Brothers Matt and Ross Duffer grew up near a tobacco farm in Durham, a few miles from Duke Forest, and started making short films in third grade.
In an interview with Sam Briger in November 2017 on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” The Duffer Brothers, as they are professionally known, talked about making movies for fun and to help classmates with school projects.
We wrote about some of the interview highlights at the time, and with the first installment of Season 5 hitting Netflix on Thanksgiving Eve, it’s a good time revisit.
Duffer brothers from the NPR ‘Fresh Air’ interview
“We flirted with popularity in high school, which was when people realized that our videos, if used for a class assignment, would get you an automatic A,” Matt Duffer told Briger. “It took me a few months to realize I was just being used,” he laughed.
“They would only hang out with us while we were making the film for them. And then once they got their A, I would never hear from them again until they needed another video.”
Netflix screen grab
For a WWII history project in high school, Ross said a “cool kid” called one day and asked him to film the storming of Normandy at Jordan Lake. It’s the scene that opens the Oscar-winning Steven Spielberg film “Saving Private Ryan.”
Ross describes adjusting the color and shutter speed on his camera, and then shaking the camera as the kids “with squirt guns and rafts” ran around. Then he ripped the audio from “Saving Private Ryan” in editing, he said.
“If you put that with a shaky camera of kids, suddenly this thing came alive. For ten years, history class still showed that project. I’m sure maybe now they’ve stopped,” Ross continued. “But that was the catalyst … after that every weekend we had to film a movie for people.”
Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer in production for Season 3 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Tina Rowden Netflix
Honoring Durham friends and neighbors with ‘Stranger Things’ shoutouts
The brothers sprinkle references to Durham and the Triangle throughout each season, even naming characters after people they knew.
In Season 1, the kids who are the stars of the show are playing Dungeons and Dragons, and King Tristan is named.
Duffer also noted an instance when a childhood neighbor gets a mention.
“When Dustin’s talking on the phone he’s pretending to talk about the cat, he’s talking to Mr. McCorkle,” Matt Duffer said. “Mac McCorkle was our neighbor next door.”
(L-R): Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp in the Netflix series “Stranger Things 2.” Jackson Davis/Netflix
When is “Stranger Things” Season 5?
The fifth season will be released in three installments: Volume 1 (episodes 1-4) will be released on Netflix Wednesday, Nov. 26, followed by Volume 2 (episodes 5-7) on Thursday, Dec. 25 and the season finale on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Fans across can watch the finale on the big screen at select theaters nationwide, Netflix announced this fall. (The finale will also stream on Netflix.)
Ross Duffer (L) and Matt Duffer, creators, writers and executive producers of Netflix’s “Stranger Thing” at a Directors Guild reception on August 17, 2017 in Los Angeles. Kevin Winter Getty Images
The Duffer Brothers, who grew up in Durham, on the set of the first season of the Netflix hit “Stranger Things.” Curtis Baker/Netflix
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Brooke Cain is a North Carolina native who has worked at The News & Observer for more than 25 years. She is the service journalism editor and writes about TV and local media for The N&O’s Happiness is a Warm TV blog.
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in Season 5 of “Stranger Things.”
Courtesy of Netflix
As the first installment of “Stranger Things” Season 5 — created of course by Matt and Ross Duffer, the pride of Durham — lands on Netflix, we wanted to look back on all the times the mega-hit sci-fi show sent hometown shoutouts back to the Triangle.
For the uninitiated, “Stranger Things” is a popular retro-horror-sci-fi-coming-of-age-adventure series set in the 1980s in Hawkins, Indiana (with excursions in Season 4 to Russia and California). When “Stranger Things” started in the summer of 2016, the show’s main characters were just your everyday, run-of-the-mill, bike-riding 80s kids, out saving the world from apocalyptic monsters of the Upside Down hellscape beneath their small town.
That was nearly 10 years ago, and those kids have grown into teenagers and young adults, though the new season is still set in 1987. But those quickly growing kids are still saving the world (with the occasional help of a couple of adults), and they’re still doing it while the Duffer Brothers (as they’re professionally known) drop little Durham area Easter eggs here and there — a little wink to the people they know and love back home.
