Goosebumps kept the scares coming but after that unexpected anthology twist — what does that mean for season 3?
“When we switched into an anthology, it really fit what Goosebumps is. So if you’re fan of the books, you know that R.L. Stine doesn’t write happily ever after at the end of the books,” executive producer Rob Letterman exclusively told Us Weekly. “In fact, he goes out of his way not to do that. He leaves it with a cliffhanger or a twist.”
The Disney+ series adapted the same approach on screen. “When we looked at the ending of season 1, it just kind of felt like the perfect Goosebumps ending for what that story line was,” Letterman said about switching the story up for season 2.
Goosebumps, which premiered in October 2023, was introduced as a show that followed five teenagers who had to work together after accidentally releasing supernatural forces into their small town. The first season featured Isa Briones, Ana Yi Puig, Zack Morris, Miles McKenna and Will Price as the show’s protagonists.
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The show was in for a shakeup though when it turned into an anthology. Season 2 centered around twins (Sam McCarthy and Jayden Bartels) who are sent to spend a summer in Brooklyn with their divorced dad (David Schwimmer) whose plant-testing takes a sinister turn.
“Season 2 we wanted to swing the pendulum and do something different. But we also wanted fans of the first season to feel comfortable in the model of what the storytelling was. So that’s how we kept that structure of a mystery we have to unpack,” Letterman told Us. “We liked that framing device but we wanted to tell something totally new and fresh. It’s a nice balancing act for keeping the familiarity of the Goosebumps TV series going while doing it as an anthology.”
The second installment was released on Friday, January 11, and it took inspiration from several books including Stay Out of the Basement, The Ghost Next Door, The Boy Who Cried Monster, Monster Blood and The Haunted Car. While the main friend group — which was made up of Elijah M. Cooper, Galilea La Salvia, Francesca Noel, Stony Blyden, McCarthy and Bartels — were able to defeat the evil, the season still hinted that the sinister parts at play were still a threat.
So will season 3 be able to answer any questions audiences were left with after the finale? “We don’t think that far into the future. We’re one day at a time process,” Letterman noted to Us. “But yes, of course, and you can do anything you want with Goosebumps. That is what is cool about it.”
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According to Letterman and fellow executive producer Hilary Winston, there could even be a Goosebumps “multiverse.” The cast, meanwhile, also weighed in on whether they would return for future episodes despite signing onto an anthology show.
“There are so many stories and it really depends on what the fans want and how they respond,” Noel hinted to Us. “We are here for it. We love these characters and obviously I think the last season also loved their characters. The world is big and we’re here to play.”
Goosebumps is currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
