Stranger Things season 4 will "lean much harder into horror movie territory", co-creator Ross Duffer has teased.
Earlier this week, Netflix released a whole bunch of new images from the eagerly-anticipated fourth chapter, and it's fair to say that the snaps – which mostly feature Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and co – give off big 'teen slasher' vibes.
Around the same time as the photos' unveiling, Duffer sat down with Netflix Tudum and confirmed that the upcoming instalment would be scarier than its predecessors. He explained why, too, as he touched on how much the younger actors have grown since the show premiered in 2016.
"When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are…The Goonies in E.T. That’s their storyline," Duffer recalled in the interview. "The adults are in Jaws and Close Encounters, and then the teens are in Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween.
"This year, we don’t have the kids. 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."
Set six months after the events of season 3, which culminated in Eleven leaving Hawkins with Will (Noah Schnapp) and his family, Stranger Things season 4 sees the gang brought back together by "a new and horrifying supernatural threat."
Before long, the group stumble across "a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down."
Those also reprising their roles alongside Brown and Schnapp include Finn Wolfhard (as Mike Wheeler), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), and Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers).
Stranger Things season 4 is set to feature a ton of new faces, too, as Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, Amybeth McNulty, Myles Truitt, Sherman Augustus, Mason Dye, Nikola Đuričko, Regina Ting Chen, Grace Van Dien, and Robert Englund all join the cast.
The first half of Stranger Things season 4 is set to arrive on Netflix on May 27, before the second half is released on July 1. While we wait for the new episodes, why not check out our list of the best Netflix shows and bulk out your to-watch list.
