A whole new season of Stranger Things is about to happen. Before long, you’ll join the adventures of the citizens of Hawkins in a dangerous fictional world of the 1980s filled with powerful monsters. To prepare you for Stranger Things 4 Seasons, here is everything you should know from the series thus far.
Season 1
A major focus of the season is journey to the Upside Down, an alternate dimension with a lot of scary beings in it, then finding the way back to the real world.
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The Vanishing of Will Byers—Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin are the cool guys in their own small nerdy world in Hawkins, Indiana. After a session of Dungeons & Dragons with his buddies, Will rides his bike home. Everything looks just fine until a monster, which has previously snatched a scientist at Hawkins National Laboratory, kidnaps him. No one knows if Will is alive or dead.
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The Weirdo on Maple Street—The disappearance triggers a major town-wide search. Help comes from an unexpected source or person, nicknamed Eleven (or El), who has been secretly living in Will’s basement to hide from a government agency trying to capture her. Unlike most girls, El has the ability to move objects using nothing but her mind. She has a shaved-head and a mysterious tattoo.
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Holly, Jolly—Hawkins Police Department Chief Jim Hopper and Joyce (Will’s mother) lead the search for the missing boy. Elsewhere in the town, Nancy and Barb are having a good time at a pool party. While Nancy enjoys the company of Steve Harrington, she doesn’t realize that Barb has been violently kidnapped by a Demogorgon. Barb is now in an alternate dimension known as Upside Down.
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The Body—The search for Will continues. Eleven leads the boys to a quarry, where state troopers recover the body of a child. Eleven channels Will’s voice to a walkie-talkie, indicating that Will actually is still alive. Hopper isn’t really convinced about the entire event, so he investigates further and reveals that the body was nothing but a dummy. His first suspect is Dr. Martin Brenner of the Hawkins Lab.
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The Flea and the Acrobat—Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, along with their new mysterious friend, Eleven, discover that Will has been taken to another world. He is alive, but in a different realm. They keep on searching for ways to gain access to the strange place. A science teacher gives an interesting metaphor: a flea that goes upside down and an acrobat that can only move back and forth on a rope.
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The Monster—Eleven’s telekinetic abilities apparently have some sort of storytelling purpose. The government wants her captured not because of her superhuman ability – which can be dangerous – but it turns out that she is the property of the Department of Energy. Hopper and Joyce set out on a quest to track down El’s birth mother, who unfortunately is now suffering from catatonia.
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The Bathtub—Joyce pushes El to help find and rescue Will. At this point, El has grown to understand that some people can be affectionate and care about her. El is somehow the catalyst that encourages the union of main characters here: Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Joyce, and Hopper. Even Nancy and Jonathan, who have worked on their own, are now joining the team.
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The Upside Down—El opens the gate to the alternate dimension and eventually sacrifices herself to save Will. Now back in the real world, Will is recovering in a hospital room. Surrounded by his Dungeons & Dragons friends, they remember and tell stories about El.
Season 2
The fight against Upside Down is not over yet. Now, the citizens of Hawkins are under attack by an entity known as the Mind Flayer. Everyone must join forces to defeat a new monster sent by an old enemy.
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MADMAX—It has been 352 days since El disappeared in the Upside Down to rescue Will. As the name implies, “Eleven” is not the only one with the telekinetic abilities; there are 10 others like her. The town of Hawkins has two newcomers: Billy, who drives a Camaro, and Maxine, who likes skateboarding. Both are from California. Joyce is now dating the man who manages the local radio shack, Bob.
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Trick or Treat, Freak—Police Chief Hopper is investigating a curious case of a pumpkin patch, where every single pumpkin turns black. After taking a deeper look into the situation, he comes to the conclusion that the source of the problem is – just like last year – something in Hawkins National Laboratory. The boys are safe now, but Will has been experiencing episodes of hallucinations lately. Also, El is alive.
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The Pollywog—After the battle in Upside Down, El managed to find an exit from that realm and went back to the real world. Hopper knows all along she’s alive, but it is important for him to stay quiet about it; otherwise, there can be government agents coming and chasing her all over again. Dustin finds a pollywog, which he calls Dart (short for D’Artagnan). And Will thinks Dart is from the Upside Down.
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Will the Wise—Barb’s parents learn that their daughter died in an alternate dimension. Will is not suffering from hallucinations; a monster has taken control over his mind. Whatever is inside Will, it doesn’t like heat. Dart escapes from the cage and devours Dustin’s cat. Dustin realizes that Dart is a small Demogorgon. Hopper figures out there is a tunnel leading to the Upside Down beneath one of the pumpkin fields.
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Dig Dug—In a hallucination-like episode, Will has a vision of Hopper being trapped underground. In some instances, Will doesn’t seem to have control over his own hand movements. He draws scribbles. Bob knows the scribbles are actually map of some sorts. After a closer look, Bob understands that Will is trying to show where Hopper is. Everyone goes to the pumpkin field to save the police chief.
