Posted in: Netflix, Preview, Stranger Things, streaming, TV | Tagged: netflix, preview, season 4, stranger things, trailer

Stranger Things 4: Netflix Confirms Official Trailer Drop This Tuesday

UPDATE 4:06 pm ET: As much as we were already assuming that the Stranger Things countdown clock that was being live-streamed was counting down to the release of the official trailer, Netflix decided to be kind and just confirm it well ahead of time so fans can now spend their time eagerly counting the seconds down until the trailer drops. Here's a look at the mini-teaser for the trailer drop that was released, followed by our original report from earlier today:

Following up on a panel that saw Stranger Things creators Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer offer up new intel on what's ahead for Hopper (David Harbour), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Joyce (Winona Ryder), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Robin (Maya Hawke), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Erica (Priah Ferguson), Murray (Brett Gelman), Eddie (Joseph Quinn), and more when the Netflix series return for its fourth season next month… well, let's just say there's a creepy countdown going on. As you're about to see in the live stream below, the clock from the infamous Creel House is being examined while on public display. And while it's already showing some not-so-pleasant signs, it's safe to say that things are about to get worse when that countdown clock reaches 00:00 tomorrow (or better non-storyline-wise since we have a feeling the official Part 1 trailer is dropping tomorrow).

Here's a look at what's happening live while I write this and you read it. Kinda creepy, right?

Checking in during this past weekend's Deadline Hollywood Contenders conference and with more than a month to go until Season 4 Part 1 premieres, the Duffer Bros had some additional intel to offer on what fans can expect from what's sounding like an epic season in the making- both with the storyline and the literal size of the season & its episodes:

"Stranger Things" Season 4: Game of Thrones? "We kind of jokingly call it our 'Game of Thrones' season because it's so spread out, so I think that's what's unique or most unique about the season. Joyce and the Byers family to have left at the end of Season 3. They are in California – we've always wanted to have that like 'E.T.'-esque suburb aesthetic, which we finally got to do this year in the desert; and then we have Hopper in Russia, and then of course we have a group remaining in Hawkins. So we have these three storylines, are all connected and kind of interwoven together, but it's just very different tones." – Matt Duffer

"We didn't know how big the season was going to get, and we didn't even realize until we were about halfway through, just in terms of how much story that we wanted to tell this season. 'Game of Thrones' is one thing we've referenced, but also for us really what it's about is revelations, in that we really wanted to start giving the audience some answers." – Ross Duffer

Season 4 Comes with Answers: "Back when we did Season 1, Netflix just kept going 'Can you explain all this mythology to us?' So we wrote this giant 20-page document, which talked about everything in terms of what was going on and what exactly the Upside Down was. And then each season we're just sort of peeling back the layers of that onion, so to speak. But this season, we really wanted to get into it and [reveal] some of those answers. But to do that properly, we needed time, so it just became bigger and bigger." – Ross Duffer

Season 4 Brings A Lot More for Viewers Than Just an Extra Episode: "I don't think we have an episode clocking in under an hour – even in Season 1, there were episodes that were like 35 minutes. You kind of forget that. This season, they're very long, so I think it's almost double the length of any season. So that's one reason it's taken so long. It does have this sort of epic quality to it. It's a different feel, for sure." – Matt Duffer

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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