'Stranger Things' Fans Spot Alteration to Old Nancy and Jonathan Scene
Creators the Duffer brothers have discussed touching up earlier episodes. Now fans think they've spotted one of the changes.
- Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) is one point of a love triangle.
Stranger Things season 4 has been gripping our attention since it arrived on Netflix in May, attention that has now turned back to earlier seasons. Creators the Duffer brothers discussed re-editing scenes from older episodes, mainly involving touching up VFX. Fans took to TikTok and Twitter to note one of the changes they believed had been made.
One such scene involves Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and her new boyfriend, Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), in the second episode of the first season, titled The Weirdo on Maple Street. Steve, a jock-type, convinces Nancy to join him at a house party, where they sleep together for the first time.
Out in the woods, Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) snaps pictures of the party guests, including Nancy when she removes her clothes. Fans on TikTok and Twitter thought they'd picked up on a slight tweak to this scene -- Jonathan no longer shown taking a picture of Nancy when she undresses.
However, the Stranger Things writing team has since addressed the rumors on Twitter. "PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be," the tweet reads.
PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be. pic.twitter.com/H0j8JwidLs
— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) July 26, 2022
Jonathan still possesses a picture of the moment, revealed in the next episode, titled Holly, Jolly. Steve and his bully pals discover the photos from the party, calling Jonathan a "creep" and a pervert. "He was probably gonna save this one for later," says Carol Perkins (who was dating Tommy Hagen), referring to the photo of Nancy undressing.
I fucking knew I didn't imagine things, they edited season 1 of Stranger Things and took the part out where Jonathan takes that pic of Nancy.
— Vecna 🦇 (@raureifblume) July 22, 2022
The Duffer brothers have had other opportunities to make tweaks, including the date of Will's (Noah Schnapp) birthday. In season 2, episode 8, Will's mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) says his birthday is March 22. In season 4, episode 2, a timestamp on a video camera recording reads March 22, but no one celebrates Will's big day.
Matt Duffer suggested changing Will's birthday to May 22, "because 'May' can fit in Winona's mouth." He continued, "So that would be us George Lucas-ing the situation." Star Wars creator George Lucas frequently altered his movies after their release. Mostly, this involved improving special effects.
At time of writing, however, Joyce still says March 22 in the season 2 scene.
