Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) updates fans on season 4

The world has certainly felt a bit upside down over the past year or so, but it’s been a while since Stranger Things fans visited the actual Upside Down, or caught up with our favorite gang of Demogorgon-fighting, mystery-solving pre-teens. Those wondering when the fourth season of Netflix’s hit sci-fi series might arrive, however, officially have an update.

According to Gaten Matarazzo, who plays the lovable Dustin Henderson, the group is about four or five episodes into the season, and showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer are still working on writing the scripts beyond that. Speaking with Collider, the actor dove into the Duffer Brothers’ usual strategy for writing, directing and filming each season of the show, explaining that the duo typically writes the majority of the season prior to filming, then takes a hiatus about halfway through to “panic write” and finish it up. Speaking specifically about Stranger Things 4, he revealed:

"The goal was never to film before the show was finished being written, that’s just how it ended up happening the first three seasons. We have a certain number of episodes, around five or six out of eight or nine is usually what we’ll start filming with once those are written. And the goal is [The Duffer Brothers] will direct and [then] write at home. They’ll be home and that’s when they’ll write and manage their workload that way, and how it’s always worked out is we’re on like episode 4 or 5 and we haven’t seen episode 6 and 7 yet, and we have no idea what’s gonna happen and they haven’t written all of it yet."

How COVID-19 has affected Stranger Things filming

Of course, in addition to the usual hold-ups when it comes to producing and filming a season of television, the upcoming outing of Stranger Things has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Because of production delays last year, the Duffers were able to write the entire season before filming, but Matarazzo explained that restrictions have forced the cast and crew to be more flexible when it comes to which dates they’re needed on set. “There’s very few dates that are reliable,” he said. “It really is more of a guesstimation on when we’re gonna be filming next, when we’re gonna be wrapping up, when release is gonna be, all that jazz because we still don’t know on day-to-day if we’re gonna be filming next week.”

With that in mind, it’s not likely Stranger Things fans will find out what’s happened to Hopper or where the gang is headed next anytime soon.

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