You know your genre property has reached maximum pop culture penetration once it gets its own expanded universe of spin-off books, and for Stranger Things, that time has come. Announced via Deadline, publisher Penguin Random House is partnering up with Netflix on a worldwide publishing deal for a series of books based on the Duffer Brothers‘ insanely popular science fiction show.
The first two books, which are aiming for a fall release, will be a behind-the-scenes companion book, followed by a hardcover gift book for younger readers. The companion book will be released under the title Stranger Things: World Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-The-Scenes Companion. The gift book, which doesn’t have a title yet, will offer “advice, wisdom, and warnings from the Stranger Things world.” Maybe it’ll offer dancing tips from Chief Hopper?
These two books will be followed in the spring of 2019 with a Stranger Things prequel novel, written by author Gwenda Bond, which will go into detail on the backstory of Eleven’s mother and the MKUltra program. Even more titles for both adults and younger readers will arrive sometime later in the year. The third season of Stranger Things isn’t set to return until early 2019, so some of these books will no doubt serve to tide fans over until it’s time to return to Hawkins. An audio book is also set for this one and subsequent novels, although it is unknown if actors from the series will factor into those.
Not much is known about season three of the series yet, except that we are to expect a time-jump similar to that between seasons one and two, and that that Francesca Reale, Cary Elwes, and Jake Busey are joining the cast. It’s quite possible some of these new books will be used to fill in the “in-between seasons” backstory, and offer fans tantalizing clues before the new seasons drops, whenever that may be.
Are you stoked to enter into the expanded universe of the Upside Down? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: Netflix
