Stranger Things 4 is officially a go at Netflix. The streaming network announced on Monday a formal green light for the fourth installment of its sci-fi smash from creators Matt and Ross Duffer. Not so coincidentally, Netflix has also signed the Duffer Brothers to a multiyear deal to make movies and TV shows. While there’s no official word on when Stranger Things 4 will debut, given the production realities of the big-budget epic, the next installment will almost certainly not arrive until 2021 at the earliest. But Netflix and the Duffers are offering a clue about the new season, hinting in a renewal-announcement video that the show will be headed beyond Hawkins.
Most of the 35-second clip released Monday is a slow-motion reveal of the show’s logo set against audio of its iconic theme, but the last few seconds tease where the show is (literally) going: “We’re Not in Hawkins Anymore.†This appears to confirm what the Duffer Brothers teased after season three’s release this summer. “I think the biggest thing that’s going to happen is it’s going to open up a little bit, not necessarily in terms of scale, in terms of special effects, but open up in terms of allowing plotlines into areas outside of Hawkins,†Matt Duffer told EW in July.
Monday’s announcement didn’t label season four as the show’s last chapter the way recent renewal and premiere date announcements for GLOW and BoJack Horseman have been tagged with finale language. This doesn’t mean Stranger Things 4 won’t mark the end, but as of now, it doesn’t appear as if it’s being planned as such. As for the Duffers, their new Netflix pact will let the duo expand beyond the Stranger Things universe both with projects they directly create and, potentially, by collaborating with other writers and directors. “We can’t wait to see what The Duffer Brothers have in store when they step outside the world of The Upside Down,†Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement released Monday. The brothers, meanwhile, thanked Netflix execs for taking “a huge chance on us and our show … We can’t wait to tell many more stories together — beginning, of course, with a return trip to Hawkins!â€