‘Stranger Things’ Season 4: New Series Regular & Everything We Know So Far

Stranger Things – Picture: Netflix

Stranger Things is returning for a fourth season at Netflix and we’ll be covering everything you need to know about the upcoming fourth season right here. From the season 4 Stranger Things release date to production status, new cast members and literally everything else.

The Duffer Brothers and all the cast and crew involved have done an incredible job making Stranger Things the flagship show on Netflix. Since the series debut in July 2016, the show has only ever gone from strength to strength and is now embodied in pop culture.

Season 3 of Stranger Things released on July 4th, 2019.

So let’s get to it. Let’s dive into everything you need to know on Stranger Things season 4.

Has Stranger Things been renewed for season 4 and when will it release?

Official renewal status: Renewed (last updated: 09/30/2019)

After a few days worth of teasing leading up to September 30th, 2019 Netflix finally confirmed that Stranger Things would be returning for a fourth season.

#StrangerThings has been renewed for a fourth season!!

Additionally, series creators and showrunners The Duffer Brothers have signed a multi-year film and series overall deal with Netflix! pic.twitter.com/29qCJpOzSk

— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) September 30, 2019

In addition, as you can see in the tweet above, Netflix has signed a multi-year deal with The Duffer Brothers. This deal is on top of the one Netflix already has with Shawn Levy who is a producer on the show.

The announcement of season 4 came accompanied by a video that had the captions “We’re not in Hawkins anymore”.

we’re not in hawkins anymore pic.twitter.com/Y4hayuPKvu

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 30, 2019

You can see an extended version of the announcement on YouTube where the clock plays more of a role. Could this suggest we’re going to be seeing a time-jump?

On December 27th, 2019 another Tweet came out with an old screenshot of Eleven accompanied with another clock emoji. As for when a fourth season would come on Netflix, some have speculated (including us!) a Christmas episode or Christmas season is next. We do know that season 4 is definitely coming in 2020 as confirmed by Stranger Writers on Twitter.

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we’re not in hawkins anymore
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— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) December 31, 2019

Frankly, it’s taken a year and a half between each season so far meaning at the moment, our best guess is that Stranger Things season 4 will be on Netflix for Christmas 2020.

Filming Dates for Stranger Things season 4

Thanks to our source, we know that filming for Stranger Things season 4 is set to kick off on January 7th, 2020. We also know that filming is scheduled to end on August 5th, 2020.

As we learned from the teaser trailer, the team behind Stranger Things has also filmed extensively in Vilnius, Lithuania. Alongside set pictures, Movieweb announced they had wrapped filming at that location in February 2020.

Filming will once again entirely take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. In addition, we know that the series is being filmed under the working title of “TARECO”. A Tareco is a Brazilian biscuit that originates from the Northeast region.

Stranger Things behind the scenes

Is season 4 the last season of Stranger Things?

Looking beyond season 4 for Stranger Things is difficult particularly as we don’t know how the story will wrap up in season 4 yet. Shawn Levy, however, did speak recently about the future of the show saying:

“I mean I will say we have a good sense of stuff that happens in season four. Season four is definitely happening. There’s very much the possibility of a season beyond that one, that’s currently undecided. And what I would just say is part of the chaos and fun of this particular show is that while the Duffers and the writer’s room and we producers outline the entire season, the Duffers really use the writing process to revisit, reassess and question all of their prior assumptions.

So even though we always start off with a good sense of the major arcs of the season. We’re always ready for shifts and surprises because if the Duffers stumble into a different or surprising inspiration while they rewrite the script, we’re going to follow that inspiration and throw out some ideas in order to embrace some new ones that are more exciting. And I have no doubt that season 3 will be no exception.”

What do the Duffer Brothers have to say?

But from what was said it’s still unclear on whether or not a fifth season is happening. Even the Duffer Brothers are uncertain about where they stand on a fifth season. In an interview with Enews, the Brothers had the following to say:

Ross:

“We don’t actually know. I think, you know, four to five seasons is likely where we’ll end up, but who knows? I mean, none of this official, and we know where we want to go. We’re trying to figure out still how long it’ll take to get there, so we’ll see.”

Matt: 

“It’s hard, like four seems short, five seems long. So I don’t know what to do.”

