‘Stranger Things’ Producers Must Get This Right With Netflix’s Next Massive Gaming Series

Published Aug 1, 2026, 11:20 AM EDT

**Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with a substantial amount of experience under his belt. **Collier, or “CJ” to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. Using his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he’s been able to tackle a wide variety of articles.

***Stranger Things ***is arguably the biggest series on Netflix, transforming the streamer into a major player in the world of entertainment and being one of the few Netflix projects to truly break into the pop culture zeitgeist. Part of that is due to creators **Ross **and Matt Duffer, but *Stranger Things *fans also have **Shawn Levy *and his production company, 21 Laps, to thank. In addition to producing Stranger Things, Levy directed key episodes of the series, making him one of the key creative forces that shaped it *into a sci-fi juggernaut. Now, Levy is set to bring a new series to Netflix that could have the same impact, especially given its source material.

21 Laps is producing an adaptation of the Persona video game series, with **Christopher Monfette **tapped as head writer. Like Levy, Monfette is no stranger to genre work, having penned episodes for ***Star Trek: Picard ***and Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Magic: The Gathering; the latter series is set to reunite him with Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. As for Persona, it’s a series that doesn’t sound like it should come from the people who helped make Stranger Things, as it’s a genre-hopping RPG while the latter is a homage to the works of **Steven Spielberg **and Stephen King. However, there’s one key element that’s woven through all the *Persona *games that 21 Laps needs to nail.

As previously mentioned, the *Persona *games often shift genres based on the story. ***Persona 2 ***deals with reality warping the world into something unrecognizable, ***Persona 3 ***has its characters forming a squad to battle monsters, and ***Persona 5 ***introduced the iconic characters known as the “Phantom Thieves”. No matter what a *Persona *game is about, the core concept remains the same: the protagonist’s success depends on forming bonds with characters, particularly friendships. It’s also the key element that makes *Persona *stand out from most role-playing games, as these budding friendships lead to moments of drama, levity, and heartbreak. It also serves as a nice balance between the twin terrors of high school and the actual terrors lurking in the dark.

That makes *Persona *the perfect video game for 21 Laps to adapt, as *Stranger Things *has a similar approach to its character dynamics. Season 1 dealt with the disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his friends’ efforts to find him, eventually leading them to stumble across and make friends with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Likewise, popular jock Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) becomes one of the most beloved characters in the series thanks to his connection with the others, as does Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke). If Christopher Monfette applies this approach while writing Persona, he’ll not only capture what makes the video games great but craft a series that will draw in longtime fans and newcomers alike. Given that there are six games to choose from, Monfette has plenty of options when it comes to the story as well.

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

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