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The Spy—Will mentions he knows how to stop the monster, or Mind Flayer, inside him. After one of his scribble lines is turned into a more understandable image, he points to a location where Dr. Sam Owens, the new director of Hawkins Lab, should send a team. Dr. Owens assumes that Will’s mind is affected by a virus.
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The Lost Sister—Eleven tracks down a girl known as Kali. In the past they were unwilling participants of government experiments. There might others apart from Eleven (011) and Eight (008).
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The Mind Flayer—The monsters are attacking the lab. Mike knows that Will (or rather the monster inside his mind) acts as a spy for the Upside Down. Will must be sedated to prevent him from tracking the gang. Bob opens a path for Mike, Dr. Owens, Joyce, Hopper, and Will to escape. However, Bob himself is attacked and killed. More monsters are now preparing to attack the Hawkins Lab.
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The Gate—Eleven is back. The gate connecting Hawkins Lab and the Upside Down must be closed, otherwise the monsters will come through it and ruin the real world. Eleven and Hopper go straight to the gate and work together to neutralize the threat. Realizing that the monster in Will doesn’t like heat, Nancy uses fire iron to force the Mind Flayer out of his brain.
Season 3
The previous season came to a conclusion when Hawkins Lab was finally saved. The gate connecting the real world to Upside Down has been closed and the Mind Flayer is no longer affecting Will.
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Suzie, Do You Copy?—In 1984, Soviet scientists are working to force open a new gate to the Upside Down. It worked, albeit for a brief moment. Fast forward to 1985 in Hawkins, there are few blooming romantic relationships. Mike and Eleven are in the “only kissing” stage; Dustin wants to contact his new girlfriend, Suzie, with his radio but ends up intercepting a Russian transmission instead; and Billy was on his way for a sexual encounter with Mrs. Wheeler when he was dragged away by an unseen force into the basement of an abandoned warehouse.
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The Mall Rats—Billy survives the attack, but he becomes a bit different, as if he is not entirely himself. Elsewhere, Max and Eleven have become new BFFs when shopping at the brand spanking new Starcourt Mall. Nancy and Jonathan, who now work for Hawkins Post, are visiting Mrs. Driscoll to look into a report of rabid rats. Dustin brings in Steve and another former classmate named Robin to help translate the Russian transmission.
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The Case of the Missing Lifeguard—The rabid rats are not only in the home of Mrs. Driscoll, but in homes all across town. Nancy and Jonathan discover Mrs. Driscoll eating fertilizer like the rabid rats do. Joyce suspects that an electromagnetic device in Hawkins Lab causes many object to lose magnetism. She and Hopper go to investigate at the lab. Will senses something strange is happening to Billy.
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The Sauna Test—It turns out that Billy, his fellow lifeguard Heather, and her parents are under the control of the Mind Flayer. Will, Mike, Eleven, Lucas, and Max make a plan to apprehend Billy and confirm if he is really possessed. Nancy and Jonathan are no longer hired by the Hawkins Post because of the news regarding Mrs. Driscoll.
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The Flayed—Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica (Lucas’ sister) discover a Russian Lab underneath the new mall. While searching for communication room, the group comes across an experiment area where scientists are trying to open the gate to the Upside Down. Nancy and Jonathan regroup with Will, Mike, Max, Eleven, and Lucas; they think the Mind Flayer is building an army of possessed people.
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E Pluribus Unum—Hopper and Joyce figure out (from a scientist named Alexei) that the Russians are trying to access the Upside Down. They inform Dr. Owens of the threat. Eleven uses her power to communicate with Billy. The Mind Flayer is now aware of Eleven’s position. Billy reveals that El is the primary target.
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The Bite—Will senses that the Mind Flayer is coming in hot. It attacks the group and manages to inflict an injury on El. Dustin contacts the group using walkie-talkie and explains the situation underneath the mall. Some Russians are now hunting Dustin’s group, but El’s group arrives just in time to the rescue.
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The Battle of Starcourt—the wounded El cannot do much due to the injury. That said, she is still able to free Billy from the control of Mind Flayer. Joyce triggers an explosion to destroy the gate. In the end, the Mind Flayer dies and the new mall is up for a demolition.
What To Expect In Season 4
The date is set. Stranger Things 4 is coming on Netflix in May, 2022. The season will be divided in two volumes; the first set comes in May 22, and the second two weeks later. At this point in the wait, every month the production releases another teaser to give some hints about what is to come. It’s impossible to know for sure, but there are some good guesses:
- Season 4 picks up the story about six months after The Battle of Starcourt
- There will be more revelations about the nature of experiment conducted on Eleven. More layers about her dynamics with Dr. Brenner will be revealed as well.
- Hawkins has a new element called Creel House
- Some background story about Hopper, which possibly relates to his deceased daughter, Sara.
Understandably with all the secrecy surrounding the series production, those hints don’t give away much. But that makes it even more worth the wait.
What do you think of Stranger Things? Have you watched it? Why do you think it was the number one streaming show while it ran? Let us know. We’d love to hear from you!
