Stranger Things ditches Hawkins for California in explosive new teaser
The show's fourth season is currently scheduled to arrive some time in 2022, brochachos
TV News Stranger Things
Among the various factors that caused Stranger Things to burrow into our collective consciousness like some sort of extradimensional brain worm—the nostalgia, the teen banter, the extradimensional brain worms—the fundamental Midwesterness of it all is hard to overlook. Even when Mike, Eleven, et al. have departed small-town Hawkins, Indiana, it’s usually been for the Big City of Chicago; part of the appeal of the show has always been the contrasts it draws between its bucolic setting and the alien rot often literally lurking underneath.
On the other hand: California! Whoo! California!
That’s the major takeaway from the new teaser Netflix released for the show’s fourth season this morning, which follows the Byers clan (now updated to include Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, and un-updated to continue to include Will Byers’ tragic bowl cut) as they move out to the sunny West Coast. In a letter she writes back to Finn Wolfhard’s Mike, Eleven claims to be having a great time at her new school, which presumably means “I have not crushed any of the kids bullying me with my terrifying psychic powers. Yet.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be Stranger Things without some violence and horror lurking at the edges of teenage drama, and so the teaser ends on a much more explosive note. Lots of gunfire and adult situations ensue, putting the lie to Eleven’s assertion that she and Mike are going to have “the best spring break ever.”
Netflix has yet to set a formal date for the fourth season of Stranger Things; the nearest we’ve gotten is a confirmation that it’ll arrive some time in 2022. The third season of Stranger Things aired back in Summer 2019; this current hiatus (spurred, presumably, at least in part by the COVID-19 pandemic) represents the longest gap the show has taken to date between its seasons.
Update, 2:11 p.m., 11/6/21: Netflix has released more new information on the show’s fourth season—although the company still won’t get more specific than “Summer 2022" for a release date. They did at least release the episode titles for the season, which range from nerd references (“The Hellfire Club” and “Vecna’s Curse”) to obvious plot references (“Dear Billy” and “Papa” both seem pretty straightforward) to the more obscure.
1. “The Hellfire Club”
2. “Vecna’s Curse”
3. “The Monster and the Superhero”
4. “Dear Billy”
5. “The Nina Project”
6. “The Dive”
7. “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab”
8. “Papa”
9. “The Piggyback”
66 Comments
“It’s usually been to the big city of chicago”No that was only once, in the episode everyone rightfully hates.
But… Mohawk Guy!! Mohawk Guy.
I loved that guy’s mugger-in-an-80s-Frank-Miller-comic energy.
I never get these memos on things that “everyone hates”. Imagine the horror of blissfully going about life not hating the things I’m supposed to.
*jackoff gif*
Why do people keep talking about this “Chicago episode”? That never happened. There wasn’t an awful, pointless side-story episode in Chicago that ground the momentum to a halt and bored everyone stupid. Why do people make up stuff like this?
That’s my daughter’s favorite episode. That episode was 100% for the (very large) audience of kids watching, who wanted to see Eleven out on her own acting like a badass in the big city.
That episode is truly terrible. It’s like they watched every 80s film except Repo Man. And I was actually kind of excited that they were bringing in 80s punks.
I didn’t care for it either, although I did like the idea of Eleven running into Eight(?) with her own special psychic powers.
Yeah, I really liked the idea of it, and I liked the central conflict, but it just felt like the net result was just something for 11 to do while everyone else got in trouble – I would have preferred if it led to her either doing something that would have consequences OR having 8 have some kind of change of heart and show up in the finale. As it was it just felt like “how about this? oh nevermind”
Say what you will about the Chicago episode, it’s still a better New Mutants show than the actual New Mutants movie.
My opinion of that episode was that it was an over-long joke. The ‘gang’ wasn’t meant to be believable; they were a homage to trashy film-gangs in ‘80s films.
I liked the Chicago episode. I mean the story itself was kind of unmemorable. But I liked its place in the season with how it made Eleven’s return in the next episode way more exciting.
What’s the story with the delay on this season? I know the pandemic was a major wrench in the works, like it was for everything last year, but they were still adding cast members as late as that summer, which in a pandemic-free world is around when I would’ve expected it to be getting trailers, if not released. Seems like it was more than the pandemic that held it up.
Given the LA high school setting, I want to see Eleven doing Zack Morris’s Saved By the Bell ‘time out’ thing to freeze everyone and talk directly to the camera. But she’s psychically controlling them, and you can see the uncomprehending terror dawning in their eyes.
Is it LA? Does socal have those kind of pine trees in yards and a backdrop of foothills? IDK never been there.
LA seems like the most likely location. Figure the setting is in San Fernando Valley, given the suburban development and nearby foothills.
