A little more than a week separates us from the anticipated second volume of Stranger Things season 4, and the first trailer teases an action-packed outing with an air of finality to it.
As you can see above, the Hawkins gang is preparing for the final battle against Vecna. They’re going to need all the help they can get, so the fate of the small community, and the world at large, for that matter, rests on Eleven making it back from Brenner’s secret facility on time. Kate Bush’s hit song “Running Up That Hill” — which has dominated music charts over the past few weeks — is also making a return, both to dial up the trailer’s hype to eleven and serve as Max’s contingency against the big bad.
The trailer seems also seems to hint that Nancy will survive her fall through Upside Down and reunite with the team, but what will happen from there or how Eleven and Jim catch up to them is anyone’s guess. What we know is that the two remaining episodes will both be feature-length, with the penultimate clocking in at 90 minutes while the season finale will go over 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Fans are cautiously entertaining the possibility that some of their favorite characters might not make it out of this alive. Because as experienced as the Hawkins gang is against whatever the Upside Down throws their way, they are bound to eventually come up against an adversary too great to walk away from unscathed. Vecna might just be that kind of adversary, so make sure that you go in with enough mental fortitude to at least suffer the death of one beloved hero.
You can watch both episodes when they make their Netflix debut on July 1.