Stranger Things returns in 2022
and, thanks to a series of cryptic location teasers,
we're as hungry for answers as Eleven is for Eggos.
What better way to fill the time
before season four arrives
than to go and round up some of the wildest fan theories
about where Stranger Things could go?
To be clear, we're confirming nothing.
These are just fan theories.
So let's jump in.
Our big question at the end of season three was:
Is Hopper really dead?
In the emotional finale, we saw Joyce Byers
destroying the gates to the Upside Down,
evaporating every Russian in the room
and we're led to believe
Hopper along with them.
We ended the season mourning our beloved police chief
only for the action to cut to
a Russian outpost in Kamchatka
where two guards decide not to feed
the American to their Demogorgon.
Fans suspected this might refer to Hopper,
and that seems to be confirmed by
the Russian location teaser showing
a shaved David Harbour
working in a snowy prison camp.
So this confirms that Hopper is alive and well, right?
Some fans think it might be a fake out
or, at least, not as simple as it seems.
One theory is that, while Hopper is alive,
he's actually trapped in the past in 1959:
a year that's very important to season four,
as we'll discuss later.
The main thinking behind this take
is that the Russians in Kamchatka have a Demogorgon.
The logic goes that
if there is only one of these monsters
and that one was destroyed at the end of season one,
then this scene would have to be in the past
to make sense.
It would also gel with the nod to
Back to the Future in season three.
That's another story about people from the 1980s
getting thrown back to the 1950s.
It's not the only time travel theory in this video,
so do hold on to that thought.
Another theory is that Hopper is alive in Russia
in 1986,
but the American the guards refer to is
actually Martin Brenner, the ice cold director of
Hawkins National Laboratory last seen getting munched on
at the end of season one.
It would make sense that Russians obsessed with
accessing the Upside Down would maybe work with
the scientist who discovered the gate in the first place.
The theory also argues that,
if Hopper is the special prisoner
mentioned at the end of season three,
why is he left doing hard labour on a railway line
in the Russian location teaser?
I don't know! I've never done this before!
The Brenner idea ties into
another batch of fan theories
that Brenner definitely has a role to play
in season four.
The lab teaser for season four
takes us back to the Rainbow Room,
where young Eleven and the other test subjects
at Hawkins National Laboratory
were experimented on
by Mathew Modine's creepy researcher.
This scene could just be a flashback
to Eleven's original captivity,
but some fans wonder if it might be proof
that Brenner survived his Demogorgon encounter
and is setting up a second lab
to raise a fresh batch of psychic warriors.
The fact that one of the episode titles is "Papa",
the name Eleven called Brenner in the past,
certainly backs that idea up.
Yes, Papa.
Other fans point to the clock in the teaser
and throughout all the season four teasers
as being another hint of time travel,
that instead of this being a flashback,
Eleven somehow ends up travelling back to
the Rainbow Room to meet her former nemesis.
Another really wild idea suggests that
Brenner will return,
but that he'll be the Mind Flayer in disguise.
I mean, hey,
look at the damage it did by possessing Billy,
a simple swimming pool attendant!
A body with Brenner's access would be
a juicier target.
Go to hell, you piece of shit!
Oh! And another Rainbow Room side note.
One theory believes that
season four will introduce more of
Eleven's fellow child test subjects.
We've already met Eight, aka Kali,
in season two
and had a taste of her distinct powers.
I can make people see, or not see, whatever I choose.
And the supporting Stranger Things comic books
feature other numbered children, like Six and Nine.
With the lab teaser showing multiple children,
could we finally see Eleven go full X-Men
with her fellow test subjects?
Time will tell.
Yoohoo!
One thing's obvious from the location teasers,
and that is that Stranger Things is hitting the road
in season four
with the California and Russia snapshots
hinting at a global scale.
Fan theories are trying to make sense of it all,
working out how characters in different locations
could interact.
One theory wonders if Joyce will go hunting
for Hopper in Russia
after receiving a Russian doll in the post,
suggesting that she could team up with
conspiracist Murray on the Soviet trip.
That may also explain
the mysterious Russian dolls
some fans of the show received in the post.
Even trickier is linking the lab teaser
to the other events.
One viewer suggests a link exists
between Hopper and Brenner's old lab
that maybe his daughter Sarah
once had something to do with the Rainbow Room.
There's a very old fan theory that
this scene of Hopper crying over his daughter
in season one
is actually set inside Hawkins Lab, for example.
