**** Stranger Things finale spoiler alert *****

The showrunners had previously teased the final episode of the saga - which was released on 31 December - would offer a hint about a project they are working on, and while they don't want to offer any further details, they confirmed the reference wasn't Jim Hopper (Harbour) telling Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) that he had been offered a job in Montauk.

Instead, the remark was simply a "wink to the fans" who would be aware that the programme's initial title was Montauk.

Ross Duffer told Deadline in a joint interview with brother Matt: "We were just talking about this. I don't know if I want to, but I will say, though, it's not Hopper mentioning Montauk. There's no Montauk spinoff. That was more of a wink to the fans, deep-cut fans that know that the show started as Montauk."

And while Ross clarified the spin-off show would be based around an "entirely new mythology", he did reveal fans with unanswered questions after the Stranger Things finale may get them answered if the new programme happens.

He added: "It's obviously not Holly and the kids or anything like that. It's something much smaller than that.

"We've said this before, the spin-off idea we have, it is early days, but it is an entirely new mythology.

"So, it is connected, and it is going to answer some questions that people have, and there's some lingering questions that weren't answered in the finale that will be answered in the spinoff. But at the end of the day, it's got its own story and its own mythology."

The brothers admitted a recent cast screening of the finale was "very emotional" for everyone involved.

Ross said: "Oh, it was very emotional. I think for everyone, there were a lot of tears at the end, but, also, everyone was just so, so proud and just so supportive of one another. I don't know.

" I just felt like everything had come full circle, and just to see how much they've grown up over the years... it was really the perfect way to end the whirlwind of press tour and filming and everything. It was quiet, but I thought it was beautiful."

Matt added: "It's sort of how we feel now. I think everybody was processing it. Everybody was crying. We all went back to my apartment in New York. Some of the cast chose to walk, even though it was 30 minutes, I think because they needed time to process everything. Just having heard from a lot of them yesterday, I haven't connected with them today, but, I think everyone's still reeling a little bit. Everybody's emotional."

And the pair confirmed the tears shed on screen during the characters' final scenes were genuine.

Matt said: "I don't want to say it's meta, because it wasn't, but some of it was a commentary on the experience of the show itself and what it felt like to say goodbye to it.

"So each of those individual scenes in the epilogue were very personal to all the cast, and I think that's why each of those days were as emotional as they were. Everybody was crying the entire time...

"That's not acting. When they're breaking...when you see Maya [Hawke] break, or any of them break, they were just crying."