Spoilers Stranger Things - Season 4

[Grendelsbayne]

Based on what? I haven't seen anything from the Duffer Brothers about when season 5 takes place. Later in my post are some links about the stuff they have talked about and that isn't one of them. So if you have a source on that claim, please provide it.

ScreenRant has claimed repeatedly that the Duffers specifically said they would probably have to do a time jump to explain the actors' growth. However, no matter which sr article I look at I still can't find any actual quote or info about where or when the Duffers supposedly said this.

 

[Reverend]

The timing may feel off, but as you said, there were a lot of moving parts. I viewed those sequences as occurring simultaneously much like cinematic sequences often do. It just felt off here since there were so many stacked on top of each other that they eventually felt stretched out (particularly Steve/Robin/Nancy choking bit). So, you know, dramatic license and all of that.

It's also work keeping in mind that anything that everything that happened in the mindscape, could have occurred in mere seconds. After all when we dream, our perception of time goes right out the window. Things happen at the speed of thought. So Robin, Steve & Nancy could have only been up against that wall for exactly those mere seconds.
The only necessary point of objective synchronicity in the whole thing was Murry torching the demodogs at the same time the vines let go of them.

Yuuuup, exactly all of this. Like I said in my review, the cliffhanger gave a sense of urgency of the situation that suggests any time jump won't be a big one.

Given that it's been six or seven years since they started filming this show (and won't even start filming the next season until early next year), while the narrative has only advanced just under two and a half years (Nov '83 - March '86!), and these kids are damn near grown up already, I think it seems logical that at some point there will be a sizable time jump to catch everyone up to their real ages, or at least a lot closer.

But yeah, the way this season left off, they probably won't *start* with the time jump. Maybe not even until the half-way point. But I think it has to be there somwhere, and not just as a coda.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Given that it's been six or seven years since they started filming this show (and won't even start filming the next season until early next year), while the narrative has only advanced just under two and a half years (Nov '83 - March '86!), and these kids are damn near grown up already, I think it seems logical that at some point there will be a sizable time jump to catch everyone up to their real ages, or at least a lot closer.

But yeah, the way this season left off, they probably won't *start* with the time jump. Maybe not even until the half-way point. But I think it has to be there somwhere, and not just as a coda.

A time jump is not necessary to justify the appearance of the actors; TV history is overloaded with people who were still portraying teens well after they reached adulthood (and appeared to be adults) or cast adults as teenagers (e.g., David Cassidy from The Partridge Family or Ron Howard on Happy Days, et al.), so if the Duffers are concerned about that, its a non-issue. The viewing public were well aware the "kids" of Stranger Things were becoming adults while on the series, but did not let that prevent them from accepting the characters as their stated ages.

While I could see your idea of S5 not starting with a time-jump (the nature of Max's condition, along with what's happening to Hawkins cannot afford a time-jump), despite my believing its unnecessary (as noted above), it might happen...but I would only want that as the coda to the series--just a glimpse of what became of the "gang" by the turn of the century.

 

[Reverend]

It's one thing to have people in their 20's or even 30's playing older teenagers, it's quite another to have people who are clearly hurtling towards their early 20's playing what are on paper supposed to be 13-14 year olds. Anyone that claims otherwise must have clearly either not been paying attention during puberty, or somehow managed to skip it entirely.

Let's also remember that this is really as much for the actors' sake as for anything else. Indeed one gets the distinct impression that Millie Bobby Brown in particular might be getting more than a little sick of being perpetually infantilised (something Maisie Williams could most likely relate to.)
Child actors almost always struggle to transition into adult actors and these years in particular tend to be the especially bumpy ones. For the sake of their careers (those that actually want to pursue it) they need to show that they can play grown up roles, or else they will be forever typecast as "one of the kids Stranger Things".

 

[EnderAKH]

Look at Aiden Gallagher in the Umbrella Academy. He started the series as a 16 year old playing a 13 year old, now he's almost 20 playing a 13 year old. Audiences get it.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I

Child actors almost always struggle to transition into adult actors and these years in particular tend to be the especially bumpy ones. For the sake of their careers (those that actually want to pursue it) they need to show that they can play grown up roles, or else they will be forever typecast as "one of the kids Stranger Things".