Another fan spotted that the tag line for the season
"We're not in Hawkins anymore"
has connections to the Wizard of Oz's
"We're not in Kansas anymore",
where Dorothy famously went over the rainbow.
Rainbow. Rainbow Room.
Does this imply the test chamber scene
in the lab tease isn't in Hawkins?
Might that tie it to Russia or California?
We're truly down the rabbit hole now.
No! Wait, that's a different kids' story.
And, as for the spooky mansion in the Creel teaser,
one eagle-eyed, no, -eared viewer
reminds us the ticking of a clock was heard
when El ventured into the Upside Down in season one,
which this theorist thinks
ties the events in the Creel House
to anywhere the Upside Down reaches.
More clock theories in a second.
Let's stick with El for a moment.
The California teaser shows her yearning for home
by building a cute model of Hopper's cabin,
but she might have bigger problems
than feeling homesick.
One question fans definitely want answered
in season four is whether El will get her powers back.
At the end of season three,
her tie with the supernatural
was seemingly severed after fighting
the physical form of the Mind Flayer.
Although there is one fun theory that
perhaps it was Hopper
who suppressed her powers deliberately
to dissuade her from
entering the dangerous Russian base under the mall
and to prevent her from using her powers
to track him to Russia.
Quite why he'd do this is fuzzy
and the idea that he put something
in El's fizzy drink to stop her powers
is the kind of mad conspiracy
you'd expect from Murray Bauman.
You do not get to question me.
However she lost them,
fans agree that El's abilities will reawaken
in season four.
Theorists think the shots of El freaking out
in the Rink-O-Mania have big Carrie energy.
We also see her being picked on by smug students
in her new Californian school,
so she's likely ready to snap.
Could a lack of roller skating prowess
unclog her super power blockage?
Bully Eleven
and the only thing you're skating on is thin ice.
-My arm! -Go.
Or could it be a more emotional betrayal
that kickstarts her cerebral capabilities?
With El leaving Hawkins at the end of season three
to travel with the Byers to their new Californian home,
a few worried fans wonder if
her long-distance relationship
with Mike won't work.
Yes, it feels like we're jinxing them
just by entertaining the thought,
but some viewers think Mike might find a new girlfriend.
We know things got rocky in places in season three
and El's new bestie, Max, encouraged her to be
more independent in matters of love,
but we're not sure we could handle any more heartbreak,
so we're going to pretend we haven't heard that one.
I love you, too.
Another intriguing thread to season four is
the importance of the Creel family
introduced in the Creel teaser for the show.
According to newspaper images
released on social media,
the family were involved in a terrible crime in 1959,
explaining why some believe
Hopper may have travelled to that year in particular.
What we do know is that, 27 years later,
we see our Hawkins regulars breaking in to
the Creels' now abandoned home, but, from here,
the fan theories break in multiple directions.
One attentive fan thinks
there's physical similarities between
Mrs. Creel and Karen, Wheeler,
maybe suggesting a family tie
that the gang might investigate.
Others hypothesise that the casting of Robert Englund
as Victor Creel,
aka Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street,
might be a nod to Nancy Wheeler's importance,
as some fans note the similarities between her
and Nancy Thompson, the heroine in Elm Street.
It would be meta as hell,
but Stranger Things doesn't shy away from references.
A more common theory is that the creepy grandfather clock
featured prominently in the teaser is
a gateway to the Upside Down,
much like the one Nancy discovered in the tree
in season one.
Did a connection with the twisted mirror dimension
exist before Eleven opened a gate in 1983
and did it cast some dark magic on the Creels?
Or maybe the clock is just another hint towards
the time travel shenanigans
that pop up in loads of these theories.
Personally, we don't mind the outcome as long as
we get more Sherlock Holmes quotes from Dustin.
The world is full of obvious things
which nobody by any chance ever observes.
Of course, these are just a sliver of the theories
surrounding season four of Stranger Things.
We've read hundreds of out-there ideas
from the fans, from the idea that
the Upside Down is a potential future Earth
that Eleven has to prevent from happening
to one Reddit user who hopes
Bob will come back from the dead at some point,
keeping the Bob dream alive.
You've got to love it.
I hope it doesn't suck.
Of course, we won't know if any of this is true
until part one of Stranger Things season four
arrives on May 27.
And a huge part of the fun is speculating
and digging through old episodes for inspiration.
Why not share your wildest theories
in the comments below?
We promise not to rub them in your face
when part one lands in May.
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