(Credits: Netflix)

It was 2016 when a ragtag group of teen bike-riders observed Hawkins sinking into creeping silence only to unleash the most enduring horror the world has ever seen: Stranger Things. Nine years down the line, as we wait on the fate of this small-town Avengers, many things trouble the audience, including the impending loose ends and burning questions.

Yet, nothing concerns a few like the almost-decade run of Stranger Things. Netflix has consciously addressed the shrinkage of attention span with the format of limited series or miniseries releases. In fact, the streamer has spun gold out in an age where short attention spans are deemed setbacks. But with the fifth and final season of the Duffer brothers’ sci-fi drama on the horizon, it makes one curious about whether Netflix made a U-turn on its strategy.

It doesn’t look like it has, given that a bounty of limited releases is still waiting in the wings. Then, what is the idea behind Stranger Things running for so long?

Before the streaming age of miniseries productions, long-format releases were the only showbiz order. Normality existed within the six-to ten-season run for a show. But what also happened more consistently was that season would follow one another quickly. They would routinely be released each year, and negate the current issues surrounding a lot of the cast now perceivably outgrowing their teenage characters. But, would Stranger Things still be a compelling drama if the creators hadn’t taken their sweet time to develop it?

Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was the cosmos of Hawkins, Indiana. Sure, Netflix has risked potential audience fatigue. However, Netflix knows and values cultural impact. It may hoist the flag of limited releases every now and then. But it acknowledges circumstantial contingency in terms of storytelling and world-building.

While viewers may have lost interest in long-format releases, the world of entertainment cannot exactly deny that its Hall of Fame is filled with many such titles that stand the test of time, despite their episode count. And although there’s quite a stronghold contention about Stranger Things running for nine years, is it really possible to oppose its cultural momentum?

There’s no definite answer to whether Stranger Things is bringing back long-format releases since it’s still not the time. But it surely has the potential to leave its footprint in a streaming era reigned by short-format releases, as long as the ending is enough to have the audience sold and shut the naysayers.