Showing they can play grown up roles is where...landing other roles comes into play. Stranger Things is simply one job where they happen to have aged beyond the years of the characters, but if none of the "kids" are typecast as the younger end of adolescence (the way Michael J. Fox had been for a time early into Family Ties' run), Stranger Things may not have some lasting, negative impact on their prospects as adults cast as adults. Time jumping the ST characters would only create some in-universe story problems since S4 ended with serious cliffhangers that--in theory--should not be wrapped up in 3 or 4 episodes.

 

[Reverend]

Look at Aiden Gallagher in the Umbrella Academy. He started the series as a 16 year old playing a 13 year old, now he's almost 20 playing a 13 year old. Audiences get it.

It's helps that he 1) actually still mostly looks the part, and 2) is playing a character that is actually WAY older than he looks. Neither of which applies here, so I call false equivalency on that comparison.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

ScreenRant has claimed repeatedly that the Duffers specifically said they would probably have to do a time jump to explain the actors' growth. However, no matter which sr article I look at I still can't find any actual quote or info about where or when the Duffers supposedly said this.

Oh, I expect a time jump, I just don't think it'll be three years and I've seen no indication that the Duffer Brothers have ever said it would be that back of a jump.

It's also work keeping in mind that anything that everything that happened in the mindscape, could have occurred in mere seconds. After all when we dream, our perception of time goes right out the window. Things happen at the speed of thought. So Robin, Steve & Nancy could have only been up against that wall for exactly those mere seconds.

Ah, yes, that's also a good point. I think in the back of my mind, I considered that in the moment but I failed to express that additional nuance here.

Given that it's been six or seven years since they started filming this show (and won't even start filming the next season until early next year), while the narrative has only advanced just under two and a half years (Nov '83 - March '86!), and these kids are damn near grown up already, I think it seems logical that at some point there will be a sizable time jump to catch everyone up to their real ages, or at least a lot closer.

But yeah, the way this season left off, they probably won't *start* with the time jump. Maybe not even until the half-way point. But I think it has to be there somwhere, and not just as a coda.

Perhaps so. I agree on the necessity of aligning the characters' ages with the actors' ages but I'm just not sure how they can do that without deflating that the urgency of the cliffhanger in a weird way.

Let's also remember that this is really as much for the actors' sake as for anything else. Indeed one gets the distinct impression that Millie Bobby Brown in particular might be getting more than a little sick of being perpetually infantilised (something Maisie Williams could most likely relate to.)
Child actors almost always struggle to transition into adult actors and these years in particular tend to be the especially bumpy ones. For the sake of their careers (those that actually want to pursue it) they need to show that they can play grown up roles, or else they will be forever typecast as "one of the kids Stranger Things".

That's actually a really good point, one I admittedly haven't thought of. Above all else, their mental health should be considered first and foremost. I wonder if that's something Millie and others have talked to the Duffer Brothers about.

 

[theenglish]

It's helps that he 1) actually still mostly looks the part, and 2) is playing a character that is actually WAY older than he looks. Neither of which applies here, so I call false equivalency on that comparison.

With all the time travel going on, and how he was reduced in age, I am surprised there wasn't just an offhand reference to his aging being related to his relationship with time (I haven't seen the new season yet).

 

[Reverend]

Perhaps so. I agree on the necessity of aligning the characters' ages with the actors' ages but I'm just not sure how they can do that without deflating that the urgency of the cliffhanger in a weird way.

I could easily see the first episode or two leading directly off of the cliffhanger, presumably to rescue Max's soul from "the devil". Then at some point (hopefully once they have her back) cut to "three years later"; and it's all a post-apocalyptic wasteland with most of the planet already consumed by the upside down, and things proceed from there.

The show has always drawn heavily on Stephen King's material, so why not go out on a mashup of 'The Stand' and 'The Mist'? Even the (hypothetical so far as I know) '1989' date seems oddly appropriate; for a show anchored heavily on 80's nostalgia ending on the last year of the decade.

