*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
Since the production of Stranger Things’s fourth season. resumed after a long hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, there’s only one thing on our mind: When will the gang finally return to the small screen?
Lucky for us, David Harbour just made our day and gave us some insight into the future of the show, including what filming was like and what’s to come of his character, Jim Hopper. Keep reading for everything we know about Stranger Things season 4.
You betcha. Back in May, Netflix released a sneak peek at the upcoming season, which features the return of Eleven’s “Papa”, Dr. Martin Brenner. The clip shows a montage of scenes, featuring kids wearing hospital gowns while playing in a game room. They all have buzzed hair, just like Eleven did in season one.
When Dr. Brenner walks in, he says, “Today, I have something very special planned for you.” Right on cue, he turns to Eleven (who’s using her powers to eavesdrop) and adds, “Eleven, are you listening?”
Unfortunately, Netflix hasn’t yet mentioned when Stranger Things 4 will be available for streaming. However, we do know it won’t be coming until 2022.
Stranger Things 4 will be exclusively available on Netflix. The streaming service requires a subscription, with prices ranging from $9/month for the Basic package to $16/month for the Premium plan.
Similar to Stranger Things 3, many fans expect the forthcoming season to have eight episodes.
While we don’t know the exact story line, the show’s creators—Matt and Ross Duffer (aka the Duffer Brothers)—previously shared a photo on Twitter, featuring the title of the first episode: “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club.” And judging from one of the first teaser trailers, it looks like at least some of it will be set in Russia.
The new episodes will feature several familiar faces, including Brown, Modine, Harbour, Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer. It will also star a few newcomers, like Robert Englund, Jamie Campbell Bower, Tom Wlaschiha, Nikola Djuricko, Joseph Quinn, Sherman Augustus and Mason Dye.
Stranger Things 3 left us questioning Hopper’s fate, but earlier teasers confirmed he’s alive and under duress.
In case you need a brief refresher, fans started worrying about his fate in season three when he ventured into the Russian lab beneath the Starcourt Mall. The problem? The lab exploded, leaving Joyce and Eleven to question his survival.
In an interview with USA Today, Harbour spilled some details about filming as well as what’s in store for his character.
“This season is so enjoyable, it’s epic in a scope that we’ve never had. Enjoyable is a strange word: It wasn’t easy,” he revealed. “It was a lot of cold nights, we’re out on locations in crazy snowy environments sometimes and in actual prisons (in Lithuania). And also even where Hopper is in his life, he’s in a dark, fragile, vulnerable place, to the point where he has a shaved head and he’s like a baby almost.”
Harbour added, “He’s discovering himself and what he is, and we also are going to see a lot of dark backstory from Hopper that we’ve only hinted at. It’s not ‘happy’ enjoyable, but enjoyable in terms of eating a hearty meal.”
We have several questions after the season three finale: Like what exactly happened to Hopper? And how did the Russians get their hands on an American hostage…and a Demogorgon? Well, according to Ross Duffer, the new episodes will not only be “very different,” but they’ll also tie up loose ends.
“We have the big broad strokes. It’s just now about filling in those lines in the details,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
At the end of Stranger Things 3, the Byers family—along with Eleven—moved away from Hawkins in search of, well, less drama. Although we don’t know much about the upcoming season, Matt Duffer hinted that it will expand much farther than the small Indiana town (aka Russia).
“I think the biggest thing that’s going to happen is it’s 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,” he said.
The Duffer Brothers previously revealed that Stranger Things will probably be “a four-season thing and then out.” However, they recently stated that the upcoming season will not be the final season like it was previously believed.
“Season four won't be the end,” Ross said in a statement, according to E!. “We know what the end is, and we know when it is. [The pandemic] has given us time to look ahead, figure out what is best for the show. Starting to fill that out gave us a better idea of how long we need to tell that story.”
Don't mind us, we'll just be patiently awaiting a release date.
