Spoiler Warning: Stranger Things Season 4: Volume One
Netflix’s most-watched series has recently had its fourth season premiere with record-breaking ratings.Stranger Thingsfollows a rag-tag group of kids in the ’80s as their lives begin to take a turn when they uncover a secret government experiment in their own hometown. The show has launched nostalgia vibes for many and brought back mixtapes, Kate Bush,D&D, and so much more. WithVolume 1of the season already out of the streaming service, here’s what’s known aboutVolume 2.
WhenVolume 1ended, all the Hawkins natives were spread out all over the world and Upside Down. Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) was trapped in the Upside Down after failing to escape withher friends Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), and Eddie (Joseph Quinn). She has been captured by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the main villain of the series who was once a boy by the name of Henry Creel. Creel, in the ’50s, developed psychic powers and murdered his family before becoming a subject in the same experiments Eleven (Millie Bobbi Brown) was a part of as One.
Further west, Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Jonathan’s new friend Argyle (Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schapp, Charlie Heaton, and Eduardo Franco) are racing to find El after she decides to go back to Dr. Martin Brenner/Papa (Matthew Modine). She wants to regain access to her powers, which she does after several experiments and attempts to go through her own memories. It is here Eleven remembers who One is and what his plan has always been. She also learns she is not to blame for the massacre that occurred at the facility she was held two years before the events of season 1.
On the other side of the world, in Russia, Joyce (Winona Ryder), with the help of Murray (Brett Gelman), has managed to break a very much alive Hopper (David Harbour) out of prison. But they are far from home sweet home. The prison where Hopper was held had a captive Demogorgon and fed it prisoners in hopes of domesticating and using it as a weapon.
Volume 2: The Release
WithVolume 2 recent photosand trailers having been released, there seems to be a lot – and not a lot – to know about the upcoming second part, which will be released on June 02, 2025. The last half of the season will have two episodes. The eighth episode, titled “Papa,” will be 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Related:Stranger Things Season Four: Why Joe Keery’s Steve Steals the Show
The ninth and final episode of the season, titled “The Piggyback,” will run for 2 hours and 19 minutes. The episodes are feature-length and have been described as more like movies than series episodes. That being said, the episodes also pack quite a movie budget, with each costing around $30 million. This season is the longest, most ambitious, and most expensive of the series yet.
Volume 2: The Storyline
Through the trailers and photos, a few things can be known for certain about the upcoming volume. The most important is that Nancy Wheeler does, in fact, make it out of the Upside-Down alive to solve another mystery with the Scooby-gang. The other is that it seems our heroes are still fairly far apart from one another at the start of the second volume. Joyce, Hopper, and Murray are still in Russia too. However, they seem to discover that there’s more to learn about the Russians’ involvement in the Upside-Down.
Volume 2: What the Cast and Crew are Saying
While the group involved in the most popular English-language series on Netflix is very tight-lipped about what will occur in the upcomingvolume of the fourth season, there are a few things that have been revealed. Jamie Campbell Bower claimed in an interview withEWthat there will be answers to Vecna’s motivations, and more will be told about his backstory. He stated in his interview that “if you thought that it was as big as it could get, it’s not. It goes further, visually, story-wise, and emotionally for all characters. It really is quite an explosive climax.”
Related:Stranger Things Season 4: Where Is Kali and Will Eleven’s Sister Return?
The Duffer Brothers, who created the series and have made it what it is today, also have given vague details about the second volume. Ross Duffer toldVarietyin an interview that “everybody is in danger [in Volume 2]. And there’s sort of an ominous feeling that things might not go well. Now whether they do or not, you’ll have to watch.” Thanks for that. Great reveal.
Is Volume 2 the End of Stranger Things?
While many speculated that the second volume of the fourth season would be the swan song for the series, the show was renewed for a fifth season in February 2022. The Duffer Brothers have said that they left the end of the fourth season open in order for it to carry over into the fifth. They also discussed that there would more than likely be a time jump. While filming the seasons back to back would have been preferable, it wasn’t feasible, and the time jump would help with the actors' actual ages.
Matt Duffer stated in a recent interview withTVLinethat the fifth season doesn’t have a start date for production yet, but “is pretty well mapped out.” He also commented on wanting the last season to finish strong, saying that “the ending is a hard thing. That’s obviously the stressful thing. We really want to stick the landing.” And here’s to hoping that the Duffer Brothers do just that.
