As entertaining as Stranger Things 3 is, there’s no doubt it leaves a lot of open questions heading into a potential fourth season. In a new interview, show creators the Duffer Brothers discuss what that may or may not look like, if and when that fourth season happens.
Spoilers for the end of season three, of course.
“Assuming there’s a season four, obviously the question of who that American is in that cell and then also what they’re doing with the Demogorgon is a tease,” Ross Duffer told Entertainment Weekly. “That’s obviously going to play a huge role in a potential season four.”
Considering that David Harbour, who plays the thought-to-be-dead Sheriff Hopper, feuded with the Russians all season and is doing interviews like he’s not dead, it’s probably safe to assume he’s the American in the cell—but who knows for sure? Well, the Duffers do. They continue.
“I think the biggest thing that’s going to happen is it’s going to open up a little bit, not necessarily in terms of scale, in terms of special effects, but open up in terms of allowing portals into areas outside of Hawkins,” added Matt Duffer.
That also makes sense, considering that the mystery American, as well as the aforementioned Demogorgon, are both in Russia. The story would have to at least partially take place there. As we said, it’s pretty obvious all these things are on the table considering how the season ended. The Duffers wouldn’t put such specific teases into the series, on purpose, during the credits, if that wasn’t planned.
The question then becomes: How much is planned at this point, considering Netflix has yet to confirm a fourth season? (That said, considering Netflix claims Stranger Things 3 was one of the most-watched shows ever on the service, you have to assume it’s all but guaranteed.)
“We don’t know a lot, but we do know a lot of the big broad strokes,” Ross Duffer said. He then explained where they were at this point after the previous season.
“At the end of season two, we knew about Billy. We knew that the Russians were going to come in. We didn’t know the mall and stuff, but again, we know these big broad strokes,” he said. “That’s sort of where we are in season four. We have the big broad strokes. It’s just now about filling in those lines in the details. We’re pretty excited about where it’s potentially going to go. Again, like we said, it’s going to feel very different than this season. But I think that’s the right thing to do and I think it’ll be exciting.”
It certainly worked for season three, so we think so too. Stranger Things 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
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