The alternate, parallel dimension known as the Upside Down is not somewhere you would ever want to find yourself. It's dark, slimy, bathed in perpetual fog and home to a terrifying, man-hunting predator known as the demogorgon. It is, to put it bluntly, not a nice place to visit.
But if Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo had to go there, absolutely had to, he knows exactly what he'd pack for that particular trip into hell.
"A really big machinegun with a lot of bullets in it," he laughs. "That's what I'd take with me."
Although that's certainly a significant step up from the baseball bat his character Dustin Henderson briefly armed himself with in the first season of Netflix's smash supernatural series, even all that heavy-duty firepower may not be enough. The demonic demogorgon made short work of more than a few citizens living in Stranger Things' fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.
"I would never want to go in there but if one of my friends or family members had to go in, if I could trade places with them then obviously I would, but that would really be the only reason," Matarazzo says. "It's not like I'm going to go in for any amount of money."
The exact nature of the Upside Down, the effect it has on people who stay in there too long and how many terrifying nasties actually live in there, are just some of the things that will be explored in the second season, which will be available on Netflix tomorrow.
The first season ended with a whole lot of questions, and although the second season will hold at least some of those answers, Matarazzo sadly does not.
"There are new characters coming into the show, which is going to be great. There is . . . I can't talk about all the new characters coming in. I can't actually talk about them at all."
"But I can say that my character has a cool connection, me and Lucas specifically, have a cool connection with Max, who comes into the show."
You'll remember Lucas, who is played by Caleb McLaughlin, as one of Dustin's pals in the main gang of kids. Max, however, is one of those new characters Matarazzo can't tell us about. With only a brief appearance in the trailer not much is known about her, other than she befriends the gang after moving from California and quickly joins in their efforts to rescue their pal Will from inside the Upside Down.
"You're going to see that dynamic and also there are some characters you already know that haven't really interacted with each other and end up interacting with each other in this season," he continues. "So that's going to be really cool for people to see."
Scene from Stranger Things season 2
One character Matarazzo can talk about is his own, Dustin Henderson, the cap-wearing, Dungeon and Dragons-loving peacekeeper of the group. He's become the breakout star of the show, the kid that became everybody's favourite. I ask Matarazzo why he thinks the character resonated with so many people to become such a fan fave.
"I really think it's his obliviousness to everything. He's very scared for Will and wants to make sure that he's okay, but he thinks of it as a game almost. Like he's living Dungeons and Dragons. He's living his own dream but it's a nightmare," he says.
"I think a lot of people can relate to how he's not really popular in school. Not many people know him and if they do know him they're not going to be friends with him because they consider him a nerd or annoying or they make fun of him for his condition and his teeth and everything."
He's talking about Dustin's cleidocranial dysplasia, or CCD, the congenital disorder that effects the growth of bones and teeth and accounts for both his and Matarazzo's distinctive lisp. When Matarazzo was cast in the role, Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers changed the character to also give him the trait.
"I think the fact that he's able to overcome that and be close to his group is what makes people big fans of Dustin. Just because he doesn't care what other people think."
But the thoughts of other people were very much on the minds of, well, everyone involved in the show. Matarazzo describes returning to the strange world of Stranger Things as a "big family reunion" but says the ramifications of the show becoming a true pop-culture phenomenon weighed heavy.
"The second season was a lot more stressful. Just because the stakes are so high," he says. "Netflix was coming in every week to make sure we were on top of things. It was a lot of fun. But there was a lot of pressure."
"The first season there definitely was a lot of pressure to make sure it was good so people watched it in the first place. But the second season, now that everybody watches it, it's kind of harder to make sure that everyone keeps liking it and keeps watching it. That's the hardest part.
"It's not getting the show to be successful. It's to keep it successful."
Scene from Stranger Things season 2
That's a lot for a 15-year-old kid to carry, and I wonder if all these outside influences had any impact on his performance of Dustin.
"It was kind of hard to make sure that I was on top of things and everything," he admits.
"You're worried about what the show's going to do, but your main priority is making sure that you do a good job and making sure that you're able to please the people who watch your performance," he says. "It definitely is stressful but I definitely have fun with it.
"It's a challenge," he says, grinning and, displaying the same likeable moxie as his character, says, "But I like a challenge."
LOWDOWN Who: Gaten Matarazzo What: Stranger Things, Season 2 When: Streaming on Netflix from tomorrow