 

[Skywalker]

They had a perfect excuse to do a sizable time jump between seasons 3 and 4, especially after the covid delays. Nothing in season 4 really required there to have only been six months in-between.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

The show has always drawn heavily on Stephen King's material, so why not go out on a mashup of 'The Stand' and 'The Mist'? Even the (hypothetical so far as I know) '1989' date seems oddly appropriate; for a show anchored heavily on 80's nostalgia ending on the last year of the decade.

The Mist has been in the Netflix Top 10 for a while now and I've been trying to figure out why such an older movie is of interest now, maybe that's the connection.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I could easily see the first episode or two leading directly off of the cliffhanger, presumably to rescue Max's soul from "the devil". Then at some point (hopefully once they have her back) cut to "three years later"; and it's all a post-apocalyptic wasteland with most of the planet already consumed by the upside down, and things proceed from there.

The show has always drawn heavily on Stephen King's material, so why not go out on a mashup of 'The Stand' and 'The Mist'? Even the (hypothetical so far as I know) '1989' date seems oddly appropriate; for a show anchored heavily on 80's nostalgia ending on the last year of the decade.

I could see all of that...except jumping to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Yeah, King is a big influence and all but part of the charm of the show is about a bunch of kids trying to lead a normal life in a rural town where really strange things happen. To suddenly shift that set-up to something so drastically different seems...off.

Yeah, I know, they're already partially there with the molten earthquakes across Hawkins and more of the outside world is drawn in, so it's not like I expect them to go back to high school like nothing happened.

In one of the interview links I posted earlier, the Duffer Brothers acknowledged that the opening of season five will be different from the rest because they won't have to spend as much time catching up with the characters and they'll be jumping right into the action because of the cliffhanger. So that certainly lends credence to the idea that they'll spend a couple of episodes dealing with the immediate problems and possibly rescue Max's mind, before going to a time jump. But I still don't think going full post-apocalyptic world will happen.

 

[theenglish]

I'm thinking that the disastrous events in Hawkins will continue to be discredited as some sort of natural disaster. The spores falling at the end really looked like that spores that are falling right now where I live (dandelions in the mountains). Last Saturday there were snow many of them it looked like it was snowing. The city where my wife's family is from in South American can look incredibly smoggy for long periods because of dust from the Sahara. So there are plausible excuses to calm the general populace.

 

[Reverend]

I could see all of that...except jumping to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Yeah, King is a big influence and all but part of the charm of the show is about a bunch of kids trying to lead a normal life in a rural town where really strange things happen. To suddenly shift that set-up to something so drastically different seems...off.

Yeah, I know, they're already partially there with the molten earthquakes across Hawkins and more of the outside world is drawn in, so it's not like I expect them to go back to high school like nothing happened.

In one of the interview links I posted earlier, the Duffer Brothers acknowledged that the opening of season five will be different from the rest because they won't have to spend as much time catching up with the characters and they'll be jumping right into the action because of the cliffhanger. So that certainly lends credence to the idea that they'll spend a couple of episodes dealing with the immediate problems and possibly rescue Max's mind, before going to a time jump. But I still don't think going full post-apocalyptic world will happen.

Hey it's the last season, may as well go out with a bang, and in the process burn as many potential sequel milking bridges as possible!

Also, so far each season has gone for a different (but related) set of genres and tone; the first season was government supernatural experiments gone wrong crossed with a dash of 'E.T.'. The second was essentially a demonic possession movie. The third was a cheesy as hell action movie with an utterly implausible plot only the 1980's would come up with. The fourth season has very much been a supernatural slasher movie.
So what's left in the pantheon of supernatural/sci-fi centric movies that were big in the 80's?; Post apocalyptic dystopian future wastelands of course! What better setting to have a story about the end of childhood, the coming of age, and facing the bleak crushing reality of adulthood?

I'm thinking that the disastrous events in Hawkins will continue to be discredited as some sort of natural disaster. The spores falling at the end really looked like that spores that are falling right now where I live (dandelions in the mountains). Last Saturday there were snow many of them it looked like it was snowing. The city where my wife's family is from in South American can look incredibly smoggy for long periods because of dust from the Sahara. So there are plausible excuses to calm the general populace.

