Stranger Things season 4 will “feel very different” from what’s come before

Officially, Netflix hasn’t yet renewed Stranger Things for a fourth season. The period drama follows a group of kids in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana as they battle demons both fantastical (inter-dimensional demons intent on invading their world) and ordinary (puberty).

Unofficially, who are they kidding? The show is quite possibly the streaming service’s biggest hit, and one they’re not about to let go off as they face increasingly competition from the likes of Amazon and Disney+. So when creators Matt and Ross Duffer talk to Entertainment Weekly about where the show might go “assuming there’s a season 4,” we can pretty much take it as them laying out their plans. Because c’mon, we all know season 4 is coming sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, if they want to film it while the cast can still convincingly play middle schoolers.

“We don’t want to write ourselves in a corner so we try to have these early discussions with the writers just to make sure that we’re setting ourselves up to go in the right direction,” said Ross Duffer. “We don’t know a lot, but we do know a lot of the big broad strokes. At the end of season two, we knew about Billy. We knew that the Russians were going to come in. We didn’t know the mall and stuff, but again, we know these big broad strokes. That’s sort of where we are in season four. We have the big broad strokes. It’s just now about filling in those lines in the details. We’re pretty excited about where it’s potentially going to go. Again, like we said, it’s going to feel very different than this season. But I think that’s the right thing to do and I think it’ll be exciting.”

And just how might the new season feel “different”? Matt jumps in with the tease:

"I think the biggest thing that’s going to happen is it’s going to open up a little bit, not necessarily in terms of scale, in terms of special effects, but open up in terms of allowing plotlines into areas outside of Hawkins."

Stranger Things tried exploring plotlines outside Hawkins in season 2 with “The Lost Sister.” It didn’t go well. More successful were the show’s brief trips to Russia, which came at the start and end of season 3. With the Russians involved, it makes sense to take things a little more international. Plus, season 3 ended on a cliffhanger, with a mysterious “American” in a Russian prison and a Demogorgon in the basement. Ross Duffer promised that stuff would be dealt with. “That’s obviously going to play a huge role in a potential season four.”

“A potential season 4.” You guys kill me.

In other Stranger Things news, a couple of of breakout characters from the new season — Robin the clever mall worker and Alexei the Slurpee-loving Russian scientist — are getting their own Funko Pop! figures:

And and AND…developer Behavior is teaming up with Netflix for a Stranger Things-themed helping of its asymmetrical horror game Dead by Daylight. Check out the trailer:

The Stranger Things chapter will be available for PC and console in September.

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