Matthew Modine thinks Dr. Brenner could return to Stranger Things

Vecna is the villain of the moment on Stranger Things, a frightful inter-dimensional traveler bent on remaking the world in his twisted image. But as Eleven pointed out in the recent fourth season of the Netflix hit, Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) is the real monster. This is the abusive scientist who created the whole Vecna mess in the first place with his experiments, all the while convincing himself that he “loved” his test subjects even as he tortured them. He’s a bad dude.

According to Modine, playing Brenner made him “sick to my stomach. I have a hard time separating, and I don’t like it.”

"Your body doesn’t know it’s acting. Even though I’m memorizing lines and I understand the physical aspects of acting, you put your body through whatever that character is going through. It can be very destructive to your body. I don’t ever want to get in the skin of someone like Dr. Brenner again."

That said, Modine isn’t writing off the possibility of playing him again…even though we seemingly saw Brenner finally die in the episode “Papa” (ugh, if we never hear Eleven call him that again, it’ll be too soon). Stranger Things has a history of fakeout deaths; Brenner himself seemingly died at the end of season 1 only to return in season 4. Might history repeat itself?

Dr. Brenner could be “supernatural,” cheat death again

According to Modine, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer were asked if Brenner was really dead, and they said, “Brenner is no longer with us.” That does sound a little slippery. “Does that mean he’s dead? I don’t know,” Modine told Men’s Health.

"The fascinating thing about Brenner is not just that he survived the Demogorgon, but he also survived 001’s attack. He and Eleven were the only ones who were alive after that attack. It wasn’t just surviving one monster; he survived a second. The interesting thing to me was when Eleven regained her powers in episode 5 [“The Nina Project”] and began to escape. She dispatches three or four guards trying to stop her. Brenner shows up, and she tries to use her abilities against him. It doesn’t work, and Brenner says, ‘You didn’t think it’d be that easy. Did you?’ That’s fascinating to me because now I believe Brenner starts to enter into the realm of the supernatural, or perhaps he’s 000. But this is only existing in my imagination. The Duffers are very secretive about what they’re doing, and I respect that."

Rewatching that scene, I think there are multiple interpretations. This is before Eleven fully regains her powers, when she’s trying to escape the lab. She manages to fling a trio of guards off of her in a desperate situation, but can’t make her powers act on cue when she wants to hurt Brenner. Maybe he’s supernatural, or maybe Eleven’s abilities just weren’t fully operational yet. You be the judge:

Matthew Modine is hoping for an “extraordinary and satisfactory” final season of Stranger Things

Basically, I wouldn’t be shocked if Brenner somehow showed up in the fifth and final season…although I hope we’ve seen the last of him.

Speaking of that final season, Modine doesn’t know what’s coming but has faith that the Duffers will pull through. “Whether it’s Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, it’s unbelievably difficult to do a final season. For one, people don’t want it to end. To find an end that is satisfactory for the audience is quite difficult,” he said. “I have great faith in the Duffer Brothers and their creative partners to do something extraordinary and satisfactory for the billions of Stranger Things fans across the world.”

We don’t know when we’ll get to see the fruits of their labors, but probably not for a couple of years yet.

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