Netflix’s biggest and most beloved series, Stranger Things, finally returns after a three-year hiatus with a two-part fourth season launch set to begin on May 27th. A full-length trailer offering the biggest glimpse yet was on full display and there’s a lot to unpack.
As Journey’s “Separate Ways” is given a haunting orchestral rendition, the events of season three still weigh heavily as everyone attempts to move on from the pull of the Upside Down; Max is seen at the grave of her brother and lamenting that nothing will ever be the same. The Byers family, along with newly adopted Eleven/Jane, have moved to California and are attempting to fit in and adjust to their new life in hiding. Hopper is seen being forced to live out his days in a Soviet labor camp due to a mishap with the device found under the Starcourt Mall.
Returning is the massive feeling of 80’s nostalgia as Mike has journeyed to California to see the Byers’ and hopefully rekindle his relationship with Eleven/Jane. This serenity is interrupted by the return of Paul Reiser’s character (Dr. Owens) who is back to warn Eleven of a coming war and requires her help. The shot of Eleven in the back of a prison transport van seems to imply that she does not willingly go back to Hawkins. Owens also warns that the friends who remained in Hawkins like Steven, Dustin, Mike, Nancy and Robin may be in danger as they investigate a seemingly haunted house as the camera pans upside down.
It is also in this meeting between Eleven and Owens that she reveals that she no longer has her powers after being wounded in the season three finale. The final half of the trailer is loaded with action as there seems to be a group of children wondering the Upside Down and Hopper is forced to fight a Demogorgon in the prison yard with makeshift weapons. There are flashbacks or scenes of Eleven either acquiring or reacquiring her powers and a brief shot of Max levitating implying the possibility that her powers have transferred to another person or groups of people.
The trailer closes with an extended look of what can presumed to be the primary villain of this upcoming season; a fleshy demon type character with appendages coming out of his back and saying “You have lost”. This new character could be the master of the Upside Down and responsible for the events of the entire series. If past seasons are indicative of the villains, we can expect this new one to be equally as terrifying as the Demogorgon or the Mind Flayer. Volume 1 of season four will begin on May 27th with Volume 2 releasing on July 1st.
Featured Image Credit: Collider
