The Upside Down is coming for you. With less than a week until the highly anticipated return of Stranger Things, “Seven Stranger Days” takes you behind the scenes and inside the lives of your Hawkins favorites with insight from the cast, the crew and even the Duffer brothers. Check back daily to secure your spot in the Hellfire Club — this is one ticking clock you won’t want to run from.
Grab your Dungeons & Dragons dice, because it’s nearly time to return to the Upside Down.
After three years, Stranger Things returns for Season 4, promising a trip to the spring of 1986 — back to a time of VHS rentals, colorful plaid and endless amounts of bangs-centric hairstyles. In keeping with those retro vibes, photographer Sham Scott captured several behind-the-scenes moments of the cast during production, using both medium and large formats, and Tudum is unveiling those nostalgic shots here.
Picking up six months after Season 3’s climactic battle at Starcourt Mall, Season 4 finds the Demogorgon-fighting crew spread out across the globe. Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are settling down in California, and Hopper (David Harbour) is imprisoned in a Russian gulag. Meanwhile, back in Hawkins, Indiana, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are now all students at Hawkins High School, where they have to navigate classes, the D&D club, after-school sports and, of course, contend with the latest nightmarish horror that emerges from the Upside Down, Vecna.
Before the gang goes to war with the Upside Down once again, dive into these BTS shots soaked in all the ’80s nostalgia you could ask for — and tune in to Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1 when it premieres May 27.
Robin (Maya Hawke), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Steve (Joe Keery) are nothing short of a dream team. When we catch up with them in Season 4, they’re trying to reclaim some normalcy between school and the video store, but they’ll soon find themselves entrenched in a brand-new mystery involving the ominous and sinister Creel House.
In the new season, Lucas joins the Hawkins Tigers basketball team — and his jersey number, 8, carries special significance. “I love basketball so much, so I had to pay homage to the late Kobe Bryant,” McLaughlin told Netflix. Playing basketball in the 1980s was a bit different than playing it today. “There were a lot of fundamentals back then,” he said. “There [were] no, like, fancy handles behind the back, between the legs, no look passes. I mean, only Magic [Johnson], only a few people did that in the ’80s. We had to learn how to play like high school basketball players back then. High school players now play like how Magic was playing in the ’80s. So it was definitely a totally different style to play.”
Hawkins High’s team spirit is surprisingly intact despite all the supernatural happenings.
While Lucas may be on the basketball team, that doesn’t mean he has everything figured out. “He’s like every other teenager in high school. He’s going through an identity crisis where he feels he needs to fit in and be cool,” said McLaughlin.
Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington, and Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer.
Season 4 introduces fans to Argyle (Eduardo Franco). He’s a California dude in every sense of the phrase and works as a delivery driver for Surfer Boy Pizza. But when he becomes friends with Jonathan Byers, his sunny world might just get a bit darker.
Here’s Argyle behind the wheel of his pizza delivery van.
What would a season of Stranger Things be without a collection of retro bicycles? Schwinn Sting-Rays are a staple among the supernatural crew, and they’re very handy when it comes to pedaling away from the many terrors that plague Hawkins.
Don’t expect to see Chief Hopper behind the wheel of one of these any time soon, because he’s trapped in Russia when Season 4 begins.
We assume Steve will be just as protective of his car this season as he’s been known to be previously. Back off, Max.
Let’s hear it for ’80s fashion.
Meet some of the crew who make the supernatural action possible.
