Photo: Netflix
In a nutshell:
The record-breaking, heart-stopping, nostalgia-laden sci-fi sensation, Stranger Things, starring Millie Bobby Brown as the telekinetic teenager Eleven is set to return almost three years after the last instalment.
Is Stranger Things Season 4 happening?
Back in 2018 in an interview with Collider, one of the show’s directors and executive producers, Shawn Levy, confirmed that “Season 4 is definitely happening”. Then in 2019, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer shared their excitement about Season 4 and the direction in which they wanted to take the plot with Entertainment Weekly. More specifically they revealed: “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. It’s going to feel very different than [the third] season.
Photo: Netflix
Has a Stranger Things Season 4 release date been confirmed?
Netflix has not yet confirmed an exact release date, but a teaser posted on November 6 announced that the fourth season would drop in the summer of 2022. It also provided a list of cryptic titles for each of the nine upcoming episodes, which included “Vecna’s Curse”, “Dear Billy”, “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” and “Papa.” Let the frenzied speculation begin.
What will the Stranger Things Season 4 cast look like?
Fan favourites Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Noah Schnapp (Will), Sadie Sink (Max), Natalia Dyer(Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Joe Keery (Steve), Maya Hawke (Robin), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) and David Harbour (Jim Hopper) are all expected to return. More good news? According to Variety, Priah Ferguson, who stole the show in Season 3 as Erica, the wisecracking younger sister of Lucas, has been promoted to a series regular.
Then there are the brand new recruits. In November 2020, it was reported that eight additional cast members had come on board for season four. Among them is Jamie Campbell Bower as a man who works at a psychiatric hospital, Eduardo Franco as Jonathan’s new best friend, Joseph Quinn as an audacious ’80s metalhead, Robert Englund as a psychiatric patient and Tom Wlaschiha as a Russian prison guard who befriends Hopper. If that wasn’t enough, four more actors joined the line-up in June 2021: Myles Truitt as a basketball star, Grace Van Dien as a cheerleader, Regina Ting Chen as a guidance counsellor and Amybeth McNulty as a band nerd who catches the eye of one of our heroes.
What can we expect from Stranger Things season four?
In February 2020, a teaser revealed that Jim Hopper, who was presumed dead at the end of Season 3 after helping to close the gate between the real world and the Upside Down, is in fact alive and working on an icy railroad in Russia alongside other prisoners. “We’re excited to officially confirm that production on Stranger Things 4 is now underway — and even more excited to announce the return of Hopper,” the Duffer brothers added in a statement. “Although it’s not all good news for our ‘American’; he is imprisoned far from home in the snowy wasteland of Kamchatka, where he will face dangers both human… and other. Meanwhile, back in the States, a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything. Season four is shaping up to be the biggest and most frightening season yet, and we cannot wait for everyone to see more.”
While plot details have been kept carefully under wraps, director and executive producer Shawn Levy spoke about the epic scale of season four in July 2021. “I shot in Lithuania right before the pandemic,” he said. “We have filmed in Georgia, Lithuania and New Mexico, so suffice to say season four is sprawling. It’s visually and narratively very ambitious, much more ambitious than the prior three seasons. The delay is due in large measure to covid-19 and the pace at which we have to work to do so safely, but it also happens to be the season that we chose to go much bigger.”
What year will Stranger Things Season 4 be set in?
The first season is set in 1983, the second in 1984 and the third in 1985, meaning fans had been expecting the fourth season to be set in 1986. This was confirmed by the teaser released on November 6, which stated that the adventure would continue in the spring of 1986.
Photo: Netflix
When can I watch the Stranger Things Season 4 trailer?
Although a full-length trailer has yet to be released, a teaser which dropped in May 2021 showed Eleven seemingly locked behind a door in an institution which closely resembles the one she grew up in. “Eleven, are you listening?” asks a voice which appears to belong to Dr Martin Brenner, the former scientist who raised her as a test subject.
Then came a sneak peek on August 6, which gave us a glimpse of Hopper carrying a flamethrower and Eleven with long hair and a fringe (a departure from her season three bob). On September 25, another teaser arrived titled “Creel House”. It showed a family of four moving into their new home in the 1950s. They’re happy for a time, until their lights begin to flicker and a disemboweled rabbit is found by their front door. Then, suddenly, the two children lie motionless on the floor behind their father. The story then moves forward in time, with Steve, Dustin and the gang entering the now abandoned house in search of clues and discovering an ominous-looking grandfather clock.
On November 6 came yet another teaser trailer. This one featured Eleven writing a letter to Mike from her new home in California. We see her walking down the hallways of her school, dealing with bullies and counting down to spring break when the pair hope to reunite. There are also shots of revellers at a roller skating rink, a shoot out involving Jonathan and Mike, and a scene on a dusty plain with a helicopter and giant explosions. The message is clear: Season 4 is bigger than ever.
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk
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