Stranger Things, Even Stranger Theories

“Stranger Things” has wowed viewers all around the world with its astounding soundtrack, retro visuals, and frequent 80s pop culture references—but will the references continue to delight the public in the upcoming fourth season, which sees the main cast take on even bigger supernatural beings than the last? Only time will tell, but before then fans have come up with some rather crazy theories on what the fourth season might look like. 

First, let’s review where the last season left us.

*SPOILER WARNING*

Unfortunately for the party, they have been split up. Following the tragic (non) death of Jim Hopper, Eleven left Hawkins, Indiana alongside the Byers. With these key members of the team now away, we are left with Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Max Mayfield, Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, and the newest additions to the cast, Robin Buckley and Erica Sinclair. 

With this in mind, fans have begun to speculate that Joyce taking Eleven and Will away from Hawkins might have not been the best idea in the books. With Eleven’s supernatural powers, which may be gone for now, and Will’s special connection to the Upside Down, it looks as if Joyce might have taken the Upside Down out of Hawkins, not the kids away from the Upside Down. Viewers strongly believe that Will and Eleven will get themselves into even more strange situations and spread the Upside Down to their new hometown. 

The party has dealt with some evil forces in the past three seasons, some of whom got a little too close to home when the Mind Flayer hijacked Billy in season three. But what would happen if one of their own becomes the next thing they have to battle? When asked for teasers of the upcoming season, the writing team gave lyrics to the Florence and The Machine song, “Cosmic Love.” It tells the story of someone coping with loss and turning to darkness as a result. Fans began to believe that Eleven, thinking she has lost Hopper, will spiral out of control and be taken by the dark side. 

“Stranger Things” Season Three left fans asking. “How will Eleven regain her powers?” Well, a popular theory is that she will need help from none other than Dr. Brenner. People say that since we never completely saw Brenner’s corpse there is room to wonder whether he might come into play in the upcoming season. 

Another theory is that Dr. Brenner is “The American.” With the third season leaving us on a cliffhanger of the finest order, along with the Russians in the end credits scene, viewers have been contemplating if the “American” was Hopper or Dr. Brenner. How else would the Russians know about The Upside Down unless they have Dr. Brenner locked up in their secret base somewhere? He could have told them about the Demogorgan, and the Russians could now be trying to figure out how to use this supernatural creature in the Cold War, which we know is happening during the time period of “Stranger Things.” 

The Netflix series has left a lot of unanswered questions and mysteries that have only grown as the series progresses, such as the experiments and test subjects from Hawkins Lab and almost everything relating to the Upside Down. Plot details on “Stranger Things” Season Four are puzzling, which has made way for a bunch of fan theories on how the series will address some of the biggest questions it has left. For now fans will continue to ponder on all the different ways “Stranger Things” could play out. Who knows what strange things the writing team has planned?