Stranger Things season 4: predictions, excitement, and the new trailer

Annabelle Bartz, Staff Writer

In the past few years I have had a lot of time on my hands. I know we all know the reason so I am not even gonna mention it, but one of my binges was Stranger Things. Almost instantaneously I fell in love with this show. In a sea of spin offs and reboots, Stranger Things is a completely different experience with a huge fan base. The newest season of the show is meant to drop for a while now with the first part dropping on May 27, followed by another drop on July 1st. Luckily for us, they dropped a new trailer on March 12th, so we are going to look at what some of the imagery might mean. Also, this is your spoiler alert. I have no idea what is actually going to be in season 4, but I have watched and will be referencing the first 3 seasons. 

Stranger Things

To start off strong, I am going to say it: I don’t think Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown)  is going to get her powers back, at least not completely. Although many shows would quickly give El her powers back, the writers of this show are smarter than that. They know the emotional build from last season, so I don’t think they are just going to turn around and give her her powers back. Now I can’t say I think they will be gone through the entire season, but I don’t think she is going to be instantly as powerful as she was. 

In that same vein, it is not hard to tell that we are going to learn more of Eleven’s back story, something I personally am super excited for. In season two, Eleven gets the opportunity to reconnect with someone else that went through what she did: a character named Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), but also known as Eight. Shockingly enough, the character had completely different powers that were also incredible, so I can’t wait for them to introduce more of those characters into the show. 

Finally, focusing on another character, I think Max is going to get more screen time. Despite the fact that Max has been in 2 of the 3 seasons of Stranger Things, we don’t know all that much about her. Based on the trailer, I think we are going to see a lot more from her in this season. Played by the amazing actress Sadie Sink, I am very excited to (hopefully) see more of her on screen. 

After a break up in early season 2 Steve (Joe Kerry) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) have had some tension. Not that they have been unfriendly, but they are certainly a long way from being best friends. I expect that we will see that relationship repaired in this next season, not in a romantic way but coming back to being just friends. I expect that if that does happen, there will be some strain on Nancy and Jonathan’s relationship as he is no longer as close (in proximity) to Nancy as Steve is. That could definitely stir up some jealousy that could put the relationship at risk. 

My final prediction is that Hopper (David Harbour) is going to be involved with the big bad of this season, and it is my guess that he will die by the end of season 4. As you know if you have been keeping up to date with trailers and such, Hopper is currently in a Russian military base. How he got there we don’t know, but that is where he is at this point. In season 3, a secret Russian operation was discovered under a local mall and they were messing with the evil dimension known as the Upside Down. This is not my strongest theory and it is entirely based on one line where he says, “Maybe I can still help, even if it’s the last thing I do.” To me that sounds like I accidentally helped the bad guys, but I don’t want my loved ones to get hurt. 

Now take this all with a grain of sand. I don’t know what is going to happen in the upcoming season of this show, but I am really excited to find out. This is just me elaborating on what I took away from the trailer, so watch the trailer for yourself and see what you think. Will Eleven get her powers back? Is Hopper going to be involved with the bad guys? Will Steve finally get a girlfriend? We will have to find out on May 27 and/or July 1 to get a conclusive answer.