“Stranger Things” is back. And not a moment too soon.
The beloved, 80s-set sci-fi adventure, about a group of kids in small town America who battle otherworldly oddness thanks to their proximity to an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down, is finally set to return at the end of May, with a batch of super-sized episodes (with another bundle of episodes coming in July). And now we’ve got the best look yet at the upcoming season, known as “Stranger Things 4.”
Over the weekend, the creators and showrunners of “Stranger Things,” the Duffer Brothers, called this season the “Game of Thrones” season, given how geographically spread out the characters are and how beefy the episodes themselves are. And the trailer certainly bears that out, with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) living with Will (Noah Schnapp) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) in California. Of course Hopper (David Harbour) is stuck in Russia and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and most of the other kids are back in Hawkins, along with lovable satellite characters like Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke). (Earlier trailers centered on Eleven’s excitement about seeing Mike during spring break.)
Of course, the trailer showcases everything we’ve come to expect from “Stranger Things” – goopy monsters (this time some that are flying), the looming presence of a governmental conspiracy (Paul Reiser returns!) and, of course, the raddest 1980s tunes and fashions (the entire clip is set to a properly spooky remix of Journey’s “Separate Ways,” already an 80s pop culture favorite for its inclusion in “TRON”). It’s just fun catching up with the characters (good to know Hopper is now being recruited for the Demagorgan death arena) and the new tonal elements (elsewhere he Duffers have likened the season to “A Nightmare on Elm Street”) are coming through in a big way.
“Stranger Things 4,” which also stars Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Priah Ferguson and Brett Gelman, first returns on May 27. Get your leg warmers ready.
The official “Stranger Things 4” synopsis is as follows:
“It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.”