Stranger Things was originally meant to be pretty different

With three seasons under its belt and a legion of adoring fans to boot, it's fair to say Netflix's Stranger Things is doing rather well.

The third series of the popular sci-fi horror show hit our screens this summer, cementing the likes of Millie Bobby Brown (El), David Harbour (Hopper) and Winona Ryder (Joyce) as firm favourites with fans.

While we couldn't imagine the series looking any different, or anyone but those actors playing their parts, it's transpired things were originally set to be pretty different.

Before the show was beloved the world over, The Duffer brothers, who created Stranger Things, penned a synopsis of the first series for TV executives, and now it makes for very interesting reading.

To start with, the brothers pitched the series under the name of Montauk initially, but that's just the start.

While we now know and love David Harbour as grumpy police chief Jim 'Hop' Hopper, the show runners first earmarked two other actors for the role - Ewan McGregor and Sam Rockwell.

We couldn't imagine anyone but Winona Ryder as the brilliant Joyce Byers, but she wasn't the Duffers' first choice to play Will and Jonathan's mum. In fact, the actors pitched for that part were Naomi Watts and Marisa Tomei.

The synopsis throws up a few other interesting points - namely some interesting notes about the beloved Hawkins kids. The text describes Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) as a “sensitive kid with sexual identity issues,” something which has been a topic of speculation for fans.

Dustin, played by Gaten Matarazzo, was first described as “overweight and wearing glasses” and someone bullied for his looks. In the show as we know it, the character is picked on for his cleidocranial dysplasia – a condition that leaves Dustin without teeth, just like Matarazzo.

For Stranger Things fanatics, all of these details make for fascinating reading - we're just glad the series turned out how it did, with Winona and David front and centre.