So, you binged Season 2 of Stranger Things and got your fill of Eggos, demodogs, and
Snow Balls.
But now you're wondering what's next?
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here, and in this video I'm looking at what we can
expect from Season 3 of the hit Netflix show, which means I've got a heap of predictions
and theories as well as questions I'd love to see answered in the series.
So, I'll be discussing, among other things, Eleven, the AV Club gang, Hopper, Max and
Billy, Kali, plus, of course, the Shadow Monster.
By the way, my Stranger Things giveaway is also running on this video, so, for your chance
to win a Stranger Things Funko Pop, make sure you're subscribed to my channel and leave
me a comment below about what you'd like to see happen in Season 3.
Obviously I'm discussing season 2 in detail and referencing season 1 as well, so take
care if you're not caught up.
Before I get into individual theories and predictions for characters, let's take a quick
look at what that creepy cliffhanger of the Shadow Monster over Hawkins School in the
Upside Down means going forward.
Of course, it's an intriguingly menacing and ominous image to end on, but what really struck
me about it was that it feels like the monster is almost stalking Eleven and the AV Club
gang.
I mean, it stands to reason; after all, our heroic friends were responsible for nixing
the Mind Flayer's nefarious plan and driving it and its beastly minions out of their town.
That's got to have riled up the sinister creature!
So, in Season 3, I think we could see the Shadow Monster making a beeline for the kids,
especially Eleven, who he witnessed actually closing the gateway in Hawkins Labs.
I also wonder what happened to the portal in the school corridor which Eleven used to
return from the Upside Down this season.
It's the same spot which the Demogorgon used in the first season to move from the Upside
Down to our world and if that opening is still accessible, then it's something the Mind Flayer
could use to access Hawkins.
Either way, we're going to see plenty more of the Shadow Monster as the Duffer Brothers
have confirmed it will be an over-arching villain for the series as a whole.
By the end of the second season, Eleven learned to control and intensify her powers to the
extent that she was able to close an enormous breach between the Hawkins Lab and the Upside
Down.
And perhaps we'll see her powers get even stronger as the series progresses and she
doubtless tracks down other Hawkins Lab survivors.
Potentially, there's a bit more stability on the horizon for El, at least for the moment,
as she's got an official birth certificate that gives her a real name: Jane Hopper; meaning
that Chief Hopper is now her official father figure.
Though she does go to the Snow Ball, Dr Owens suggests that Hopper keep El out of the spotlight
for a year, which could fit in with the time jump to 1985 that I think we'll see next season.
After all, the Duffer Brothers have talked about the necessity of time jumps, like the
one between seasons 1 and 2, as the show's young actors are all growing up.
And, of course, setting Season 3 in 1985 would bring some great stuff for the show to mine
including Back to the Future, Fright Night, and The Breakfast Club.
And maybe, after an off-screen year away from prying eyes, though with visits from her friends,
we could even see El venture out in the world, joining Mike and the gang at school.
And perhaps, as Joyce and Hopper get closer, we'll also see them all form a sort of makeshift
family.
Then, of course, there's still a couple of other unresolved issues for Eleven which I
expect we'll also see addressed next season: One is with her sister Kali who she left in
Chicago and another is with her Papa, Dr Brenner, who we just discovered appears to be still
alive.
And I'll talk about those a little later in this video.
Season 2 introduced us to two new characters, Max and Billy.
Max was a fun addition who set up a new love triangle with Dustin and Lucas vying for her
attention.
By the end though, she'd proven she could be a capable member of the AV Club party and
I expect that we'll see her take on a much more active role next season.
And given the influence of Dungeons and Dragons on the show, maybe we'll see Max, who's pretty
nifty on her skateboard, take on the role of a Dungeons and Dragons rogue, using her
speed and stealth to the group's advantage.
Max's step-brother Billy was, of course, a huge jerk throughout the season, to the point
where it made me wonder why the character was introduced as he's so objectionable.
However, I suspect that the showrunners have something more interesting in mind for him
next season, which could also involve an affair with Mrs Wheeler, Nancy and Mike's mum.
Another theory, though, is that Billy could be co-opted, willingly or not, by the Mind
Flayer into working on behalf of the evil entity.
Billy obviously has a lot of issues; there's his relationship with his bullying father,
his apparent racism towards Lucas, his hostility towards Max, and he may still be annoyed at
her for stabbing him with a syringe in the finale.
All of these feelings could take him to a dark place where he ends up encountering the
Shadow Monster leading him to make a pact; or like Will, he could end up taken over by
the Mind Flayer and get used as a human spy.
And if that were the case, then this time, the Shadow Monster would be in control of
someone who is already a brutal bully, rather than the good-natured Will.
And Billy wasn't the only thing taken down in the finale at the Byers house.
When Eleven reunited with Mike and friends, she took out a set of demodogs circling the
house.
