This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.
Stranger Things season 4 took three years to arrive on Netflix - but was it worth the wait? It's hard to believe the Duffer brothers originally intended Stranger Things to run for a single series. "Maybe I shouldn’t say this because I like to pretend that it was all planned out," Ross Duffer itted in an interview with CinemaBlend back 2017, "[but] Eleven was gonna sacrifice herself and save the world, and then that was gonna be it, because there was a moment where limited series were a big deal."
Fortunately, Netflix had other ideas and asked the Duffer brothers for ideas for season 2. The rest is history, with Netflix's hit sci-fi/horror finally releasing its fourth season in May 2022. It has been confirmed will end with season 5, although there will apparently be spinoffs off the back of this. Despite these plans to keep Stranger Things alive in the long-term, the time between seasons is increasing; there was just one year between seasons 1 and 2, but season 3 didn't come out until 2019. In part, that's because the Duffer brothers are becoming increasingly ambitious, aiming to make each season more spectacular than the last. The gap between seasons 3 and 4 has, of course, increased because of the inevitable disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, it's been a long wait for Stranger Things season 4. The new Stranger Things season continues from the dramatic end of season 3 - in which the Russians captured Hopper, Eleven lost her powers, and she left Hawkins with the Byers family. Fortunately, the return of Stranger Things was certainly worth the wait - here's why.
Stranger Things Season 4 Delivers On The Scale Season 2 Could Not
It's long been clear the Duffers brothers wanted to move beyond the narrative confines of Hawkins. Stranger Things season 2's most controversial episode, "The Lost Sister," saw Eleven head to Chicago to learn how to control her powers from her "sister," Eight, another escapee from Hawkins Lab. Viewers weren't ready to leave Hawkins, though, and the bottle episode felt jarring. Stranger Things season 4 finally delivers on the Duffers' desire to increase the show's scale, but it does so in a far more organic way, scattering the characters across the globe and weaving their individual stories through every episode. This approach had been effectively signposted by the end of Stranger Things season 3, which meant viewers were far more ready for this.
This increased scale meant Stranger Things moved beyond its traditional home in Atlanta, Georgia. Filming locations for Stranger Things season 4 included New Mexico and Lithuania, allowing the Duffer brothers to create very different environments to Hawkins for the first time. This is actually one primary reason production took so long because the Duffers keep close control over the show. As producer Shawn Levy explained to long time to make Stranger Things.
Stranger Things Season 4 Continues Tremendous Character Arcs
Stranger Things' greatest strength doesn't lie in its spectacle, however; rather, it lies in the character arcs and the tremendous dynamics between the show's stars. The Duffer brothers have traditionally tended to pair their stars up, allowing them to focus on just two characters at a time - and while there are occasions where Stranger Things season 4 follows this approach, for the most part, it uses larger groups. Mike and Will get some great moments together and then wind up on a cross-country adventure with Jonathan and his best friend, while Robin and Nancy bond when they visit the Pennhurst Asylum, but otherwise are part of a larger group. Only the Russian subplots really follow the typical formula, with Hopper paired with a Russian guard named Dmitri and Joyce with Murray.
Given this major change, then, it's quite remarkable that Stranger Things season 4 shows such confidence in its character arcs. It helps that the main villain, Vecna, taps into the hidden and buried emotions of his target; and there's a particularly powerful arc for Max as she struggles to deal with the guilt and grief she feels after the death of her step-brother Billy in season 3. Dialogue continues to hint that Will is gay, an idea that's been present since the series bible, but it's interesting to note it isn't handled explicitly in favor of a nuanced will-they-won't-they approach. And the sparks that continue to fly between Nancy and Steve, as they wind up working together once again, are perfectly done.
Meanwhile, Stranger Things season 4 continues to expand its cast. Precious few TV shows manage to balance out a growing cast as well as Stranger Things, and it's telling that one of the most interesting stories in Stranger Things season 4 is focused around Joe Quinn's Eddie Munson, leader of the Hawkins' Hellfire Club, who winds up blamed for a spate of murders around Hawkins. Eddie is the perfect addition to Stranger Things season 4, an ordinary guy who suddenly finds himself caught up in all the weirdness of the Upside Down. He holds up a mirror to the other characters, commenting on Dustin's hero-worship of Steve and nudging Steve and Nancy back together. Although he insists he's not a hero - itting he only dived into the Watergate because he didn't want to look bad compared to the girls - he's clearly working past his fears.
Stranger Things Season 4 Transforms Its Own Lore
Finally, Stranger Things season 4 is also noteworthy because it transforms its own lore. The new villain, Vecna, is a compelling antagonist who becomes a twisted mirror-image of Eleven, revealed to be Dr. Brenner's first test subject and the inspiration for all Brenner's experiments. Jamie Campbell Bower's performance is electrifying in the flashbacks, while he makes the 1986 version of Vecna feel absolutely terrifying. The backstory is presented reasonably effectively, although there's a little too much of an information overload in episode 7.
The retcons aren't perfect, but then as noted, the Duffer brothers originally intended Stranger Things to be a limited series. They work because the Duffer brothers understand that changes in lore only matter if they have an emotional impact on the main characters; Eleven's journey through her own origin will surely redefine her sense of self-identity. Curiously, Eleven's entire arc in Stranger Things season 4 parallels the much-criticized bottle episode from season 2, "The Lost Sister," pointing again to the fact the Duffer brothers have learned from their past stumbles. "I didn’t want her to just magically save the day," Ross Duffer explained in an interview with EW. "Just like Luke Skywalker, she needed to go off on her own and learn something about herself." That was the reason Eleven went to Chicago in season 2, and that is the reason she heads to the Nina Project in season 4; the key difference is that this time her Yoda figure is the most unlikely mentor of all, Dr. Brenner himself.
No doubt some viewers will feel the wait for Stranger Things season 4 has been too long. But, although the season isn't perfect, it's hard not to conclude it was worth the wait. Stranger Things season 4 operates on a grander scale than ever before, taking viewers far from Hawkins, and yet somehow doesn't fail its character arcs at all. Even more impressively, it delivers a radical change in Stranger Things' lore while grounding it in its long-established, well-loved characters ahead of Stranger Things season 4, volume 2.