Although Stranger Things villain Dr. Brenner would be returning from his apparent demise in episodes.
As such, despite Stranger Things season 3 making Hopper a more thoughtless and mean-spirited character than before, many fans were comfortably certain that he would be back and were still eager to see his return. However, Stranger Things season 4 may be repeating a major mistake that the series made once before via the format of Hopper’s return. Although it is clear that David Harbour’s gruff character is still alive, it’s not clear how he will escape Siberia alone — something that could prove problematic judging by the show’s storytelling pedigree.
Many found Eleven’s slow road back to the Hawkins gang to be the most frustrating element of the otherwise-solid and fast-paced Stranger Things season 2. Although the scope of Stranger Things changed with each season, season 2 mostly kept the elements of season 1 that audiences loved, such as the charming adventure story among the young leads, the creepy conspiracy plot among the adult characters, and the coming-of-age dramedy shared by the teen characters. Where the outing dropped the ball was in Eleven’s plot, which saw her repeatedly come close to being reunited with her friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, only for increasingly contrived problems to separate them again. With this in mind, the fact that Hopper is alone in Siberia in the latest Stranger Things season 4 poster doesn’t bode well for a series that has never been at its best when focusing on one character’s solitary quest.
On paper, Hopper finding a way home from Siberia alone could be compelling, but so was the idea of Eleven getting to the truth of her past in season 2. In reality, breaking up Mike and Eleven gave the former little to do in season 2 beyond moping and ensured that the latter Stranger Things heroine had to carry an entire subplot alone. It was too slow for the show to pull off and culminated in an excursion to Chicago that is still seen by many fans as the most misguided Stranger Things episode.
With this in mind, getting Hopper back in touch with the main cast as soon as possible is of tantamount importance for Stranger Things season 4 to succeed. Following any lone character from the show’s sprawling cast for too long is bound to get boring, but following an irritable character across a frozen, desolate, and under-inhabited part of the world is a recipe for frustration. While Stranger Things season 4 should redeem Hopper through this quest, it should do so fast. Otherwise, Stranger Things risks repeating the show’s biggest season 2 mistake.