But in a hilarious moment, Dustin then insisted that Steve stuff one of the dead demodogs
into the Byers' fridge because "[it's] a ground-breaking scientific discovery".
I'm hoping we might see the AV party investigate the dead creature as it could reveal something
more about how the Mind Flayer creates and controls its hive-minded minions.
And I wonder if we'll see Dustin reach out to his teacher Mr Clarke for help opening
this new curiosity door.
I mean, Mr Clarke has proven rather helpful in the past, for example, giving advice about
making a sensory deprivation tank, so maybe he'd have some tips about examining the demodog!
Or maybe Steve and Dustin will continue their new-found bromance into next season with a
demodog dissection.
Then again, it appears that Dr Owens is still in town, despite the closure of Hawkins Lab,
and he could well be interested in Dustin's find.
Despite his part in the cover-up, Owens did help Hopper get a birth certificate for Eleven,
and so ended the season on a positive note.
But maybe Owens will turn out to be a duplicitous, scheming official, similar to actor Paul Reiser's
character Carter Burke in the movie Aliens, which was such a big influence on this season
of Stranger Things.
Oh, and let's not forget that the monster likes the cold, so although the demodog is
dead, a fridge may still not be the best place to keep it!
Speaking of Dustin, the fact his nose and mouth were covered by goggles and a scarf
in the tunnels didn't stop the spray from a huge flower-like creature getting in his
mouth.
And Hopper also got sprayed and trapped by the vines when he first entered the tunnels
earlier in the season.
Oh, and remember that Mike got caught in the vines as well before being rescued by his
friends.
So, potentially, any of those three characters could have been infected by the Monster.
They all seem to be healthy at the end of the season, but we can't rule out there being
some sort of incubation period for any infection they might be carrying.
As for Will, it'll be interesting to see if he still has visions of the Upside Down in
Season 3, though the Duffer Brothers told Variety that they think they'll 'need to give
Will a breather' next season given everything he's been through now for two years running.
The appearance in Season 2 of Kali, aka Eight, who's another young survivor of Dr Brenner's
secret experiments, confirms exactly what many of us were thinking after last season:
That there are others like Eleven out there.
Now, it just remains to be seen how many others of those ten who went before Eleven have survived.
I fully expect to see a few of those survivors in Season 3 and beyond.
Unlike El, Kali is based in Chicago, and she also has different powers to her lost sister
as she's able to make people see or not see whatever she chooses.
So, the question for similar survivors going forward is what they're up to now, what their
particular powers will be, and how and where they will appear.
Given that Kali was found in Illinois, the state next to Indiana, I wonder if other survivors
will turn up in other surrounding states such as Ohio, Kentucky or Michigan.
Also, will any of them join Kali on her revenge mission?
Or, what I suspect will happen in perhaps the final season, is we'll find them teaming
up with Eleven to eventually overcome the terrors of the Upside Down once and for all.
I've got a separate video where I explain all the hidden clues in the show about which
new gifted children we'll see next season.
You can tap in the top right to watch that or there are links to it in the video description
and at the end of this video.
Before this season, El assumed Dr Brenner was dead as the last time we saw him, the
Demogorgon appeared to be pouncing on him in the school corridor, though the camera
cut away before we could confirm his fate.
In Season 2, Papa makes an eerie appearance when Kali uses her powers to summon him up
in El's mind.
But what's really exciting for season 3 and beyond is that former Hawkins Lab worker,
Ray, tells El and Kali that Brenner is still alive and that he can lead them to the man
who called himself their father.
Of course, Kali and El are about to wreak revenge on Ray for what he did to them and
El's mother at the Lab, so it's possible he's lying to save his neck.
But if we take Ray's confession at face value, where is Brenner hiding?
Perhaps in Chicago, like his former Lab assistant.
And what is Brenner doing?
Working on a number Twelve, maybe.
And will El be able to locate him by herself?
It'll also be intriguing to find out whether Brenner is actually Eleven's biological father,
or whether, more likely, he was just encouraging her to think of him as 'papa' as a convenient
way for them to bond and get her to do as he wished.
The seventh episode wasn't as well received as the rest of the show by many fans as it
felt somewhat jarring in terms of the setting and characters.
But what Eleven learned from Kali was vital for the finale.
However, whether we'll see Kali return might well depend on whether the Duffer Brothers
feel she's important for the final defeat of the Shadow Monster.
She could return as a potential antagonist to Eleven given they departed on difficult
terms, however, they regard each other as sisters so it's more likely they'll join together
next season to find and deal with Dr Brenner.
Now, what do you want to see happen in Season 3 and what are your favourite moments from
this season?
Let me know what you think in the comments below and also make sure you subscribe to
my channel for a chance to win my Stranger Things giveaway!
Enjoyed this video?
Then hit that like button and turn on your notifications to get more videos like this!
Plus you can check out a selection of my other videos here!
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!