We haven’t had a chance to watch Season 5 yet (episodes drop at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and some of us have pies to bake), but here’s a list of all the instances we’ve spotted in the past, pulled from some of our previous “Stranger Things” coverage.
But until then, we do have a local reference already spotted in the “Stranger Things” Season 5 teaser released this summer (check the bottom of this story). And don’t worry, we’ll update you when we have our full Season 5 list ready.
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson in Season 5 of “Stranger Things.” Courtesy of Netflix
Durham NC references in Season 1 of ‘Stranger Things’
Durham roads: Some major Durham roads get mentioned in “Stranger Things,” and none more often than Cornwallis. That’s probably because the Duffer Brothers grew up in a neighborhood off West Cornwallis, near Duke Forest.
In one instance, the kids tell the police that the place where Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) went missing, which is referred to by the kids as “Mirkwood” (a J.R.R. Tolkien “The Hobbit” reference), is a wooded area at the intersection of Cornwallis and Kerley roads in Hawkins. West Cornwallis and Kerley Roads do intersect in Durham and it’s a mostly wooded area near Duke Forest.
The series has also mentioned Mt. Sinai and Kerley roads, which also intersect, and which are not far from West Cornwallis Road.
Childhood friend: In an episode in which the kids are playing “Dungeons & Dragons,” the name “King Tristan” is mentioned. Matt Duffer told The News & Observer in November 2017 that Tristan was a friend: “Tristan, he was our next-door neighbor,” Duffer said then. “And he made movies with us all throughout childhood, and he was our closest friend.”
An owl attack? Nope. False alarm. In the first episode of Season 1, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) goes to visit police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) to report that her son Will has gone missing. Hopper tries to convince her it’s probably nothing and that she shouldn’t worry: “You want to know the worst thing that’s ever happened here in the four years I’ve been working here? You want to know the worst thing — was when an owl attacked Eleanor Gillespie’s head because it thought that her hair was a nest.”
The third season of “Stranger Things” debuted on Netflix July 4, 2019. It features many references to Durham and the Triangle, where the creators, the Duffer brothers, grew up. Netflix TNS
Many people are aware that following the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson in Durham (for which her husband Michael was later convicted of murder), a theory that she actuallydied following an owl attack (to the back of her head) gained popularity.
No one in Durham who watched this and heard “an owl attacked Eleanor Gillespie’s head” didn’t think of the Petersons.
But we reached out to the Duffer Brothers through their assistant in 2017, and they said that the reference was not intentional.
Durham NC mentions in Season 2 of ‘Stranger Things’
The Eno River and Jordan Lake: While Bob Newby (Sean Astin) helped Joyce try to figure out where Hopper was trapped, he recognized two bodies of water from some of Will’s drawings, and realized the drawings were a map of Hawkins. “And if that’s Lake Jordan, then you can probably find … the Eno River,” Bob says to Joyce.
(L to R) Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in Season 4 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Courtesy of Netflix
Neighbors: In an interview with The N&O in 2017, Matt Duffer revealed that a second character in “Stranger Things” was named after a Durham neighbor. “When Dustin’s talking on the phone and pretending to talk about the cat, he’s talking to Mr. McCorkle,” Matt Duffer said. “Mac MacCorkle was our neighbor next door.”
Trick-or-treat in the rich neighborhood: In Episode 2, the Lochn’ora neighborhood in Durham is mentioned. In the episode, the kids are deciding where to go trick-or-treating and one character suggests they go to Lochn’ora: “That’s where the rich people live, right?” Later, a neighborhood sign reading “Loch Nora” is shown. John Snyder, then president of the Lochn’ora Home Owners Association, told The N&O at the time that the spelling was off, but the distinctive font was correct.
Durham references in Season 3 of ‘Stranger Things’
Cornwallis, again: In Episode 2, Nancy and Jonathan, both now working at the Hawkins Post newspaper, interview a woman living at 4819 Cornwallis Road.