It was mostly filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but they are pretending it is Cali.
As many films and shows do, of course.
The non-aerial neighbourhood shots look a lot like parts of Santa Barbara to me, but I’m 99.9% sure that the school in the establishing shot is Pepperdine, which gets used a lot for school exteriors.
Even at the time, the SFV would be more covered in asphalt and the trees would be of a different sort.
At a guess, I’d say early 1980s Rancho Cucamonga.
I live just outside of LA in Altadena, and yes, view of foothills, big pine trees, etc.
Yes, the LA area has mountains with pine trees. They don’t appear to be in Los Angeles proper or the San Fernando Valley, both of which are more urbanized, but more likely in San Bernardino County to the east. (Or, rather, they’re in New Mexico standing in for San Bernardino County.)
Or have weird stuff going on with the TV late at night, and they learn that the subdivision was built on an old cemetery, but the developer tried to save a few bucks and only moved the headstones.
In a letter she writes back to Finn Wolfhard’s Mike, Eleven claims to be having a great time at her new school, which presumably means “I have not crushed any of the kids bullying me with my terrifying psychic powers. Yet.”At the end of season 3, Eleven’s terrifying psychic powers are on the fritz/potentially gone. I’m sure she’ll get them back at some point in season 4, but I bet it takes a while. So the bullies are safe from that for now at least. I’m surprised they didn’t do a bigger time jump than 6 months. I thought they’d maybe do a year in a way to help the characters age up a bit along with the actors. If I remember right, they’re all around 12 when the series starts and 14 at the end of season 3. The actors are all now 17-20 years old, and many of them grew up quite a bit while the show was on its extended break. Having them reunite after a year might make that “grow up” more believable.
Or they could just lean into it and cast Ben Platt as Eleven’s high school boyfriend.
Platt’s face always looks like it’s about to run into a fist.
The Germans call this condition Backpfeifengesicht, and there is only one cure.
More cowbell?
So the kids are playing characters a year younger than themselves no big deal…15-16Sophomores in high school Which is completely believable as they all probably filmed these scenes when they were 16.
If it’s six months after season 3, they’re all still max 15, so the smallest gap is two years (Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp are the youngest at 17, while Caleb McLaughlin is the oldest at 20), which I agree isn’t a big deal ordinarily. But just looking at the trailer it’s obvious that the cast have grown up a lot between the end of season 3 and the start of season 4. More than six months’ worth. I’m not saying it’s a dealbreaker or that it ruins the show or anything, just that I’m surprised that they didn’t make a bigger gap.
It’s almost the summer of 86…I don’t know if u remember being a kid but you can grow a ton in 3/4 months I grew a foot in in about two three weeks in camp one year my knees will never let me forget… I think ur just going to have to drop this because you’re getting weird abt it (people really don’t stop growing till their early 20’s btw)
Yeah, what with lockdowns here I didn’t see my baby sister for six months at a time for a lot of 2020/2021, as she trasitioned from 14 to 15. She practically doubled in size, her hair grew a foot, and she started dabbling in a goth phase. It’s totally reasonable for some kids to cross that divide from child-sized to adult-sized in six months.
They’re still filming, or at leas t in very early post production. Filming was delayed.
It feels a bit like they’re clinging to the 80s nostalgia, when (especially considering the show’s protracted production schedule) it seems another tack would’ve been to barrel through the years and sink their teeth into the relatively-untapped 90s nostalgia market.
The 90s have been tapped… They’re just not nearly as cool and don’t feel like an entirely different era like the 80s. A 90s setting isn’t as memorable and sometimes just seems like backwards modern neighborhood.Obviously I’m generalizing and there’s some different fashion trends and so on but the world of the 90s to today doesn’t feel nearly as radically changed as the 80s to 90s (or 70s to 80s or 60s to 70s..)
Untapped? It’s everywhere now.
And the 80s are an especially interesting brand of goofy that will probably never be repeated. We still haven’t topped it. It will always be a setting for fiction.
…your words imply you understand what I’m saying but your tone implies you’re trying to argue…
the relatively-untapped 90s nostalgia marketI’m the only one who wants their new town to be Sunnydale, aren’t I….?
Agreed, that a year jump would have been an easier sell. And that’s being generous. Even not knowing their real ages, man, the kids really sprouted up didn’t they? The story might have gotten away with a 6 months… if I didn’t have eyes.
Yeah, Noah Schnapp who plays Will Byers has shot up like a foot and Finn Wolfhard is like 6′ now. I really don’t think it’s so much about the ages on paper as it is the fact that all of them look so different now. They’ve grown up, visibly, and I think the story might have wanted to account for that.