For now. It's been two only days! What happens when the rot spores and vines continue to spread? What happens when the dogs, bats, and whatever else is in there start to cross over en masse?

With a portal of that scale open, there's really only two ways the next season can deal with it; either the military encircle the entire town and desperately try to contain the spread of the incursion, or the spread continues regardless and we get a time jump after it's all fallen apart, and the party have to come together one last time to put an end to it. Given the aforementioned issues with the actor's ages, the latter seems the more likely.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Hey it's the last season, may as well go out with a bang, and in the process burn as many potential sequel milking bridges as possible!

Well, we know at least one spin-off is already happening...

Also, so far each season has gone for a different (but related) set of genres and tone; the first season was government supernatural experiments gone wrong crossed with a dash of 'E.T.'. The second was essentially a demonic possession movie. The third was a cheesy as hell action movie with an utterly implausible plot only the 1980's would come up with. The fourth season has very much been a supernatural slasher movie.

So what's left in the pantheon of supernatural/sci-fi centric movies that were big in the 80's?; Post apocalyptic dystopian future wastelands of course! What better setting to have a story about the end of childhood, the coming of age, and facing the bleak crushing reality of adulthood?

You raise a good point there. I hadn't sussed on the different genres for each season, at least to the degree of seeing a correlation that each season highlighted a classic 80s genre. With that in mind, I could see that happening but it still feels like a pretty stark contrast with the previous seasons and I'm not sure if the Duffer Brothers would make such a large jump.

 

[Reverend]

Well, we know at least one spin-off is already happening...

Yeah and from what I gather it's vastly different from the show thus far. One presumes that the idea here is to continue with the original concept for the show which was much more bent towards anthologies; or rather anthologies of serialised stories, so 'Stranger Things' won't just be "that 80's show set in Indiana", but more of a brand umbrella more akin to say 'The Twilight Zone', or I guess Cloverfield on the cinematic side (sub-optimal example, I know!)

Which is why I specified "sequel milking", as in just straight up sequels, spin-offs & prequels based on these specific characters. All of that would be hard to do if they end the show in a very definite way. For example, they can't do a "Steve & Robin go to university and it's basically 'Animal House', but with more lesbians" if half the world got chomped by a trans-dimensional conversion and an irrevocable biosphere contamination. Or a "Dustin & Suzie get recruited by the CIA" espionage comedy if most of the world governments are either gone or unrecognisably rearranged.

You raise a good point there. I hadn't sussed on the different genres for each season, at least to the degree of seeing a correlation that each season highlighted a classic 80s genre. With that in mind, I could see that happening but it still feels like a pretty stark contrast with the previous seasons and I'm not sure if the Duffer Brothers would make such a large jump.

Why not? It the final season, it's not like they have to worry about writing themselves into a corner.
Also just think of the material they have to pull from; 'Blade-Runner', 'Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior', 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome', 'Escape From New York', 'The Running Man', 'Cyborg', 'The Terminator', and those are just the memorable ones; there's a whole slew of more obscure stuff like 'The Quiet Earth' & 'Testament', along with many many other much more shlocky, cheesey weirdness they can channel.
Hell they could even take some inspiration from the anime side; 'Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind', 'Akira', and 'Fist of the North Star' certainly leap to mind, and are of that period!
'Nausicaä' feels especially like a good source of inspiration given it's setting is literally about the last survivors of humanity being pushed to the brink by an aggressive, encroaching eco-system that's actively trying to kill them.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

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[Mojochi]

A time jump solely to put the actors in roles that are more age relevant, is legit closing the barn doors after the horse is out. Joe Keery is 30 playing like 17. Sadie Sink is 20 playing like 15. The damage is done. Just go with it imho. If they'd wanted to address it in the narrative, (Which I really don't think was necessary) season 4 was the absolute perfect opportunity they let pass

 

[Mr. Adventure]

El algoritmo blessed me with this gem:

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