The Duffers Says This Stranger Things Detail Wasn’t Intentional

If you thought the Duffer brothers were taking inspiration from Sixteen Candles in Stranger Things season four, you guessed wrong.

Fans speculated that Matt and Ross Duffer purposefully let the characters forget Will Byers’ (Noah Schnapp) birthday on March 22, which wouldn’t be far off since the series makes reference to ’80s films like the Molly Ringwald classic. But in a new interview, the creators behind the series admit that there’s no rhyme or reason behind the plot hole.

“Clearly like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will’s birthday,” Matt explained to Variety. “So the debate now is whether we adjust Will’s birthday or we just let it be really sad.”

Ross joked that they almost don’t want fans to know about this mistake, joking, “You’re going to get us in trouble with the fans for forgetting his birthday. It was six years ago that I wrote that date!”