Keeping in line with the show itself, Netflix released a strange new trailer for season 4 of its sci-fi series Stranger Things on Thursday.
But despite being the first show update in over a year, the minute-long preview is sparse in terms of details.
Stranger Things began filming its fourth season in early 2020, but pandemic restrictions halted production soon after the show released an earlier trailer. Filming resumed in the fall, but with the delay it has now been nearly two years since Netflix has released new episodes.
Even still, filming is ongoing — in late March, star Gaten Matarazzo told Collider that there were still many scenes to be completed and that “there’s really no way to figure out when we’re going to be wrapping.”
WATCH | Stranger Things season 4 trailer:
He noted that the show creators — twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer — have finished writing the season, and the two trailers now available do offer some hints.
The first trailer announced the return of David Harbour’s character Jim Hopper, while Thursday’s trailer hinted at the return of antagonist Dr. Martin Brenner, played by Matthew Modine.
“Good morning, children,” Modine says in the clip — seemingly in the Hawkins National Laboratory, where Modine’s character experiments on telekinetic children. The camera then swings around to reveal protagonist Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown) also in a cell in the unit.
In addition, both trailers were numbered out of four, suggesting that there are still two more trailers on their way.
More to come, say creators
Even though there is no confirmed release date for season 4, there are likely more episodes to come. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in August of 2020, the Duffer brothers said filming delays gave them the opportunity to plan the show’s trajectory in advance for the first time, allowing them to see when the story needed to conclude.
While Netflix hasn’t confirmed Stranger Things will be renewed, Ross Duffer was quoted in the article as saying season 4 “won’t be the end.”
“We know what the end is, and we know when it is,” he said. “[The pandemic] has given us time to look ahead, figure out what is best for the show. Starting to fill that out gave us a better idea of how long we need to tell that story.”
Matt Duffer had previously told New York Magazine that Stranger Things would “be a four-season thing and then out.” But that timeline was extended in a later interview with Entertainment Weekly, when executive producer Shawn Levy said there would still be more story to tell after a fourth season — though likely not much.
“The truth is we’re definitely going four seasons and there’s very much the possibility of a fifth,” Levy said. “Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely.”