1) Teens grow up quick in real life, too, you know? If you see a 13-14 y/o kid and then don’t see them again for a couple of years, you’re going to be pretty shocked at how different they look. That’s sort of how life works.2) I’m pretty sure most people who watch Stranger Things will be able to suspend disbelief here.
Having Eleven get her powers back Carrie style might be too obvious but I don’t think they can resist it.
Yeah, part of me was really hoping to cut right to the crew talking about how disappointed they were in Ghostbusters II.
Well, filming in California will certainly save on the budget…*watches the collection of explosive moments in the ending montage*Never mind, there’s the money.
“ Eleven’s assertion that she and Mike are going to have “the best spring break ever.”Isn’t this like her first spring break ever?
Hey she’s technically right then. But she’d better be ready for the worst spring break ever.
I wonder if this will be their take on 80’s spring break movies? With Mike as the shy loser character, Will in the John Cusack role, 11 as the nice girl romantic interest and some unknown actress as the hot cheerleader Will has a crush on and who has lots of topless scenes.
Universally, the best spring break ever.
What windfall did The Byers get in 6 months, I mean just moving is e>
The season is being filmed in ABQ in a new Netflix compound. They traded Atlanta for Albuquerque, which makes sense financially.
It’s a smart move. If there’s one thing Bugs Bunny has taught me, it’s that you can get anywhere in the world by taking one wrong turn in Albuquerque.
Pizza van reminding me of
I was wondering how they were going to bridge Maine’s Stephen King Horror House with El & the Byers … Spring Break is a good enough way to go, I suppose. Aren’t they filming S4 & S5 back-to-back?
Yup
Good that they moved. Not nearly enough shows and movies are set in California while the Midwest has been done to death. I mean there has been both Mary Tyler Moore AND WKRP. Now try to name any shows based in California?
Oh god they’re still milking this piece of shit? Remember when it was supposed to be an anthology?
I can see that Alan Turing poster under your arm Will Byers, can’t wait to get queerbaited for the fourth season in a row!
Is it really queerbaiting if it’s basically a subtextual story about a closeted gay teen? Like, to my mind Will’s S3 storyline only makes sense narratively if you see the connection between Will repressing the Mind Flayer’s return and him repressing his sexuality. Otherwise there’s nothing leading from the emotional climax (“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”) to the resolution of the story (“He’s back”).
Look, I do read Will’s story to be about him being closeted, but we have got to stop letting media off the hook all the time by being like “is it really queerbaiting? I mean I understood what they meant by this so of course its not queerbaiting”. Like, this is a story about a queer person that is completely subtextual and based on context clues, but not apparent enough for most audiences to understand so that they don’t lose the demographic of their audience that dislikes explicit queer narratives. It’s like the definition of queerbaiting.There’s hints and winks to the camera about it, but officially, above board, Will’s actor Noah Schnapp is on record saying that its up to the audiences interpretation, and that “I kind of just interpret it like he’s not ready to grow up and he doesn’t really want to move on to dating and relationships yet. He still wants to be a kid and play in the basement like he did in old times.”. That’s the company line, and that’s how its probably gonna stay. Even if Will’s narrative doesn’t make nearly as much sense without the queer reading, even if all the ‘subtextual’ stuff points to him being closeted, the writers and producers are still taking a cowardly approach to this and pointedly not confirming anything
Like its genuinely okay to like stuff that is technically queerbaiting, I mean I love Stranger Things, and I love Will’s story specifically, doesn’t stop it from being baiting. This isn’t some arthouse film by a queer writer/director using subtext and metaphor to explore themes and concepts that are difficult to talk about directly, this is two straight white guys refusing to confirm for three seasons that one of their show’s protagonists is gay while still winking at queer audiences about it. The buy-in for the entire show is that you have to care about Will, and you have to care about Joyce getting him back from the Upside Down; for them to outright state in some way that he was gay and he still mattered enough for everyone in his life to come together time and again to save his life, to show that his mother would still travel to Hell and back to keep him alive, that would’ve been groundbreaking, but they didn’t do that. And its not even like they need to just give him a boyfriend or something, there are so many other ways for Will to explicitlt go through an arc like this that isn’t just “subtext”, and we need to stop settling for subtext.
For christ’s sake, it’s not queerbaiting to have a 14 year old in the 80s not openly discuss their potential homosexuality.
It is when the actors have officially said they don’t see him as gay even when the show subtextually implies it.
The actor isn’t the writer or director, they work with the content they are given. And there are other interpretations of his character that are valid, he could easily be asexual. Queerbaiting requires a large audience that are invested in the character’s sexuality, and I just don’t see it for Stranger Things – from what I’ve seen the gay community was far more invested in Robin, who is canonically a lesbian.
The superhero is the Red Guardian. You heard it here first.