Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin): Stranger Things 4 is the “darkest season” yet

Netflix’s Stranger Things has taken us on some wild rides in its previous three seasons. We’ve seen the kids face off against everything from the terrors of the Upside Down to evil Russians to middle school prom. There’s no telling where the story could be heading in the upcoming fourth season. While the plot remains a mystery, Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) recently hinted that it goes to some pretty dark places.

“It’s definitely high-action for sure,” Matarazzo gold SyFy Wire. “I’d say it’s our darkest season, which is saying something because it’s not a very light-hearted show. There are funny moments, but it’s a pretty dark premise. This is definitely our season where I think it takes its most disturbing turn.”

Every season of Stranger Things has been hugely successful so far, in no small part because of the child actors. Of course, at this point pretty much all of those kids are no longer kids, including Matarazzo, who’s 18. Maybe it’s time for a darker turn.

When is Stranger Things season 4 coming to Netflix?

Unfortunately, it’ll probably be a while before we see what exactly that means. Speaking to Collider, Matarazzo talked about how showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer write the show and how things have changed a bit for this latest season. “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,” he said. “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.”

"This year, because of COVID, there’s no excuse for them not to have the [season] written completely. When we went in for our first table read which was February of 2020 we expected to go right into filming and it was gonna be the same situation, they were gonna start with episodes all the way up through 5 and we were probably gonna do the same hiatus, but COVID hit and we only had like six episodes and so they were like, “we might as well finish.”"

Hopefully, completed scripts can help filming go by a little quicker.

Fans are desperate to see the next chapter of Stranger Things and filming is currently underway. Sadly, Netflix deems it too early for an official premiere date.

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