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As we eagerly anticipate Stranger Things' future, we've been doing quite the dive into its past. You'll recall Popverse's reporting on the DnD character David Harbour created to promote season 1, or the fact that Winona Ryder wouldn't agree to the show without a Beetlejuice clause in her contract. And thanks to a recently unearthed article from nearly a decade ago - we've got some more behind-the-scenes info to share with you: that is, that Stranger Things shares inspiration with the Duffer Brothers' self-proclaimed favorite movie, the Steven Spielberg titan of horror, Jaws.

Specifically, the two stories were inspired by the same place. That is, Montauk, New York; an ex-Air Force base that is both a coastal town (like Amity Island in Jaws) and the site of a host of conspiracy theories very similar to the kind we see in Stranger Things. And according to the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, it was the site they had in mind while crafting the show.

"We liked Montauk," Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, "because we liked the coastal setting, and Montauk was the basis for Amity, and Jaws is probably our favorite movie, so I thought that that would be really cool."

However, unlike the brothers' favorite movie, it was decided that the story they wanted to tell would be better placed in Middle America.

"It was really going to be impossible," Duffer continued, "To shoot in or around Long Island in the wintertime. It was just going to be miserable and expensive."

But even as the title of the show was changed to Stranger Things, and the original coastline story relocated to the now-beloved Hawkins, Indiana, the Duffer Brothers had Steven Spielberg's horror classic in mind for a while. 

"It takes a long time to make a change like that," Matt concludes, "For your brain to accept it, to accept a new title and to accept a new name for a town."

If it helps at all, Matt, we'll be keeping Bruce & Co in mind as we watch the next season of Stranger Things, now that we know where you were coming from. Hell, if you take the synth out of it and slow the Stranger Things theme down a bit, it kinda sounds like that classic "dun-dun" shark theme, doesn't it?

Stranger Things season 5 is expected fall of 2025.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"