Yahoo News Stranger Things season 4: Everything you need to know
Note: contains MAJOR spoilers for Stranger Things seasons 1-3.
If you're not up to date, look away now.
There are some seriously big questions left hanging following season three's explosive 77-minute finale, 'The Battle of Starcourt', but despair not, friends. The Netflix sci-fi horror will be back for season four, which means all of those loose ends you've been losing sleep over will be ironed out, or so we hope anyway.
"We're thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out," director Ross Duffer told Vulture.
Matt Duffer added: "We just have to keep adjusting the story...Though I don't know if we can justify something bad happening to them once a year,"
Ross continued: "They're going to have to get the f**k out of this town! It's ridiculous!"
But in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Shawn Levy suggested that the series could go one beyond that.
"Hearts were heard breaking in Netflix headquarters when the brothers made four seasons sound like an official end, and I was suddenly getting phone calls from our actors' agents.
"The truth is we're definitely going four seasons and there's very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely."
David Harbour, who plays Hopper, also spoke to TVLine about the importance of bowing out at the right time.
"We don't have an open-ended thing like The Walking Dead. There is an end to all these characters," he said.
"We're going to give you something fun and then we're going to get out before we've worn out our welcome. We have a specific story that we're going to tell."
So, what does the next chapter hold? Here's everything you need to know about Stranger Things season four.
Stranger Things season 4 release date: When will it air?
There isn't currently an official release date on the table, but there is a chance that the last season could air in October, if the Duffer brothers are following a pattern:
Season one: July, 2016
Season two - October 2017
Season three - July 2019
But whether it lands next year or in 2021 remains to be seen. A big "holiday" release – per the US calendar – seems to be the standard, though. Maybe Christmas next time?
Stranger Things season 4 cast: Who's returning?
The hugely popular series wouldn't be the show it is without its colourful, larger-than-life cast, so expect this lot back on your screens once again: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Will (Noah Schnapp), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Robin (Maya Hawke), Joyce (Winona Ryder), Erica (Priah Ferguson), Karen (Cara Buono) and Murray (Brett Gelman).
Someone else who popped up towards the end of season three was Dr Sam Owens (Paul Reiser), who works for the US Department of Energy and was appointed Director of Operations at Hawkins Lab following the exit of Dr Martin Brenner.
He was previously tasked with investigating the Gate to the Upside Down in a bid to stopping it from spreading, and he was the one who helped Hopper adopt Eleven. The fact that he has been reintroduced and the spotlight is once again on the threat of the Gate, not to mention the Soviets, suggests that he will play a role in the next instalment.
And speaking of Brenner – the silver-haired research scientist and former head of Hawkins Lab, who pushed Eleven too far during their experiments and ultimately caused her to open the Gate, will he also be reintroduced?
He was attacked by a Demogorgon in season one, but we didn't actually see him die, which feels like a deliberate decision.
There were some big losses in season three. Max's step-brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) fell victim to the Mind Flayer. He had been used by the evil creature to carry out its nasty deeds, acting as its host, but in a dramatic twist Billy managed to overcome the MF's control with the help of Eleven, and sacrificed himself to save Hawkins and all of its inhabitants from destruction.
We feel like nothing's truly impossible in this show, but we'd be seriously surprised if he was to return, and we wouldn't expect to see Mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes) again, following his arrest. It feels like that character has fulfilled his purpose.
Tragically, it also looks like we've lost Hopper (David Harbour), after Joyce shut down the machine and in turn, appeared to blow him to smithereens. But somehow, we feel like that's not the last we've seen of Hawkins' chief of police, especially given the mention of "the American" in the show's final moments. (Unless, of course, that's Brenner, or Eleven's dad, supposedly killed in action in Vietnam, or Murray. Where exactly is he at the end of season three?)
One character who might make a surprising return in season four is Grigori, the Russian assassin who murdered poor Alexei (RIP). Despite his gruesome death in the season three finale, actor Andrey Ivchenko still wonders if his character will reappear one day.
Speaking to Digital Spy at San Diego Comic-Con, Ivchenko said, "It's sci-fi, you know, so things can happen. For now, what I know is he's dead. But who knows?"
While this isn't likely, the Terminator has been resurrected a bunch of times, and Grigori is very much inspired by this character, so you never know what's going to happen.
Stranger Things season 4 spoilers and plot: What will happen?
Season three wrapped up on an extremely emotional note as Joyce, Will and Jonathan packed up their home in Hawkins and jumped in a removals van with Eleven in tow following Hopper's apparent death.
We don't know where they're going but with a fourth season on the cards, they'll be back. Whatever obstacles are thrown at them, the gang always find a way to reunite and save the day.
There's also one very big change: Eleven has seemingly lost her powers, unable to even lift her teddy bear off the top shelf of her wardrobe. But we're with Mike. Her psychokinetic abilities will be back. We hope. We think. Right? Guys?
On second thoughts, maybe we don't want Eleven's powers to return if this fan theory is anything to go by.
Reddit user weedmonkey666 theorises that Brown's character could have been infected by that monster bite on her leg in season three and because of this, the Mind Flayer could turn her against the town of Hawkins:
"If Eleven is infected, the Mind Flayer could control her like it did with Billy, Will and the flayed, to eventually destroy her or use her to get more control/spread."
While that makes sense in theory, the key evidence used to back it up is the fact that a shadow can be seen on Eleven's head in season three's final scene. Does it look like the Mind Flayer's silhouette or is it just a tree? Time will tell.
Then there's that scene right at the end – and while the Gate looked like it had been shut, with another season (or two) to go, surely that's not the last we've seen of it?
The Soviets, despite suffering a colossal setback, are not done yet. They have a Demogorgon in captivity (is that evidence that the Gate hasn't been properly shut, only stalled, or are Demogorgons able to open their own mini Gates/tears in the fabric of reality?)
But what they're planning – possibly an army of Demogorgons – remains a mystery.
And as stated previously, there was a reference to "the American", which opens up a number of possibilities.
The Duffers have also revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that season four is "going to open up a little bit...not necessarily in terms of scale, in terms of special effects, but open up in terms of allowing plotlines into areas outside of Hawkins."
Our Spidey-senses are telling us more trips to Russia are on the cards.
Ross added: "We don't want to write ourselves in a corner, so we try to have these early discussions with the writers just to make sure that we're setting ourselves up to go in the right direction.
"We don't know a lot, but we do know a lot of the big broad strokes. At the end of season two, we knew about Billy. We knew that the Russians were going to come in. We didn't know the mall and stuff, but again, we know these big broad strokes. That's sort of where we are in season four.
"We have the big broad strokes. It's just now about filling in those lines in the details. We're pretty excited about where it's potentially going to go. Again, like we said, it's going to feel very different than this season.
"But I think that's the right thing to do and I think it'll be exciting."
Stranger Things season 4 trailer: When can I watch it?
We're predicting quite a wait for this one, folks.
Watch this space for updates.
But in the meantime, there's always Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things to keep you busy.
It will take place in a top secret location in London, and will be the first ever Secret Cinema based on a TV series, bringing fans all-new storylines, characters and locations created especially for the event.
The first one opens on Wednesday, November 13, and will run until Sunday, February 23, 2020.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
You Might Also Like
