The latest teaser trailer for Hopper was presumed dead after sacrificing himself at the Hawkins laboratory to defeat the monstrous Mind Flayer. The fight deprived Eleven of both her powers and and her parent, but she was adopted by the Byers family, who wisely decided to get as far away from Hawkins as possible.
Since then, Stranger Things season 4 has been subject to numerous delays, largely due to the impact of COVID-19, with production unfortunate enough to begin in February 2020. The previous teaser confirmed Hopper was still alive following last season's finale, imprisoned at a Russian labor camp far away from Hawkins, and we also know that horror legend, Robert Englund, has been cast as Victor Creel. Odds on him being a good guy are not favorable.
Those details aside, very little is known about Stranger Things season 4, and a new trailer centered around Eleven only raises more questions. Set prior to season 1 (probably... we'll get to that later), the new Stranger Things footage promises more backstory, familiar settings, and returning characters. Grab your pins and colored string and meet us at the investigation board!
Time Will Be Important
The new Stranger Things season 4 trailer opens with a clock striking three, and the image's prominence hints toward a deeper significance. What that significance may be, however, is far from obvious. Stranger Things' season 4 marketing has revolved heavily around clocks, with the initial announcement featuring a grandfather clock in the Upside-Down, and the official Twitter tweeting clock face emojis. Since the new teaser is continuing that theme, time is clearly going to play a big role in Stranger Things season 4, perhaps alluding to a Back To The Future time travel plot of some description.
Whether anything can be drawn from "3 o'clock" remains to be seen, but could this be a release date hiding in plain sight - the hands pointing to 3 and 12 indicating a December 3 release? This would fit with existing rumors that Stranger Things season 4 will be set at Christmas.
Hawkins Lab Remains A Key Setting
Notoriously averse to health and safety procedures, Hawkins lab has acted as the epicenter for Stranger Things' paranormal problems over the past 3 seasons, largely due to the Upside-Down gate contained within. When Hopper and Joyce foiled the Russians' plan to reopen the portal in Stranger Things season 3, the lab effectively become inert, but this new footage reveals Hawkins' very own hellmouth will remain an important location in season 4.
Stranger Things Season 4 Tells Eleven's Backstory
It soon becomes clear that the latest Stranger Things trailer is almost certainly set in the past, when a younger Eleven was imprisoned and experimented on by Dr. Brenner at the Hawkins laboratory. The footage confirms season 4 will explore this tragic early chapter in Eleven's life, hopefully explaining why the investigations were being conducted, providing more information on the nature of the Upside-Down, and offering juicy details about Eleven's mysterious abilities. The natural assumption would be that these stories are told via flashbacks, but with the recurring clock motif, could Eleven's past be explored through converging timelines instead?
Stranger Things 4 Will Be The Darkest Yet
Finn Wolfhard and other cast have previously commented on Stranger Things' season, promising it'll be the show's darkest yet, maturing in tone as the young cast grow older. This latest footage proves he wasn't lying, turning the creepiness factor right up to... eleven.
The Other Psychic Children
However Stranger Things chooses to dig into Eleven's history, the season 4 trailer promises more scenes with the other children Brenner experimented on. Aside from Kali in Stranger Things season 2, Eleven's fellow test subjects have been restricted largely to comic book spinoffs, but season 4 looks set to change that, with a more comprehensive glimpse into the psychic kindergarten. Will the other subjects exhibit powers than Eleven didn't? Or will they be considerably weaker than Millie Bobby Brown's character and establish her as one-of-a-kind?
The Rainbow Room
Much of the new Stranger Things trailer is set within the infamous Rainbow Room. Two children are seen racing cars along a painted floor, pushing the toys along with the minds, while a wide shot shows a multicolored rainbow pattern stretching around the entire side wall. Previous flashbacks of the Rainbow Room looked very different - more clinical and white than the playroom seen in this trailer. While the changes could be a simple design retcon, it's possible that multiple Rainbow Rooms existed in Hawkins lab. Heading even further into tinfoil hat territory, the Rainbow Room in Stranger Things season 4 could be in an entirely different building, containing an entirely new crop of kids in Stranger Things' present day, rather than depicting June and her friends like the trailer wants us to believe.
Bird Chess, Etc.
Though the trailer is only a minute long, the Duffer Brothers indulge in plenty of Kubrick-esque horror imagery during this short teaser. There's a chess set with pieces fashioned into various birds, which feels significant, and a curiously placed spinning top. Another child is building a tower with red blocks, which look a little like the layout of the lab itself. While there's no obvious connection to existing Stranger Things mysteries, these hints could become clear when season 4 finally premieres.
Signs Point To Yes
One of the psychic children plays with a Magic 8-Ball toy, getting the answer "Signs Point To Yes." Much like the clock and chess set, this image feels like a clue of some kind. What's especially interesting is how a Magic 8-Ball toy becomes redundant in the hands of a psychic, who can manipulate the mechanics to give whatever outcome they wish. Could the 8-Ball represent how Eleven is coping with Hopper's death, searching for a sign that he survived? Alternatively, the presence of an "8" ball could hint at the return of Kali - an idea ed by the next shot...
4, 7 and 8
Next in the series of images that probably mean something but leave fans none the wiser is the disc cascading down into slot number 7, with 4 and 8 shown already occupied. Notice that all of the numbers visible on screen pair off to make 11 (reading inward, 3+8, 4+7, 5+6), emphasizing the importance of Millie Bobbie Brown's character in these season 4 flashbacks. The covered numbers could be a hint as to which of Eleven's lab siblings will appear most prominently in S season 4. Kali is 8, leaving only 4 and 7 to potentially introduce.
Brenner Returns
The biggest takeaway coming out of Stranger Things' season 4 trailer is undoubtedly the return of Matthew Modine as Dr. Brenner. Last seen under attack from a Demogorgon at the end of Stranger Things season 1, Brenner's survival was confirmed the following season when Kali's gang interrogated a former employee of Hawkins lab. Judging from the new footage, Modine's role in Stranger Things season 4 will mostly come in the form of flashbacks, but these are likely designed to set up his reemergence in the present (assuming that isn't already what we're seeing here). The human villains of season 3 didn't necessarily resonate with Stranger Things viewers, and dragging Dr. Brenner back out of the shadows is the ideal antidote.
"Something Very Special"
Ominously, Dr. Brenner enters the Rainbow Room and addresses the assembled children, exclaiming with a cheer that they're going to do "something very special." This creepy line hints at a larger motivation behind Brenner's experiments, and some kind of major event where the collective power of the psychic children is put to use. If Eleven was involved in something along these lines, it seems strange that she wouldn't mention it until now, but the trailer suggests Eleven was usually kept locked in her room, away from the other children, so it's not a given that she knew of this "something special." On the other hand, Brenner could be referencing an event that the audience are already familiar with, such as the opening of the Upside-Down gate.
"Eleven, Are You Listening?"
The Stranger Things season 4 trailer ends with a panicking Eleven opening her eyes and Dr. Brenner asking "Eleven, are you listening?" While this line could come from a Hawkins Lab flashback sequence, the shot could also be hinting towards Brenner reuniting with Eleven in Stranger Things' present. The "are you listening" could suggest Brenner has found a way to Eleven remotely through her psychic prowess, and is tormenting her from afar. Of course, this would mean the return of Eleven's psychic powers, which was always inevitable, despite how Stranger Things season 3 concluded.