The first teaser trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 is finally here, and it wastes no time dropping a significant spoiler right in our laps. If you want to go into the fourth season of the hit Netflix show completely blind, turn away right now and don’t look back.
Titled “From Russia with Love,” the 50-second trailer opens in the cold, white, Soviet north. A group of prisoners works on a snow-covered railroad, and heavily-armed Soviet soldiers guard them while they toil in the glacial temperatures. As the camera pans through the camp and past the prisoners, it focuses on one prisoner in particular.
They pull back their hood, and we see David Harbour’s Jim Hopper. He’s alive, seemingly surviving the events of the Season 3 finale. Though some interdimensional skullduggery could be at play, it’s almost certain Hopper is alive and relatively well.
While the news might be good for fans of the hit series, Hop might see it differently. Stranger Things creators and showrunners Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer said of the reveal:
We’re excited to officially confirm that production on Stranger Things 4 is now underway — and even more excited to announce the return of Hopper. Although it’s not all good news for our ‘American’; he is imprisoned far from home in the snowy wasteland of Kamchatka, where he will face dangers both human…and other.
Meanwhile, back in the states, a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything. Season 4 is shaping up to be the biggest and most frightening season yet, and we cannot wait for everyone to see more. In the meantime, pray for the American.
The comments come alongside the trailer and confirmation that Season 4 has officially begun production.
So when does Stranger Things return? At the time of writing, there is no word on when the fourth season of the nostalgia-driven horror sci-fi thriller will air. Considering its production schedule, some have speculated a Winter 2020 release window, though it could be early 2021.
The big cliffhanger at the end of Season 3 left the internet abuzz with speculation on Hopper’s “death.” Theories consumed the fandom, with some hoping Hopper was indeed gone and others hoping he’d make a triumphant return in the latest season.
Though we’ll have to wait and see if his return is a happy one, we know that Hopper is, indeed, back.
