This story contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.
season 4 recently dropped on Netflix and it seems the creators have more surprises up their sleeves for volume 2.
According to the team behind the hit sci-fi series, ‘everybody’s life is on the line’ following the long-awaited season 4 volume 1, which has been hailed as the most bizarre yet, with the ‘out of this world’ thrilling show following () and the rest of the Hawkins gang.
The latest instalment also saw the introduction of a new gruesome villain known as , but fans should expect things to get even creepier, as producer and writer Matt Duffer assures the show wants to explore ‘darker themes.’
Not only that, but he wants to throw the characters into ‘a full-blown horror,’ which would see them all ‘in jeopardy.’
‘A lot of [the darker tone] was driven by the fact that we had these — I still call them kids, even though I know they’re not kids, but they feel like my kids — is that they were heading into high school. And it felt like the right time to put them into a full-blown horror film,’ Matt told .
‘We’re dealing with darker themes, and issues that come along with being a teenager, because for at least Ross and I, and I think for most people, high school is a challenging time. And you’re experiencing a lot of dark emotions for the first time.’
The creator continued to comment on how the show’s first season took inspiration from Amblin coming-of-age classics like The Goonies and E.T.
However, for the fourth season, creators ventured further down the horror path and used from R-rated horrors like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Hellraiser, and IT, for inspo.
‘Whereas for us, middle school was such a magical time. And that was why that was reflected in season 1, whereas this has gotten darker,’ Matt said.
‘You’re feeling a little bit unsettled and unsafe for everybody, that’s the intention.’
Matt and the Stranger Things team ‘wanted the whole season to feel like everybody is in jeopardy’ but they ‘felt like that was something you couldn’t really do as well when they were these cute little kids.’
‘But now, you know, everybody’s life is on the line.’
Dun dun dunnn!
That leaves viewers to sweat over the fate of their favourite characters, whether it’s much-loved Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) or newcomer Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), or perhaps Max (Sadie Sink) who only narrowly escaped death once before.
Matt also stresses that villain Vecna ‘doesn’t pull punches’ with Ross Duffer saying he is a ‘formidable monster’ who ‘doesn’t miss around’ so time will tell who might face the wrath of the Upside Down nemesis.
It’s been three years since season 3 of Stranger Things was released, so fans have been well and truly eating up the new episodes, with everyone gripped as they watched cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien), journalist Fred (Logan Riley Bruner), and jock Patrick (Myles Truitt), meet violent ends.
The show came back with a bang and has not only seen success in the streaming charts but also in the music charts, with singer songwriter Kate Bush for the first time in over a decade, thanks to the show making her track viral.
Stranger Things is available to stream now on Netflix. Season 4 volume 2 lands in July.
