Stranger Things season 4 confirms return to filming with a new behind-the-scenes photo

(Image credit: Netflix)

Stranger Things season 4 is filming once more!

The Netflix series was forced to go on hold following the coronavirus pandemic which has gripped the world. To celebrate the return to filming, the Stranger Things Twitter account shared a new behind-the-scenes image of a clapperboard and a very dark, foreboding grandfather clock. Looks like we're going back to the Upside Down.

Stranger Things season 4 celebrated the start of filming earlier this year – all the way back in the blissful months of February – with a trailer debuting David Harbour's Hopper in Russia and with a shaved haircut. How "the American" got to Russia following that season 3 ending remains a mystery.

Speaking to Total Film earlier this year, Harbour revealed that there's always been a plan in place for Hopper to perish and then return. In fact, the actor describes his return as being like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series – when Gandalf the Grey dies during a battle with the Balrog, only to return as Gandalf the White.

"I’m very close to the Duffer brothers, and I know where the story’s going, and I’ve known from the get-go," he said. "And I think that’s been the great thing about this story. In terms of Stranger Things, you’ll be able to look back at season one and see a lot of things that happen further down the line that relate to that.

"I’ve had those discussions with them from the very first season. We were always interested in that idea of the Gandalf resurrection – Gandalf the Grey who fights the Balrog and then becomes Gandalf the White. It’s the idea of the resurrection of the character. And mythologically, Hopper, in a sense, had to change. I mean, you couldn’t go on the way he was going on. He has to resurrect in some way. So it was a great opportunity to do that. So we’ll see a very different guy going forwards. The same guy but in a different vein. It’s a very cool thing to be able to play."

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.