Hungry for barbecue? In Episode 4, Hopper and Joyce study a map and point out important locations close to Jordan Lake. One of the spots Joyce mentions is “Bullocks,” but she doesn’t say if that’s a road or farm or business or a person’s property. But anyone the least bit familiar with Durham will think of the famous barbecue spot on Hillsborough Road as soon as they hear that name. And they’ll get hungry.
Season 4 mentions of Durham in ‘Stranger Things’
Go Falcons! We heard from a couple of different alert readers about this one when Season 4 landed in 2022: In the first episode, the Hawkins High basketball team plays in the championship game against the Falcons, which is the same mascot for Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, where the Duffer Brothers graduated.
In a scene from Season 4 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” Murray and Joyce call Russia from California, but use a computer to make the call go through Durham, N.C., the hometown of show creators Matt and Ross Duffer. Netflix screen grab
Actually Durham! Hands down the best Durham reference in “Stranger Things” comes in Season 4, when the actual city of Durham is referenced. It happens in Episode 2 when Joyce and Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) are making a phone call from Lenora Hills, California, to Russia, and Murray “spoofs” the number to make it look like they are calling from Durham, NC. BONUS: Brett Gelman is a graduate of the UNC School of the Arts.
Forest Hills. A tipster on Instagram spotted that the name of the community where Max and Eddie Munson live is called Forest Hills Trailer Park. We see the “Forest Hills Trailer Park” sign in Episode 2, when Nancy is stopped by a policeman as she tries to enter. The name given to the rundown trailer park is especially funny because Durham’s Forest Hills neighborhood is part of a national historic district known for beautiful, older (very expensive) homes.
(L to R) Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in Season 4 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Courtesy of Netflix
Enzo? A few different readers made the connection between a Russian character who calls himself Enzo, first seen in Episode 2, and the Durham pizza restaurant called Enzo’s.
El Rodeo. Also in Episode 2, when Mike arrives for his spring break vacation with El in California, she tells him she has their whole visit planned out, including a trip to El Rodeo for “the best burritos.” El Rodeo is a popular Mexican restaurant in Durham, N&O reader Jacob Haigler pointed out. In fact, there used to be two locations: one on Roxboro Road at Duke Street and one in Brightleaf Square (that one is now closed).
Can’t party without Cornwallis. In Episode 6, Dustin, Steve, Nancy, Lucas, Max and Robin get a call from Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) who is hiding at Skull Rock. Eddie asks if they know where that is and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) says, “Yeah that’s near Cornwallis and —” then Steve (Joe Keery) adds: “Garrett — yeah, I know it.” Cornwallis and Garrett Roads are not too far from each other, but they don’t meet. They almost run parallel to each other. The closest the two roads meet would be on at the end nearer to Cornwallis Road Park or Duke Forest, both off West Cornwallis Road.
(L to R) John Paul Reynolds as Officer Callahan, Rob Morgan as Officer Powell and Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler in Season 4 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Courtesy of Netflix
Cole Mill Road. On Twitter (now X), @_erin_rachel let us know that in an early Season 4 episode, Dustin is talking to his mother on the phone and mentions Cole Mill Road, which runs from Eno River State Park to Hillsborough Road in Durham.
Durham (and Raleigh area) NC references in Season 5 of ‘Stranger Things’
The old WPTF transmitter building features the Art Deco style from the 1940s. Scott Sharpe ssharpe@newsobserver.com
Though the bright red call letters read “WSQK” rather than WPTF, there’s no mistaking the similarities between the station in the show and the Triangle’s old Art Deco-style transmitting site.
When is “Stranger Things” Season 5?
The fifth season will be released in three installments: Volume 1 (episodes 1-4) will be released on Netflix Wednesday, Nov. 26, followed by Volume 2 (episodes 5-7) on Thursday, Dec. 25 and the season finale on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Fans across can watch the finale on the big screen at select theaters nationwide, Netflix announced this fall. (The finale will also stream on Netflix.)
This story was originally published November 26, 2025 at 12:28 PM.
Brooke Cain is a North Carolina native who has worked at The News & Observer for more than 25 years. She is the service journalism editor and writes about TV and local media for The N&O’s Happiness is a Warm TV blog.
