Scoring a major talent coup in the wake of its recent merger with Skydance, Paramount has officially closed a four-year creative deal with Matt and Ross Duffer (pictured), who will exclusively write, direct and produce new projects for all of its platforms.

The siblings are best known for creating Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things through their Upside Down Pictures production label. This new agreement with Paramount will cover films and linear TV, as well as streaming projects. 

They’ll be under Paramount’s umbrella starting in April, when their current deal with Netflix is set to expire—but the Duffer brothers plan to remain involved in some ongoing projects for the streamer, such as Stranger Things: Tales of ’85, an upcoming animated adaptation that’s due out next year.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things will roll out on Netflix at the end of this year.

News of negotiations between the Duffer brothers and Paramount broke last week, just as the studio started mapping out its post-merger vision—which includes a strong theatrical push and a bigger focus on four-quadrant family movies.

While their specific plans for content at Paramount are yet to be announced, the deal notably gives the Duffers a chance to flex their talent on the big screen—after having proven their ability to oversee and expand a show like Stranger Things, which matches the ambition of a feature film. (Season four reportedly had a price tag of US$30 million per episode, for example.) Despite its scary elements, the series has maintained its appeal with a pretty wide audience over the past decade—and especially with tweens and teens—which should bode well for Paramount. 

The Duffer brothers will also benefit from some familiarity with the new team at Paramount, having previously worked closely with Cindy Holland (chair of direct-to-consumer at Paramount) and Matt Thunell (president of Paramount Television) at Netflix. Holland was the exec who originally greenlit Stranger Things, which will drop its fifth and final season in November/December.

(Featured image: Eric Charbonneau/Netflix)