How the 'Stranger Things' kids navigate monster personal drama, 'shared trauma' in Season 4
The 1980s youngsters of Netflixâs horror-tinged hit series âStranger Thingsâ have a nasty supernatural threat to face in the showâs fourth season. Of course they do.
A new villain just seems like piling on, though, for a crew also wrestling with fresh obstacles such as competing high school social circles, mean-girl bullies and long-distance relationships.
âYou always want to shake it up,â says Matt Duffer, who created âStranger Thingsâ with his brother, Ross. And for Season 4 (first seven episodes streaming now; super-size final two July 1), that meant separating the heroes geographically, across America and the globe.
Back in Hawkins, Indiana, old friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) enter high school, but the fourth member of their crew â Will (Noah Schnapp) â has moved to California with his mom, Joyce (Winona Ryder); his brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton); and Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown).
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Eleven, a teen girl with telekinetic abilities, helped save Hawkins from the dark forces of the alternate-reality Upside Down, but doesnât have her powers anymore, and her adoptive cop dad, Hopper (David Harbour), presumed dead after the explosive Battle of Starcourt Mall (see: Season 3), is rotting in a Russian gulag. Which isnât great when terrifying things start happening in Hawkins due to the arrival of Vecna, a mysterious figure killing Hawkins teens in extraordinarily gnarly fashion.
For Brown, the creepy terror goes hand in hand with kid characters âwho have different spirits and energiesâ finding their identity in the world. âYou don't have to conform to the peers around you,â she says. The series excels at âshowing kids that you are who you are, and we accept you for who you are.â
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The âStranger Thingsâ cast breaks down what fans can expect as Season 4 starts:
A jock/nerd divide hits the Hawkins teens
Freshman year in 1986 finds old pals in new cliques: Mike and Dustin play âDungeons & Dragonsâ with the Hellfire Club, but Lucas is focused more on shooting hoops with the basketball team. Matarazzo calls it a âgreat dynamic.â
McLaughlin says itâs an experience âevery teenager could relate to. A lot of people say, âYour true friends are out of high schoolâ (and) that's the test for the Hawkins gang.â
Eleven and Will try to find their Cali groove
On the West Coast, Eleven struggles to find her bearings without Hopper, and gets picked on for her social awkwardness. âIâve really enjoyed having a real-life problem to deal with in the show,â Brown says. âItâs really nice for 'Stranger Things' to shine a light on, especially young girls feeling like they're not in a place of safety in their schools.â
Meanwhile, Will âstruggles with his own identity and with himselfâ in this new environment, Schnapp says, hinting that his âpretty dryâ romantic life could pick up. âIt's just up to the audience interpretation to assume what could be going on with that.â
Max grapples with grief (and the supernatural)
With her ever-present Walkman, Sadie Sinkâs character is a full-fledged member of the Hawkins gang, yet she's rocked to her core by the death of her brother, Billy, and is now haunted by a mysterious presence. âI was really excited to have the opportunity to touch on just how the trauma is affecting these characters,â Sink says. âPlaying Max is so fun,â and Season 4 showcases âa very different side of her. She's in a real place.â
Love life troubles abound with the dudes
Mike finds it tough having a relationship with Eleven so far away. âThe interpersonal stuff is the stuff that really gets him,â Wolfhard says. âHe can help fight monsters all day, but when it comes to helping himself, he's not very good.â
Same goes with Jonathan, who made a promise with his girlfriend, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), back in Hawkins that they'd stay together. âThe reality of that is kind of different,â Heaton says. âIt's sometimes easier to push someone away when you feel like you are about to be pushed away yourself.â
Steveâs still the best babysitter ever
Joe Keeryâs well-coiffed fan favorite has evolved from an unlikable jerk in Season 1 to one of the most loyal heroes around, protecting his BFF Dustin and the youngsters when they need him most. âItâs about feeling a certain amount of responsibility for these kids,â Keery says. âThere's nothing that will bind people together more than shared trauma, especially of the supernatural ilk. Definitely a part of him enjoys that.â
Nancy and Robin form their own girl squad
Outside of their Steve connection â Nancyâs his ex, and Robin (Maya Hawke) his lesbian co-worker â the two high school seniors donât really know each other, but they share a fun side mission this season. âItâs that opposites-attract thing: they fill in what the other might not see or have. They challenge each other. They're both intelligent females and work well together,â Dyer says.
Hawke adds the pair have âa couple really beautiful moments.â
A couple of new guys add some 'Stranger' spice
Joseph Quinn joins the cast in Season 4 as Eddie Munson, the metalhead leader of the Hellfire Club. âHe brings a kind of quiet, manic, questionably dressed energy that I don't think people have seen in the show yet,â Quinn says.
And Eduardo Franco says his Surfer Boy Pizza driver Argyle, Jonathan's funny Cali friend, offers âan escape from all the darkness and the spookiness."