We do, however, have more to look forward to from The Duffer Brothers and indeed Shawn Levy who all have exclusive output deals with Netflix over the next few years.

What’s the episode count and names for Stranger Things season 4?

The fourth season will also be receiving eight episodes like the first and third seasons.

Only the second season received more episodes, which aired nine in total.

On November 7th (which is Stranger Things Day), the Stranger Writers Twitter account announced the name of the first episode and who’s writing it.

• Episode 401 – “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” – Written by The Duffer Brothers

looking for new members… are you in? pic.twitter.com/P1xAWNUPss

— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) November 7, 2019

What can we expect from Stranger Things season 4?

Season 3 left us with plenty to ponder for next season. We can expect some of the following to be revealed.

Who is “The American?”

The most obvious answer to this question is obviously Jim Hopper. We never saw Hopper’s body disintegrated by the outburst of power from the Russian’s machine but we were left to assume the worse. In the final scene, we cut back to the Russian base in Kamchatka where the other machine was located. Two guards revealed that an American was a prisoner inside the base.

The only logical conclusion is the American is Hopper and he must have been teleported between Hawkins and Kamchatka by the machines the Russians were using to force open the Upside Down. Alternatively, he may have been sent into the Upside Down only for the Kamchatka Russians to find him thus capturing him.

As to how Hopper escapes his cell is anyone’s guess. But he’ll likely be able to escape the facility itself by using the machine to send him back to Hawkins. If the machine can’t send him back to Hawkins directly then he may have no choice but to go into the Upside Down and try to make his way home from there.

Jim!? – Copyright. Netflix

Are the Byers and Eleven going to return to Hawkins?

After the tearful goodbye to their friends and Hawkins, the Byers and Eleven have moved away to pastures new. Before leaving Mike and Eleven have made it clear they’ll be talking to and visiting as often as they can. Mike will go to the Byers place for Thanksgiving, and Eleven will ask Joyce if she can stay at Mike’s for Christmas.

It’s our hope the next season will be based at Christmas, which would give writers an easy reason to write characters to be in Hawkins at the same time. Regardless, characters such as Eleven and Will are critical to the story thanks to their connection to the Upside Down.

Jonathan’s return to Hawkins would coincide with his relationship with Nancy Wheeler. As for Joyce, she’d likely tag along just to make sure Will and Eleven are safe.

How will the Mindflayer return?

If anyone thought the Mindflayer was destroyed is sadly mistaken. The creature seen throughout the third season was a conduit used by the Mindflayer and not the Mindflayer itself.  With the connection between the Upside Down and our world shut, the conduit body lost its “signal” to the Midnlfayer thus the body was destroyed.

The Mindflayer is safe and sound in the Upside Down but is trapped for now. He’ll definitely be returning with a vengeance and will likely look to enact his revenge on the town of Hawkins after being thwarted twice.

As to how he returns will be very interesting. The past two occasions when he’s possessed humans has not gone to plan. Arguably possessing one of the Russians would be a far better option than a teenager from Hawkins.

The Mindflyaer will return – Copyright. Netflix

Have the Russians tamed a Demogorgon?

The big reveal at the end of the fourth season was shown to be a Demogorgon had been captured by the Russians. At first, it looked the Russians had found a Demodog until it stood on its hind legs revealing the true form of the creature.

The Russians plan to tear open a portal to the Upside Down in Kamchatka must have been a success. While the facility in Hawkins was shut down, the Kamchatkan base is still fully functional. Given time to perfect the research, the machine may now give the Russians access to Upside Down as and when they please.

How they came to capture a Demogorgon is unclear but perhaps they were able to find one of the spawns similar to Dustin’s pet D’Artagan in season 2. This would give pause to reason that the Demodogs are in fact the juvenile or puppy stage of the Demogorgon.

Dustin’s connection to D’Artagan also gives us reason to believe that creatures from the Upside Down can form bonds, however small. So if the Russians raised this particular Demogorgon from birth/spawn, then maybe they were able to tame the monster. Or of least the Demogorgon likes to be fed on a regular basis and the Russians can study the creature. Also, the Demogorgon has the ability to go in and out of the Upside Down, which leads us to wonder why it willingly would stay in a cage.

