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Usually, we think of pop culture as having had an effect on Stranger Things. Stephen King, Lord of the Rings, and a whole bunch of other properties have all been cited as factoring into the story Netflix and the Duffer brothers have been telling since 2016. But just recently, Stranger Things director Shawn Levy revealed that, occasionally, the opposite is true. In fact, the science fiction series may have changed how Star Wars does its business.

Specifically, how it announces its future.

Let's give some context to this first. In case you weren't aware, Shawn Levy will direct an upcoming Star Wars film, Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling. The news came as (somewhat of) a surprise to the folks at Star Wars: Celebration 2025, where Lucasfilm and Levy revealed their upcoming collaboration. And even though rumors of a Gosling-led Star Wars were already in the air, none of those partial leaks came from Levy's camp, a tight-lipped strategy he credits to working on Stranger Things.

"Stranger Things taught me to keep my mouth shut," Levy told Variety in an article published April 27. "So I’m really grateful for that because I kept the Ryan Gosling news and the title and release date of my Star Wars movie pretty damn quiet for a long time. So I’m quite proud of myself and grateful to Stranger Things for making me shut my mouth."

To Levy's point, Stranger Things is one of the prime Hollywood examples of keeping reveals under wraps until exactly when they want the world to know them. You'll recall Popverse's reporting on the last-minutes changes made to Stranger Things: The First Shadow to preserve a season 5 reveal as a prime example of their culture of secrecy. Depending on how well Starfighter does at the box office, this lesson of Levy's may become studio policy over at Lucasfilm, proving that Netflix's scifi hit has reached the cyclical point of influencing the media that influenced it.

Still, we doubt we're going to see any posters of Eleven & Co. hanging up in any starship cockpit. I guess stranger things have happened, though.

Star Wars: Starfighter soars into theaters May 28, 2027. Stranger Things season 5 is expected later this year.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"