the show’s most sympathetic and identifiable characters. Fans won’t keep quiet about Barb, and they shouldn’t.
The Duffer Brothers, if they didn’t know it before, definitely know it now. In an interview with IGN, Matt Duffer said that fans should not expect Barb to return, but that she “will not be forgotten.” This is good — contemporary sci-fi, fantasy, and horror shows resurrect dead characters way too often. Barb’s death was a ruthless, kill-your-darlings kind of moment for Stranger Things. It raised the stakes and set the expectation that the show isn’t messing around. I miss Barb, too, but I’m glad to see they’re not bringing her back for fan service.
In the (still technically unannounced) second season, Matt Duffer says the show’s creators will “make sure there’s some justice for Barb,” and that they’ll “explore the repercussions of everything that happened.” Everything, eh? According to IGN that also includes the diabolical Dr. Brenner (Matt Modine) who many of us assumed dead after his encounter with the Demogorgon.
Matt Duffer called Brenner’s supposed death “very unsatisfying.” I think most fans would agree. Brenner has so much potential. He has all this knowledge about the testing at the Energy Laboratory, and a deep relationship with Eleven that we’ve only seen in little bits and pieces. “Papa” Brenner needs to come back, even if Modine is out of the hazmat suit and under heavy prosthetics. I’m certain he didn’t escape the Demogorgon unscathed. “There’s a possibility of seeing him again,” said Duffer. That’s what we wanna hear!