Stranger Things unveils first 8 minutes of season 4 – and confirms how many episodes are in Vol 1

Netflix has unveiled the first 8 minutes of Stranger Things season 4 – and the Duffer brothers weren't joking when they told us that the new installment would be the sci-fi show's darkest yet. 

The clip opens with Matthew Modine's Dr. Martin Brenner – you know, the guy who used to experiment on Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and other unfortunate youngsters at the Hawkins National Laboratories? He looks to be preparing himself for an ordinary working day, as a title card explains that the events that follow happened in September 8, 1979. (Eleven didn't escape until November 6, 1983).

At the lab, he chats with a boy branded with the number 010, before asking him whether he'd be "up for some more lessons". The pair wander off into a private room and the scientist asks Ten, who has his eyes shut, to describe what he's just drawn on a piece of paper. The exercise takes a dark turn, though, when Brenner asks Ten to "find" another doctor in the facility, and Ten starts to stress that the doctor is in danger. After that, things get bloody... It's probably you watch how it all plays out for yourself... 

And if that's not enough to get you even more excited, Netflix also confirmed that the first part of Stranger Things 4, which will release on May 27, will consist of 7 episodes. The final two episodes of the chapter will arrive on July 1. Episode 8 is reported to be 1 hour and 25 minutes long, while episode 9 will be close to two and a half hours.

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 Modine, 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), Priah Ferguson (Erica 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.

While we wait for the new chapter to arrive, why not check out our list of the best Netflix shows and bulk out your to-watch list.