Stranger Things season 4 will be the darkest — and also the funniest

It’s been almost three years since the last season of Stranger ThingsThe ending had some shocking consequences and left the cast to pick up the pieces. Hopper (David Harbour) is presumed dead by most of the characters — though various teasers and post-credits scenes have revealed that he is alive, albeit in a Russian prison. Max’s (Sadie Sink) older brother Billy is dead, for realsies. Joyce (Winona Rider) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) have decided to move their families out of Hawkins. The result is that the core friends group will no longer be together. With everyone scattered and grappling with these big changes, the show has much more to work with when the next season, which after some delays, finally premieres on Netflix in May — well, part one at least.

Polygon visited virtually every place in the Stranger ThingsIn June of last year, the crew was filming and we had the opportunity to speak with them about the big news. Season 4 will have two episodes this summer, with the second coming in July. But there is still enough to go around to make it a fun and dark season.

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One, it isn’t limited to Hawkins in Indiana. The Byers and Eleven are now in Southern California — a stark and sunny departure from moody Hawkins, allowing the production and set team to expand their references to make sure the geographic distance is really felt. Lenora, which was founded in 1986, is much more modern than Hawkins. It’s more beachy tones and a richer color palette, along with a smattering of surfer culture. With the Byers in Lenora now, Eleven (Finn Wolfhard) and Mike (Charlie Heaton), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), are all now trying long-distance relationships.

Of course, across the sea, Hopper is being held in a mysterious Soviet prison — somewhere Joyce and conspiracy theorist Murray (Brett Gelman) will eventually trek to for a rescue mission.

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“A lot of it feels very like Indiana Jones to me,” Gelman says during the virtual set visit, describing his character’s upcoming arc. “The way that it’s constantly balancing the tension of the adventure with humor.” He particularly loved getting to work extensively with Winona Ryder this season. “I really love my relationship to Joyce this season. We kind of become a little bit of a comedy duo.”

The gang back in Hawkins goes hasn’t strayed too far from the show’s horror roots, as they investigate the mysteries of a haunted house. This abandoned house is known as The Creel. Nancy and her friends are drawn to it to find out more. She won’t be alone, of course. In addition to the rest of the Hawkins cast, legendary horror actor Robert Englund — who brought slasher icon Freddy Kreuger to life in the Nightmare On Elm Street series — will portray the enigmatic Victor Creel, who lived in the house years ago and was imprisoned for a gruesome murder in the 1950s.

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With that anchoring the season’s arc, season 4 is set to be the scariest one yet, fully indulging horror tropes and not shying away from Englund’s nightmare roots. It is, Wolfhard said to Polygon. AlsoThe funniest season. Every subsequent season Stranger ThingsThe show has been able to increase the emotions across the board.

“I think inherently it becomes darker every season,” says Wolfhard. “It gets funnier, gets scarier, gets more dramatic. It’s just a result of all us getting older and growing up. We’re not all going to be in like mop top wigs, and we’re like, 40 years old, like screaming about like, demogorgons and stuff.

“I think this is like a very good example of the Duffers really treating our characters like their ages. And I like to compare it to Harry Potter — like Harry Potter as those movies went on, the darker they went. And that’s kind of where we’re at now. It’s a perfect progression in my opinion.”

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“I’m reading the script, and I see Finn and some of the other characters having such a fun time,” says Brown. “And you get to see Eleven in the darkest state she’s ever been. This has definitely been the hardest season I’ve ever filmed. And there have been some of the scariest, scariest things that I’ve ever seen as a human.”

To balance out the scares and the heavy focus on Eleven’s dark past, Stranger Thingstwo characters, to add comedy. Played by Joseph Quinn and Eduardo Franco they embody different quintessential ’80s subcultures. Quinn plays Eddie, a metalhead and leader of the Hellfire Club — aka Hawkins High School’s official Dungeons and Dragons Club — who befriends Mike and Dustin, and finds himself embroiled in the Creel house mystery with the rest of the Hawkins gang. If you were wondering if That D&D reference is actually paying off, pay attention to Quinn’s character. Niko Zahlten, the prop master, revealed Eddie has a whole character sheet for Vecna, while prosthetics designer Barrie Gower talked at length about creating the character’s look, based on the fact that he’s been trapped in the Upside Down for around 20 years.

Franco is cast as Argyle in California. He’s a stoner who delivers pizza and has a favorite Winnebago. Franco ends up making friends with Jonathan. Jumping into the show’s already established dynamics and backstory was intimidating for Franco, but he says it was really satisfying to bring some classic stoner levity to the darkness.

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“But once you get on, everybody’s so sweet, so cool,” he says. “At least for me, to be able to play like a funny dude, especially knowing the history of the show, like what they go through and stuff. It’s all very crazy and so hectic. But then I’m over here being stupid. It’s like breathing in fresh, clean air. I hope that’s what it’s perceived as. I hope that that’s how people look at it is like, Oh, that’s cool.”

Stranger ThingsThe cast has always balanced terror from supernatural adventures with more human, intimate moments. Season 11 will not be an exception. These more intimate scenes, where characters are able to interact with each other without being chased by demogorgons or monsters, make the drama even better. And they’re also some of the most challenging and satisfying bits for the actors to dig into.

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“Last season, I think back to when we were in the grocery store,” says Wolfhard. “I’m like, trying to explain what love is. To me, that’s the most fun thing to do for the show.”

“We’ve grown up together,” adds Brown. “We’ve done this for nearly seven years. And it almost is like a relationship that we always come back to after however long we’re filming. And we’re like, Okay, here are the characters now. Together, we can learn and create. We often improvise a lot together with these types of things. So yeah, it’s been really nice doing it with the same person for that long.”

“It’s much more comfortable,” laughs Wolfhard. “It would suck if it was like a soap and we were constantly changing girlfriends and boyfriends.”

This is the first section of Stranger Things Season 4 of Netflix’s The Walking Dead will be available on May 27, 2018.