It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to call the impending release of Stranger Things season 4 the small screen event of the year, with Netflix’s cultural juggernaut having secured a position as one of the modern era’s most popular TV shows a long time ago.
Then, when you factor in an excruciating three-year wait for new episodes and the fourth run’s status as the penultimate chapter in the Hawkins saga, the expectations are beginning to reach dangerously high levels. Eleven and the gang will finally return with Volume 1 on May 27, with the back half arriving on July 1, and the first wave of reactions to emanate from the premiere are only going to make the next couple of weeks feel that little bit longer for fans desperate to lay their eyes on Stranger Things 4.
It’s almost become a cliche at this point for the cast, crew, and creative team to hammer home the notion that things are about to become darker and scarier than ever before, but the lucky few to have witnessed Stranger Things 4 for themselves indicate that the truth was being spoken, and then some.
To be fair, it looks as though a single episode was all that was shown to the crowd in attendance, but with a running time hovering around the 75-minute mark it’s basically feature-length, and more than enough to set the stage for what comes next.
Old and new faces alike are set to make an impact, while we’d feel pretty confident in stating that Stranger Things 4 will be gunning for both Bridgerton‘s second season and Squid Game to become the single most-watched episodic effort in Netflix history.