Spoilers Stranger Things - Season 4

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't think COVID is ever going to end. It's really going to look weird when we see one of the kids go from one scene as a teenage kid running into a building and then inside the building instantly becomes a 30 year man with stubble wearing the same outfit and acting like nothing has changed.

Jason

I'm wondering what you base that on, cause it sounds like general pessimism. Even if it takes longer than we think to get a vaccine, eventually enough of the population will have temporary immunity and we'll have effective enough treatments that contract tracing will be enough to protect us.

It wouldn't be 30 year olds, it'd be maybe 15 or 16 year olds.

 

[Jayson1]

I'm wondering what you base that on, cause it sounds like general pessimism. Even if it takes longer than we think to get a vaccine, eventually enough of the population will have temporary immunity and we'll have effective enough treatments that contract tracing will be enough to protect us.

It wouldn't be 30 year olds, it'd be maybe 15 or 16 year olds.

I know but I was just making a joke. Next we see the kids at school during class but for some reason whenever they cut to closeups of Will he is bald with a grey beard but then wide shot he is back to teen.

Jason

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I know but I was just making a joke. Next we see the kids at school during class but for some reason whenever they cut to closeups of Will he is bald with a grey beard but then wide shot he is back to teen.

Jason

Sorry, a lot of people talk like that completely seriously.

 

[Anwar]

Wasn't the intent before it blew up and became a massively popular show for the whole thing to be anthology based, with a different set of characters and story each season? Once the kids age out, they could always go back to that idea...Then in 5 years once everyone hates the new stuff, they just bring back the old cast, all grown up...

Originally, Stranger Things was supposed to be an adaptation of "IT" but the Duffer Bros decided to do their own thing. They were going to still copy the bit from IT where the first season would be about the characters as kids and S2 would be about them as adults.

But then they saw how great the kid actors were and decided to stick with them as kids.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Epic Games will make the PC version of Stranger Things 3: The Game free from June 25 - July 02. That is the window to get it for free but once you do it's yours to keep.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Good to know. Hopefully I remember to check that out.

 

[Astra]

I was wondering about that. I still want to read the books though, I'm happy to overlook a few minor inconsistencies as long as I enjoy the story.

It's a great book, I liked it very puch. Couldn't put it down.

I stumbled about it by chance in Forbidden Planet in London when it just had come out, I hadn't even heard about it yet. It's even a copy signed by the author. I talked about it with David Harbour at the convention the next day and he joked that I know more about Hopper's backstory now than he does, as he hadn't read it yet.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Wasn't the intent before it blew up and became a massively popular show for the whole thing to be anthology based, with a different set of characters and story each season? Once the kids age out, they could always go back to that idea...Then in 5 years once everyone hates the new stuff, they just bring back the old cast, all grown up...

Coincidentally, that was brought up in a new interview the Duffer brothers did with Deadline:

“The honest truth is we didn’t know if we’d go beyond season one, so we like the idea of season one that it could function basically as its own standalone piece, like almost as a limited series. But it had the potential to go beyond that. And if it were to go beyond that, we had an idea of where it would go. Yeah, and we have an ending in mind.”
​

The actual Deadline article has the full 30-minute interview but I haven't watched it yet (about to go to bed). However, I just wanted to point out two things that the io9 summary brought up:

1) They've known the ending for the series for awhile and they intend to the show sooner than later, preferring to end on a high-note instead of dragging it out.

2) Three weeks of filming was complete before they shut down, which Ross Duffer says that means most of the season is finished. They addressed that it might a bit tricky to deal with the kids growing in the interim whenever they resume but this isn't the first time they've had to make some adjustments.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I thought their outline was for five seasons.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

They've said four to five seasons in the past. Sounds like season four isn't the past so it'll probably be five seasons.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Seems clearer now that season four is definitely not the last season. Maybe.

 

[JD]

I wonder if it's going to start to get harder to get everyone together now that a lot of them are getting a fair amount of work outside of Stranger Things.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I sense the series crashing and burning hard if its stretched beyond 4 seasons.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I wonder if it's going to start to get harder to get everyone together now that a lot of them are getting a fair amount of work outside of Stranger Things.

Maybe, unless they decide to do larger time jumps.

I sense the series crashing and burning hard if its stretched beyond 4 seasons.

Maybe, maybe not. They've repeatedly said (as mentioned just a few posts earlier) that they know how it's going to end and this extended break period forced by COVID-19 is helping them solidify how to get to that ending. I'm willing to trust them at this point.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

I'm willing to trust them at this point

I don't ever trust US TV when there's this much money rolling in

 

[FPAlpha]

I wonder if it's going to start to get harder to get everyone together now that a lot of them are getting a fair amount of work outside of Stranger Things.

I can only assume they have contracts that require them to be free for shooting the show - how that works now that Covid struck and basically shut down the filming industry (at least in the US) i don't know.

What's more interesting to me is that they're all smack dab in the middle of puberty and developing at a breakneck speed - just recently i saw a movie poster for a new movie that has Millie Bobby Brown in it and i barely recognized her. I guess they can only work with time jumps now to explain this away.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

I can only assume they have contracts that require them to be free for shooting the show - how that works now that Covid struck and basically shut down the filming industry (at least in the US) i don't know.

What's more interesting to me is that they're all smack dab in the middle of puberty and developing at a breakneck speed - just recently i saw a movie poster for a new movie that has Millie Bobby Brown in it and i barely recognized her. I guess they can only work with time jumps now to explain this away.

Always a worry with young actors and there's also the fear that now they are big stars on of them does a Miley Cyrus or worse

 

[JD]

They're pretty much going to have to do some kind of midseason time jump if they aren't able to get back to work soon.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

They're pretty much going to have to do some kind of midseason time jump if they aren't able to get back to work soon.

Probably not mid-season since they've already said they've filmed most of the season.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Maybe, maybe note. They've repeatedly said (as mentioned just a few posts earlier) that they know how it's going to end and this extended break period forced by COVID-19 is helping them solidify how to get to that ending. I'm willing to trust them at this point.

We will see. If season 4 is even 15% rinse and repeat of of the previous seasons, I think the handwriting (of things going south) will be on the wall.

I don't ever trust US TV when there's this much money rolling in

Good point. It also applies to films; once a certain level of money is earned, studios often abuse an idea (or extend franchises) beyond the genuine reason it worked in the first place.