The Duffer brothers defended themselves after 'Stranger Things' star Millie Bobby Brown called them 'sensitive Sallies' for not killing off more characters

• The Duffer brothers defended themselves after Millie Bobby Brown called them "sensitive Sallies."

• The duo explained why they're reluctant to kill main characters in "Stranger Things."

• Matt Duffer said that killing a main character like Mike Wheeler would be "depressing."

The Duffer brothers responded to Millie Bobby Brown calling them "sensitive Sallies" who "don't want to kill anyone" in their Netflix series "Stranger Things," explaining their reluctance to kill off members of the core cast.

On Monday's episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, the showrunning duo defended themselves against accusations of sensitivity, arguing that upping the show's body count, particularly when it comes to killing a main character, would change its fundamental nature.

Related video: Sean Astin talks about the most shocking scene from 'Stranger Things 2'

"Believe us, we've explored all of it, all options in the writing room," Matt Duffer said on the podcast, adding that killing a major character like Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) would be "depressing."

In a May interview with The Wrap, Brown and her costar Noah Schnapp said that while they were afraid of one of their characters dying, the show needed to kill off some people because the cast had gotten "way too big." Schnapp suggested a "massacre scene" to kill off half the cast, while Brown called the Duffer brothers "sensitive Sallies."

"We need to be 'Game of Thrones,' we need to have the mindset of 'Game of Thrones,'" she told The Wrap.

On the podcast, Matt responded directly to Brown's call to emulate the HBO fantasy series, which is notorious for killing off major characters.

"We're not 'Game of Thrones,'" Matt said. "This is Hawkins, it's not Westeros."

In previous seasons, "Stranger Things" has killed off characters that weren't a part of its core cast, like Barb in season one and Bob in season two. However, the writers have been reluctant to take aim at any of its main characters, only going as far to fake out Hopper's death at the end of season three before swiftly revealing that he was alive in a mid-credits scene.

"When Barb dies, it's two seasons of grappling with that," Matt said. "So imagine, you know, Mike dying and it's like, is that something that we're interested in exploring, or not interested in exploring?"

Every death on the show, Matt said, serves both "thematic" and "narrative purpose," serving to move the story forward and having ramifications on what follows. Moving into the show's fifth and final season, he said, meant that "more of that's on the table."

"This is me basically defending myself against these Millie Bobby Brown accusations that I'm a sensitive Sally, and explaining there's logic behind it and has nothing to do with my sensitivity," Matt said. "So there you go, Millie."

Read the original article on Insider