It's the news Stranger Things fans don't want to hear, but they'll have to accept: fan-favourite Barb is lost to the Upside Down, and she's never coming back.

Shawn Levy, the executive producer of the Netflix hit, has confirmed that the show's surprise breakout character, played with mum-jeans charm by actress Shannon Purser, won't be returning for the anticipated second season, despite endless campaigning by viewers.

"We are going to do things that fans will be disappointed in but I think they will be more satisfied by," Levy told The Hollywood Reporter.

"I'll give one example that I've been asked about a hundred times, which is people still think Barb's alive. Because you think you want that, but you wouldn't really want that."

The character's last on-screen appearance was dead and decayed in last season's penultimate episode, her rotten corpse spotted by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in her underworld hunt for the missing Will (Noah Schnapp).

But fans haven't been quite ready to let go of their silent hero.

"I've had a lot of people, some huge celebrities, come up to me at these awards shows like, 'So, between us, Barb's coming back, right?'," Levy said.

"I'm like, 'No, you saw she had like a creature, a slug, worm, snake coming out of her mouth. I don't know that there's a bounce back from that!'"

Online, Twitter armies infamously launched the hashtag #JusticeForBarb, lobbying the show's creators, the Duffer Brothers, to give a second season reprieve to the character – be it by resurrection, flashbacks, a magical time-swipe, anything.

But it's just not going to happen, says Levy.   

"No, we are not going to cravenly service the wish-list of fans, we're going to service the Duffer instincts and what they feel is the right story to tell," he said.

The show's second season debuts on Netflix on October 31.