Finally, Netflix released a full trailer April 12 for Season 4, which will roll out on the streamer in two parts: Volume 1 premieres May 27, while Volume 2 premieres July 1. This season will altogether have nine episodes. Plot details remain scarce for what to expect from the next slate of episodes, but “Stranger Things 4” picks up six months after the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time — and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.

The show brings back Netflix’s beloved tweens, played by Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Charlie Heaton, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin. “They’re not kids anymore — they really are full-blown teenagers,” co-creator Matt Duffer told Netflix’s Queue magazine. “That’s why this season we leaned more into horror. We figured they should be in their own [version] of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ basically.” Returning guest stars include Sadie Sink, Cara Buono, Maya Hawke, Brett Gelman, and Winona Ryder. But Season 4 brings new cast members, as the Duffers enlisted “Nightmare on Elm Street” icon Robert Englund for a guest appearance that promises to be a “really dramatic departure” from any other “Stranger Things” installment. “If we look back at our favorite movie sequels — whether it’s ‘Aliens’ or ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day,’ or ‘The Godfather: Part II,’ or ‘The Empire Strikes Back’— the greatest movie sequels always do change it up. The tone feels different,” Ross Duffer told Queue. “So that’s what we’ve been trying to do each season to challenge ourselves and give everyone something new to try.” Season 5 is expected to be the final installment for “Stranger Things,” and this season was split mostly due to the sheer volume of story the Duffers had put together: nine scripts exceeding 800 pages, two years of filming, thousands of VFX shots, and a running time twice as long as any previous season.

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