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After a three-year delay caused largely by the pandemic, Netflix’s supernatural hit, Stranger Things is back for a two-part fourth season. Part one drops before the long Memorial Day weekend on May 27, while part two arrives in time for the long Fourth of July weekend on July 1, giving viewers plenty of time to binge both parts.
While the series has been away since 2019, it’s only been six months in show time since the Battle of Starcourt, which saw the presumed death of Sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and the destruction of the mall. Since then, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) has taken her kids, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Will (Noah Schnapp) and Hopper’s adopted daughter Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) away from Hawkins, Ind., to start a new life in California. But moving doesn’t get them nearly far enough away from the Upside Down and all of the horrors it holds.
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Season 4’s first official trailer opens with Max (Sadie Sink) reading a letter to her dead (?) brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery), while hinting that all may not be what it seems with regard to him.
In California, Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) shows up in dramatic fashion to warn Eleven that things are far from over: “I relocated you guys far from Hawkins because I thought you’d be safe,” he says as Journey’s ‘80s anthem “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” starts to play. “A war is coming. I’m afraid your friends in Hawkins are very much in the eye of the storm.”
“I don’t have my powers,” Eleven says.
“I don’t know how to say this other than just to say it: Without you, we can’t win this war,” Owens tells her. No pressure though.
Meanwhile, a trailer released in February 2020 revealed that Hopper was still alive and being held prisoner in Russia. A mysterious package that arrives at the Byers’ new home hints that he’s trying to reach out to Joyce.
“Every ending has a beginning,” the trailer concludes as the music builds.
Stranger Things also stars Finn Wolfhard as Eleven’s boyfriend, Mike Wheeler; Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson; Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair; Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield; Natalia Dyer as Mike’s sister, Nancy Wheeler; Joe Keery as Steve Harrington; Maya Hawke as Robin Buckely; Priah Ferguson as Lucas’ sister, Erica; Brett Gelman as Murray; Cara Buono as Mike and Nancy’s mom, Karen; and Matthew Modine as Dr. Brenner, also known to Eleven as Papa and not affectionately so.
Stranger Things was created by The Duffer Brothers and is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions & 21 Laps Entertainment. The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers on the series, alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, Iain Paterson, and Curtis Gwinn.
