The new trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 introduces the Netflix sci-fi/horror series' most terrifying villain yet.
The corpse-like creature is seemingly the "new and horrifying supernatural threat" teased in the latest official synopsis for the show circulated by Netflix. Little else is known about Stranger Things Season 4's antagonist, although the synopsis suggests that his defeat could end the threat posed by the nightmarish Upside Down dimension forever. It's also unclear whether the ominous voice heard throughout the trailer belongs to this scary new baddie.
The trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 hints at more than just a previously unseen villain, though. It also shows fans a fresh glimpse at the kids from Hawkins separated for the first time, now that the Byers family has relocated to California. The trailer also offers a new look at Hopper's captivity in Russia, where the police chief will once again go head-to-head with deadly beasties from the Upside Down.
This latest, extended peek at the upcoming season, together with the show's new villain, seems to confirm that Stranger Things Season 4 will be darker than previous seasons. The series' creators, the Duffer Brothers, already warned fans that a tonal shift was coming in a recent interview. "This year, we don't have the kids," Ross Duffer said, referring to the show's now-teenage core cast members. "We can't do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we're leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change."
The siblings also confirmed that Stranger Things Season 4's episodes will be twice as long as those of previous seasons. "I don’t think [Stranger Things 4 has] an episode clocking in under an hour," Matt Duffer said. "Even in Season 1, there were episodes that were like 35 minutes. You kind of forget that. This season, they’re very long, so I think it’s almost double the length of any season." He further added that the longer episodes were part of the reason why there was such a big gap between the release of Season 3 and Season 4.
Stranger Things Season 4's longer overall runtime was apparently dictated by the show's much wider scope this time around, which the Duffer Brothers likened to the scale of HBO's Game of Thrones. Matt Duffer explained that like that series, Stranger Things now boasts a very "spread out" narrative with action split across Hawkins, California and Kamchatka. "[W]e have these three storylines [that] are all connected and kind of interwoven together, but it’s just very different tones," he said.
Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 4 premieres May 27 on Netflix.
Source: Netflix
