The Stranger Things gang might be growing up, but they’re certainly not going anywhere. After season one captured our Netflix-loving hearts, we were treated to season two, and most recently, a season three, which dropped summer 2019.

The good news is, if you’ve binge-watched every bit of Stranger Things content that currently exists, Netflix have just revealed Stranger Things season 4 has started production again after filming was halted in mid-March due to Covid-19. Here’s everything you need to know about it, from potential release date, fan theories, plot lines and more. Exciting!

Do we have any clues about Stranger Things season 4?

We’re glad you asked, because yes, we do. The most recent and possibly most exciting news is that it looks like everyone’s favourite character Billy (played by Dacre Montgomery) could be coming back for series 4 despite being killed off at the end of series 3.

The rumours began after Montgomery posted a picture of himself to Twitter which seemed like a massive hint that he might be returning to the show. The picture, which had no caption, showed Montgomery in what appeared to be full Billy costume, with his trademark long hair and moustache, wearing a vest-top and and what looks like Billy’s necklace.

He then posted the same picture to his Instagram Story and tagged a Stranger Things make-up artist, which sent fans slightly wild. Maybe it’s just a throwback, or maybe it’s what we’d all been hoping for: the return of Billy. Fingers very firmly crossed.

Plus, on Stranger Things Day (November 6 2019, aka the date in the first season when Will Byers disappeared into the Upside Down), Netflix revealed the first episode name of the new season.

“Join our club we have d&d,” they wrote, alongside a photo of the episode script. Episode 401 (fourth series, first episode) is titled ‘Chapter One: The Hellfire Club’, and was written by The Duffer Brothers, who created Stranger Things. We’re excited.

On 14 October 2020, writers The Duffle Brotherss also revealed two more episode titles, and fans have already been trying to dig for clues.

Episode two will be titled ‘Tick Tok Mr Clock‘, while episode three is named ‘You Snooze You Lose‘. Posters for Stranger Things s4 seemingly revealed a grandfather clock would play a big part in the theme of the series, which is in line with the episode titles. Exciting!

Who will star in Stranger Things season 4?

We can safely assume Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) and Noah Schnapp (Will) will be back at the centre of the story again.

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Presumably Joe Keerey (Steve Harrington) and his beautiful, beautiful hair will also be back, alongside Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) and Winona Ryder (who plays Joyce). Plus Netflix has confirmed that Hopper (David Harbour) will be returning for season 4. Overjoyed.

On November 20, 2020, Netflix announced eight new cast members will be joining the new season – Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco and Joseph Quinn will all be playing regular roles. While Robert Englund, Sherman Augustus, Mason Dye, Nikola Djuricko and Tom Wlaschiha will be playing recurring roles. As for the characters they’ll be playing:

Jamie Campbell Bower (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Sweeney Todd) will play Peter Ballard, a caring man who works as an orderly at a psychiatric hospital. Tired of the brutality he witnesses day after day, will Peter finally take a stand?

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Eduardo Franco (Booksmart, The Binge) will play Argyle, Jonathan’s new best friend, a fun-loving stoner who proudly delivers delicious pizza pies for Surfer Boy Pizza.

Joseph Quinn (Catherine the Great, Howards End) will play Eddie Munson, an audacious 80’s metalhead who runs The Hellfire Club, Hawkins High’s official D&D club. Hated by those who don’t understand him — and beloved by those who do — Eddie will find himself at the terrifying epicentre of this season’s mystery.

Sherman Augustus (Into the Badlands, Westworld) will play Lt. Colonel Sullivan. An intelligent, no-nonsense man who believes he knows how to stop the evil in Hawkins once and for all….

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Mason Dye (Bosch, The Goldbergs) will play Jason Carver. Jason seemingly has it all — he’s handsome, he’s rich, he’s a sports star, and he’s dating the most popular girl in school. But as a new evil threatens Hawkins, Jason’s perfect world begins to unravel…

Nikola Djuricko (Genius, In The Land of Blood and Honey) will play Yuri, a seedy and unpredictable Russian smuggler who loves bad jokes, cold hard cash, and crunchy style peanut butter.

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Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise, ‘V’ Television Series) will play Victor Creel, a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s.

Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones, Jack Ryan) will play Dmitri, a Russian prison guard who befriends Hopper. Dmitri is smart, cunning, and charming… but can he be trusted?

Also, the chances are we haven’t seen the last of Eleven’s sister Kali, played by Linnea Berthelsen. “It feels weird to me that we wouldn’t solve [Kali’s] storyline,” Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter. “I would say chances are very high she comes back. [Millie Bobby Brown and Berthelsen] had, I think, a really powerful connection.”

Speaking about her hopes for her character Robin in season 4, Maya Hawke told Consequence of Sound: “I wanna see her at the video store. So many of the great minds of the ‘80s and ‘80s filmmakers and creatives started out working in video stores, and as far as I know, that environment hasn’t really been explored on TV. I think that would be really fun.”

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Remind me, what happened in Stranger Things season 3?

If you need a recap from Stranger Things season 3, you’re in luck. The series was set in the height of summer 1985 – think swimming pools, shopping malls and sunbathing. It’s all fun and games until the inhabitants of Hawkins are faced with the giant spider-goo creation birthed out of the Mind Flayer, who attacks Eleven, Joyce, Hopper, Murray and the gang while they’re at Starcourt mall.

The final scenes see them fighting off the monster controlled by the Mind Flayer, with everyone from Nancy and Jonathan to Dustin’s actually-real girlfriend Suzie having to play their part. There were some casualties along the way, though – Billy sacrifices himself to save Eleven, while viewers were left speculating about Hopper’s fate at the Russian facility after he disappeared in the final episode and left Eleven a very emotional note. But after months of concern, Netflix has finally confirmed that Hopper will be back for series 4.

After they successfully see off the monster, Stranger Things season 3 flashes forward three months. Eleven is living with Joyce and The Byers, and her powers have still not returned following the fight. Agh!

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Millie Bobby-Brown was “really against” the Stranger Things season 3 ending. In an interview with ELLE, Brown admitted that she was less than impressed with the season three finale, namely because she hadn’t yet made sense of one of the plot twists.

“I was annoyed,” she commented. “I read the script and I was like, ‘What, how is this even possible? Why are they moving away?’ They were like ‘Didn’t you read episode 3?’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah’. …Because Joyce said she wanted to move away from Hawkins. I don’t know, I just felt really against it.’

The actress also revealed that she and her co-stars shed real tears when they filmed the finale scene of Eleven and Will leaving Hawkins.

“We all started crying and then they rolled camera and said action,” she explained. “And that was it. We all started saying goodbye to each other. We felt too real.”

Do we have a Stranger Things season 4 release date?

Sadly not – Netflix officially confirmed we were getting a series 4 on September 30 2019, with a cross-platform teaser trailer, but we haven’t had any news on a release date. Oh, and by the way we’re not in Hawkins anymore. Exciting! Where are the gang going?

There was a 20-month gap between season two and three, and with the impact of coronavirus, we probably won’t be returning to the world of Stranger Things until late 2021. Damn.

When will Stranger Things season 4 start filming?

Stranger Things filming was put on hold in March due to coronavirus. However, as of 1st October, production has resumed! Netflix tweeted the news by posting a photo of a clapperboard along with the caption, “Today in Hawkins…”

Stranger Things season 4 is due for release on Netflix.

Via Cosmopolitan U.K.