Ross Duffers Wife Leigh Janiak Files for Divorce

Stranger Things cocreator Ross Duffer’s wife, Leigh Janiak, has filed for divorce after nine years of marriage.

Janiak, 44, filed the legal paperwork on Friday, February 23, according to documents obtained by TMZ. She listed the date of separation as TBD, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. She is asking for spousal support, per the outlet.

Duffer, 40, met Janiak in 2006 when the duo worked as an intern and producer’s assistant, respectively, at a Los Angeles production company. The couple tied the knot at Korakia Pensione, a resort in Palm Springs, California, in 2015. Jennifer Knode, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated the nuptials, according to The New York Times.

Both Duffer and Janiak are best known for their writing prowess, with Janiak being the creative force behind 2014’s Honeymoon and Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy. Duffer, meanwhile, serves as cocreator, showrunner, executive producer and director for Stranger Things alongside his brother, Matt Duffer.

Season 5 of the sci-fi series resumed production in Atlanta last month. Filming was initially scheduled to kick off in May 2023 but was postponed due to the WGA and SAG-AFRTRA strikes, which came to an end in September 2023 and November 2023, respectively.

With production back on track, Stranger Things’ fifth season is likely to premiere sometime in 2025. While speaking with The Wrap in May 2022, Ross and Matt revealed that final installment will return to its roots.

“The final few [episodes of the show] are going to be more like a Return of the Jedi. Not tonally, but just in terms of — They’re going from the beginning,” Matt told the outlet. “There’s going to be less ramp up. And I think people will understand what I’m talking about when they see the end of season 4. It’s like, we’re just going.”

“There’s a lot of build-up and set-up [each season],” Ross added, “and season 5 is just going to be pedal to the metal from the opening scene.”

Two months later, the duo announced that after venturing out to places like Russia and California throughout season 4, the show would be taking things back to its central location of Hawkins, Indiana.

“I think one of the things that’s exciting about season 5 is [that] season 4 was interesting to us because everyone was scattered to the winds,” Matt told Collider in July 2022. “That’s what was unique about it. But this is about everyone finally coming back. Coming back together, coming back to Hawkins. … There’s something interesting to re-explore some of the season one dynamics again, except on this grander scale.”

As for what comes next for Ross, he and Matt formed Upside Down Pictures, a new production company through which they will develop film and TV projects as part of  an overall deal with Netflix, in July 2022. That includes the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which hit the stage in December 2023, and a Stranger Things spinoff, although details on the series are being kept under wraps.

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Janiak, meanwhile, will likely be focused on the new set of Fear Street movies greenlit by Netflix last month, which are set to set to be adapted from R.L. Stine’s 1992 novel The Prom Queen.

Though few details have been released about the new film — including if Janiak will be involved in the writing of the scripts – the book’s official description was posted via Stine’s website in January.

“A spring night…soft moonlight…five beautiful Prom Queen candidates…dancing couples at the Shadyside High prom — these should be the ingredients for romance,” the logline reads. “But stir in one brutal murder — then another, and another — and the recipe quickly turns to horror.Lizzie McVay realizes that someone is murdering the five Prom Queen candidates one by one — and that she may be next on the list! Can she stop the murderer before the dance is over — for good?”

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