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Stranger Things 4 Entering "Horror Movie Territory"; New Images Posted

With a little more than two months to go until Netflix & the Duffer Bros' Stranger Things returns for the first of its two-part fourth season, the Duffer Bros are sharing a new set of preview images offering some more clues as to what viewers can expect. But before we get to that, the duo also had some intel to drop while checking in with the podcast Present Company With Krista Smith about the season's "horror movie" vibe. When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are… 'The Goonies' in 'E.T.,'" Ross Duffer explained. "That's their storyline. And the adults are in 'Jaws' and 'Close Encounters' and then the teens are in 'Nightmare on Elm Street' or 'Halloween.' But, this year, we don't have the kids. We can't do 'The Goonies' anymore. And so, suddenly, we're leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change." And what about all of those fan theories floating out there? "I'm constantly impressed with how sharp the fans are, and how quickly they're able to put something together with very, very little information," Ross explained about the sometimes "startingly" accurate theories that roam social media. Now with that in mind, let's take a look at the newest images released as well as what the creative team had to say about them. First up, Eddie (Joseph Quinn) leads a special meeting of Hawkins High's D&D club:

Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her friends are ready to face off against evil:

What happens inside the Creel House stays inside the Creel House:

Mike (Finn Wolfhard) will do anything to protect his friends:

Steve (Joe Keery), Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Robin (Maya Hawke) might just be in over their heads:

Things are looking up for Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Erica (Priah Ferguson):

Spotted: Jim Hopper (David Harbour), alive and well:

Introducing the official dream team of Robin and Nancy:

Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Murray (Brett Gelman) look chilly — and worried — in the snow. Perhaps it has something to do with the crashed plane behind them?

And let's not forget…

With the tagline, "Every Ending Has a Beginning," the official key art for the fourth season that was released last month began in Russia with a Hopper-Joyce reunion. From there, we see Eleven returning to her worst nightmare in the second key art poster. With the third poster, some familiar faces are investigating the truth behind the murders in the Creel house. While the fourth poster brings us to the Byers' new life in California- one that's about to get majorly upended. Because even though they're all in different parts of the world, there's still something linking them all. And then we received the final poster tying it all together. And now the good news: Stranger Things 4 is coming to you in two parts: Volume 1 premieres May 27 & Volume 2 quickly follows on July 1. The tough news? As The Duffer Bros revealed in a letter below, the series will end with the following fifth season.

It's been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time — and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.

Now here's a look at the letter shared by the Duffer Bros announcing the series' end with the fifth season, but teasing that more from the show's universe might be on the way:

Now here's a look at the episode titles for the fourth season, along with the announcement video released earlier today: S04E01 – "The Hellfire Club"; S04E02 – "Vecna's Curse"; S04E03 – "The Monster and The Superhero"; S04E04 – "Dear Billy"; S04E05 – "The Nina Project"; S04E06 – "The Dive"; S04E07 – "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab"; S04E08 – "Papa"; S04E09 – "The Piggyback":

When the third season wrapped and Hopper (Harbour) seemingly dead, the Byers (Ryder, Noah Schnapp & Charlie Heaton) and Eleven (Brown) prepared to leave Hawkins. But as we've already seen and what becomes abundantly clear in the clip below, Hawkins has a reach that extends well beyond Indiana. So as much as Eleven is really looking forward to a great Spring Break with Mike, outside forces might have something to say about that:

Previously, producer Shawn Levy and the folks behind the global phenomenon released a teaser video confirming that viewers could relax for the rest of the year because their heroes wouldn't be back until next year. Here's a look at that featurette, which also visually recaps the entire series run so far:

If you feel like you haven't seen a new episode of Stranger Things since the '80s, Levy feels your pain. "To state the incredibly obvious, it's been way, way, way, way too long, and it's coming," Levy revealed to Variety regarding the fourth season of the global phenomenon earlier this year. But though it was actually only 2019, the producer offered some very promising news for fans. "It's coming soon enough. And as for when exactly that will be announced — quite soon."

While the COVID pandemic was a big reason for how long production has taken, Levy also explained that the fourth season going bigger in a number of ways also contributed to the additional time needed. "I shot in Lithuania right before the pandemic. We have filmed in Georgia, Lithuania, and New Mexico, so suffice to say Season 4 is sprawling," he explained. "It's visually and narratively very ambitious, much more ambitious than the prior three seasons. The delay is due in large measure to COVID and the pace at which we have to work to do so safely, but it also happens to be the season that we chose to go much bigger," Levy continued. "It's the scale of this season and the multi-settings of Season 4."

Previously, we learned that Jamie Campbell Bower (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Sweeney Todd), Eduardo Franco (Booksmart, The Binge), and Joseph Quinn (Catherine the Great, Howards End) were joining the cast of Stranger Things as series regulars. Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones), Sherman Augustus (Into the Badlands, Westworld), Mason Dye (Bosch, The Goldbergs), Nikola Djuricko (Genius, In The Land of Blood and Honey), and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise, V) are also joining in recurring roles. In addition, Brett Gelman's Murray Bauman has been promoted to series regular. In addition, Amybeth McNulty (Anne with an E), Myles Truitt (Black Lightning), Regina Ting Chen (Queen of the South), and Grace Van Dien (The Village) have also joined the Stranger Things cast.

The fourth season of Stranger Things finds "a new horror beginning to surface, something long-buried, something that connects everything," here's a look at who's playing who- offering clues to not just where our heroes stand since we last saw them but also to where the action will be taking place this season (including a psychiatric hospital). Bower plays Peter Ballard, a caring man who works as an orderly at the psychiatric hospital. Tired of the brutality he witnesses day after day, Peter feels compelled to take a stand- but will he? Englund's Victor Creel is a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s. As for what's going on with Hopper over in Russia, Wlaschiha's Dmitri is a Russian prison guard who befriends Hopper: smart, cunning, and charming- but can he be trusted? Djuricko's Yuri is a seedy and unpredictable Russian smuggler who loves bad jokes, cold hard cash, and crunchy style peanut butter.

Quinn's Eddie Munson is 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 epicenter of this season's mystery. Meanwhile, Franco's Argyle is a fun-loving stoner who proudly delivers delicious pizza pies for Surfer Boy Pizza- and Jonathan's new best friend. Augustus' Lt. Colonel Sullivan is an intelligent, no-nonsense man who believes he knows how to stop the evil in Hawkins once and for all (uh-oh), while Dye's Jason Carver is living the life of the handsome, rich, sports star who's dating the most popular girl in school. That is until a new evil threatening Hawkins turns everyone's world upside down.

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