A Demogorgon – Copyright. Netflix

More experiments to appear?

In the second season, we learned that Eleven wasn’t the only experiment to escape the Department of Energy. Eight was also able to escape and she made it her mission to take down the people related to the experiments. Like Eleven, Eight also exhibited powers of her own. Instead of telekinetic abilities like Eleven’s, Eight could cast illusions, become invisible through her illusions and also clairvoyance.

We didn’t see any further experiments in season 3 but director Shawn Levy heavily hinted we could see more in the future:

“I think we’ve clearly implied there are other numbers, and I can’t imagine that the world will only ever know Eleven and Eight”

While it certainly was the weakest story of season 2, if done right it would be great to explore more on the experiments by the DoE. With the DoE shut down at Hawkins it would be intriguing to see how they would introduce more experiments. One or two could make excellent protagonists, giving Eleven one of her toughest challenges yet. Alternatively, they could be introduced to help combat the Upside Down.

Where to watch Stranger Things cast members until Stranger Things season 4

After checking what the cast members are up to right now through IMDb, some are currently involved in projects outside of Netflix.

David Harbour (Jim Hopper) is currently in filming for the Black Widow, Winona Ryder is filming for the television series The Plot Against America, and Millie Bobbie-Brown is in filming for Enola Holmes.

Some of the stars have been announced for upcoming projects yet to begin production, while other stars are just completing theirs. Timing is key, so the stars will need of least two months to film for Stranger Things season four. We’re speculating that production will begin either this Fall or this Winter.

Who can we expect to see return for the fourth season of Stranger Things?

The following cast members will definitely be returning for the fourth season of Stranger Things:

Further cast members we can expect to see:

Thanks to a tweet from Netflix we now have confirmation that David Harbour will be returning to role of Jim Hopper in season 4! A Valentine’s day tweet teasing the fourth season see’s the actor reprising the role.

A welcome gift on Valentine’s Day? Stranger Things have happened. pic.twitter.com/6bUFvnyrjY

— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) February 14, 2020

Thanks to the first teaser trailer, we know that Tom Wlaschiha will be featured in season 4. His exact role and to what extent he’ll be featured has yet to be learned.

ICYMI – Tom Wlaschiha who was in Game of Thrones will be appearing in #StrangerThings4. pic.twitter.com/qiRPjv0Rtu

— What’s on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) February 18, 2020

In late February 2020, Netflix confirmed that Priah Ferguson had been upped to a series regular for the fourth season.

Wow. thanks for such a wonderful article @Variety. The journey has been amazing.?

‘Stranger Things’ Ups Priah Ferguson to Series Regular for Season 4 – Variety https://t.co/g3wwXMnYbw

— Priah Ferguson (@priahferguson) February 21, 2020

How popular was the third season of Stranger Things season 3?

Going off the recent figures announced by Netflix, Stranger Things season 3 was absolutely huge.

Producing numbers that some television networks can only dream about, Stranger Things season 3 in its first 4 weeks was watched by 64 million members!

#StrangerThings Season 3 was the most watched season to date, with 64 million member households watching in its first four weeks pic.twitter.com/C1BKMThIpj

— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) October 16, 2019

Will the Duffer Brother continue to work on Stranger Things?

Since the creation of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers haven’t been involved in any other projects.

The future of the show was shaky after a lawsuit was raised against the pair. Charlie Kessler the claimant believed he had come up with the idea for Stranger Things first and had discussed the basis of the show to the Duffer Brothers at the 2014 Tribeca Festival. A year later Kessler was “surprised” to learn of the new project the Duffer Brothers continue to work on today.

The Duffer Brothers working on the set of Stranger Things – Copyright. Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

Just before the trial was set to begin, the lawsuit was dropped. This was because the Duffer Brothers were able to produce documents detailing the concept of the show as early as 2010. Kessler had the following to say after dropping the lawsuit:

“After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of Stranger Things. Documents from 2010 and 2013 prove that the Duffers independently created their show. As a result, I have withdrawn my claim and I will be making no further comment on this matter.”

The series is expected to have of least five seasons so for the foreseeable future the Duffer Brothers future is at Netflix with Stranger Things.

Are you looking forward to the release of Stranger Things Season 4? Let us know down in the comments.