The kids face a new threat in season four of Stranger Things. And of course they’re playing Dungeons again
As if high school wasn’t daunting enough, new supernatural dangers await the Stranger Things friends on May 27th. A spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t seen all the episodes that have been released so far.
The fact that the teenagers are spatially separated from each other doesn’t make things any better. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, 18) and the Byers family have moved to California. Police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour, 47), initially thought to be dead, was transported to Russia. And the others stayed in little Hawkins after the imposing Battle of Starcourt Mall in season three.
Eleven can’t wait for spring break because that’s when she’ll see Mike (Finn Wolfhard, 19) again. “Full astrein”, the two are happy in the final trailer for the first seven episodes of the fourth season next to Will (Noah Schnapp, 17) when visiting a roller rink. But what awaits her and her friends in the new episodes about six months after season three is likely to be the exact opposite. Because the “best spring break of all time” also brings unexpected dangers with it.
The real-life horrors of a high school teenager are insignificant compared to the threats of the underworld the characters must once again face. Sinister monsters like Demogorgons and the Mind Flayer have sprung from the Upside Down, as the alternate dimension of the series is known in English. And from Friday, “the world will be turned upside down,” Netflix announces, alluding to this.
Fight on multiple fronts
Apparently responsible for this? The new main villain, a monster named Vecna who is already sure: “You lost.” The whole season is apparently marked by a wide variety of arguments. “Don’t play heroes. There’s no shame in running away,” reads the latest trailer. But the kids and the other characters are unlikely to follow this advice.
Among others, Mike, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo, 19) and Erica (Priah Ferguson) face the fight in a game of Pen-
Meanwhile, Max (Sadie Sink, 20) struggles with the death of her brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery, 27). “Dear Billy, I don’t know if you can even hear that,” she explains at his grave. “Everything has been a disaster since you’ve been gone. For a while I tried to be happy, normal. I know that’s impossible.” For Max in particular, but also for the others, an ominous twist could be even more catastrophic. Vecna, who like the other monsters from “Dungeons
While other well-known characters such as Joyce (Winona Ryder, 50), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton, 28) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, 20) will return, horror legend Robert Englund (74) will join the cast. The actor gained cult status as Freddy Krueger, here he will play Victor Creel. His character is stuck in a psychiatric institution after committing horrific murders in the 1950s. The trailers also hint that the derelict and possibly haunted House of Creel will play an important role in the new season.
Record breaking?
According to the streaming service, the nine new episodes have a playing time of around 13 hours. The fourth season of “Stranger Things” is divided into two. From May 27, viewers will initially see the first seven episodes. The two final episodes, which together should be around four hours long, will be available from July 1st.
The streaming service could possibly run “completely flawless” after the new episodes were released. Because the fourth season, which has been eagerly awaited by many viewers, certainly has the potential to set new records.
The third season of “Stranger Things” currently ranks third in the best list of English-language series on Netflix. Within the first 28 days of publication in summer 2019, users watched a total of more than 582 million hours. Only the two “Bridgerton” seasons have so far been able to surpass this with around 625 million and around 656 million viewing hours.
