The season 4 trailer has among the fandom – as well as fears that a key character in the Netflix sci-fi series will die as a .
In the new footage released of the upcoming episodes, Max () is shown visiting the grave of her late brother Billy (), who died sacrificing himself in the fight against the Mind Flayer at the Battle of Starcourt six months previously.
Eleven (), who is currently powerless, is warned that she’s needed in order to win the war that’s heading their way, while it looks like several members of the gang are going to be venturing into the mysterious and ominous Upside Down.
Max features heavily in the trailer, looking perplexed when she discovers a Grandfather Clock lodged into a wall at the end of a corridor in school.
While visiting Billy’s grave with Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), she’s shown levitating above the ground, leading some fans to predict that she may have been possessed.
Meanwhile, a brief glimpse at the Upside Down appears to hint that Max will have to run for her life away from a Demogorgon-esque creature who’s on her tail.
At the end of the trailer, a humanoid creature – – descends to the ground while several tentacles are attached to their body.
The presumption that this is Billy, and the fact that the creature’s levitating position appears to mirror Max’s when she’s floating above the grave, has led some to fearfully hypothesise that she may not make it out alive this season.
‘I think Max is gonna die this season,’ one person tweeted, while another wrote: ‘If Max dies in Stranger Things season 4 we are going to have a problem.’
One person warned that if anything happens to Max, they will ‘come for the Duffer Brothers’, who created the show, while someone else threatened to cancel their Netflix subscription.
Others were happy to see Max receiving more time on screen… but terrified of what that could mean.
‘Max finally getting the screentime she deserves but man I’m scared for her this season,’ one person stated.
In the synopsis for season four, it outlines how the friendship group at the centre of the story are ‘still struggling with the aftermath’ of the Battle of Starcourt, as well as being separated for the first time.
‘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,’ it says.
Stranger Things season four arrives on Netflix on Friday May 27, with the first three seasons available to watch on the platform.
