Stranger Things Writers Deny Re-Editing Old Episodes, Including Creepy Jonathan Scene

The Stranger Things writers' room is denying recent claims that older episodes of the series are being re-edited, including a Season 1 scene in which Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) can be seen snapping photos of Nancy (Natalia Dyer) undressing.

On Monday, fans with DVD copies of the Netflix show claimed that the scene of Jonathan has been edited on streaming to make the character seem less creepy. According to those fans, in the original version of Season 1, Episode 2, Jonathan takes photos of Nancy through a window, then pauses for a moment before continuing to photograph as Nancy takes her shirt off. However, as the episode appears now on Netflix, Jonathan does not continue taking photos after the pause.

The Stranger Things writers room claimed that the version currently on Netflix is the original version, and no changes have been made. "PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be," they Tweeted.

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

One user asked, "So that also counts for the Jonathan spying on Nancy scene in S01, as many people believe?" to which the writers responded, "Yes."

Creators Matt and Ross Duffer previously told Variety that they're not above "George Lucas-ing" past episodes, specifically citing a continuity error with Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) birthday that they went back and fixed. Editor Dean Zimmerman also confirmed that the Stranger Things visual effects team is still uploading new shots to Season 4, four weeks after its release.

As for whether scenes are being re-edited, it seems we won't know for sure until fans upload the allegedly edited Jonathan scene from the DVD version.

Stranger Things is currently streaming on Netflix.

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Deena ElGenaidi's writing has been featured in Nylon, MTV News, Insider, The AV Club, and more. You can follow her on Twitter @deenaelg.