Get Excited Because, No, ‘Stranger Things’ Won’t End After Season 4

Though Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, and Eleven will likely not return to our screens for Stranger Things Season 4 until sometime in 2021, we’ve got some great news: The hit Netflix show is not going anywhere anytime soon. The Duffer Brothers just made a surprise statement to assure fans that the upcoming season won’t be its last. This guarantees that a fifth season of the series—and maybe even a sixth—is happening!

Due to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Stranger Things’ production was halted just like so many other TV shows and films. But according to Ross and Matt Duffer in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the delays actually helped them figure out how they want to end the show.

Season 4 won’t be the end, Ross said.

“We know what the end is, and we know when it is,” he continued. “[The pandemic] has given us time to look ahead, figure out what is best for the show. Starting to fill that out gave us a better idea of how long we need to tell that story.”

As for what the fourth season holds, they didn’t give many clues other than the fact that they wanted it to feel like “the big Hollywood summer blockbusters that we grew up with and loved so much.” Ross added, “There’s a little more humor in it, a little more action, and it just has a different feel than the past two seasons, which were set in the fall and a little more dreary and scary.”

Matt also confirmed that all of the Season 4 scripts are ready. “We’ve had a lot more time to work on the scripts,” he said. For the first time, we have all the scripts written and we’re able to look at it as a whole piece and make adjustments.”

As of right now, it’s unclear when Stranger Things will resume production, but Ross said “the priority is the safety of the cast and crew, and that will dictate when we go back.” 

Last month, Natalie Dyer, who plays Nancy Wheeler, also provided a status update on production—and her answers were pretty much in line with what the Duffer Brothers said. She called the delay a “blessing” for the show’s writers, who had the time to “just sit down, think and create. So, yeah, it appears to be that they’ve got it all down.”

In June, David Harbour also hinted about the fate of his character Jim Hopper following Season 3’s wild cliffhanger ending. (Warning: There are spoilers ahead.) 

The actor teased that “Hopper is the American in that Russian prison” during an interview with Deadline in June. “To me, what happens in this season—first of all it’s very epic and very big in a Stranger Things way,” he said.

“There’s monsters, there’s horrors, there’s scares, there’s also like great Indiana Jones-type action, but also we get to see some of Hopper’s really deep backstory that we’ve hinted at with the boxes in season two, and I’m really excited to let people see these really deep colors in him,” he added. “Each season we see a different side of him, and last season he was sort of wacky…now I think he’s painted in a bit of a darker palette and he’s able to express some of these really deep things in him, which we haven’t really known yet. It’s been hinted at, but we don’t really know.”

Who else can’t wait for Stranger Things Season 4? 2021 seems so far away.