Vecna’s clock is ticking towards the end.
Warning: This article contains spoilers fromStranger Thingsseason 4, Volumes 1 and 2.
The stage is set.
Millie Bobby Brown in ‘Stranger Things’.Netflix
Now, it’s the beginning of the end.
Here’s what we know about how the penultimate season is preparing us for the series finale.
The small town faced its own natural disaster in season 4.
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is ready to save her friends (again!) in ‘Stranger Things’ season 4.Netflix
Vecna, meanwhile, isn’t dead.
Will (Noah Schnapp), upon re-entering Hawkins, says he can feel him.
He’s wounded, but not out for the count.
Robin (Maya Hawke), Steve (Joe Keery), and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) assemble to face Vecna in the Upside Down in ‘Stranger Things’ season 4.Netflix
So, will Vecna return for season 5?
Like that psychic kid’s Magic 8 Ball in Papa’s lab, signs point to yes.
I couldn’t possibly say, it’s gonna be my answer.
Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Will (Noah Schnapp) have a heart-to-heart in ‘Stranger Things’ season 4.
I couldn’t possibly tell you.
Anything I say is going to be wrong."
Wedoknow that Vecna, a.k.a.
Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, and Maya Hawke on ‘Stranger Things’.Netflix
Henry Creel, a.k.a.
He’s been the driving force to push the Upside Down into the real world.
The character tried to flee Vecna when he invaded her mind, but he was able to kill her.
Eleven brings her back to life, but Max is now in a coma.
When Eleven attempts to find her in her mind, all that stares back is the empty void.
“I’m not sure where we’re going and what Max’s state is.
It’s definitely all up in the air right now,“Sink told EW.
Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) had warned Eleven that Vecna doesn’t just kill, he consumes.
He takes in all of his victims: their powers, their memories, everything.
But the brotherly duoconfirmedduring an appearance ontheHappy Sad Confusedpodcastthat season 5 will be set entirely in Hawkins.
That’s because season 5, Matt continued, is “going to be moving.”
“Characters are already going to be in action.
For one, what exactly is this place?
Like, whatreallyis it?
“I don’t think that she created the Upside Down.
No, I think that it was always there.
I think she just created a gate to it which no one could before,” she said.
There’s also the question of the Upside Down’s appearance.
“So we wanted to just put it out there and get people talking about it.”
Returning home to Hawkins, they each had a touching reunion with their kids.
Could these two lovers, Joyce and Hopper, join their families together into one big happy family?
That’s not necessarily to say Nancy and Jonathan will stay together.
There were a couple more hints that there’s trouble in paradise.
Jonathan still hasn’t told Nancy that he’s not currently planning to attend the same college as her.
To quote Billy Eichner,“Let’s go, lesbians!”
Then there’s Will.
Perhaps this will be coming in season 5.
Heavy binging
Season 4 changed up the format ofStranger Things.
Each episode ran more than an hour, but the final three were heavy-hitters.
None of that is obviously going to be occurring [in season 5].”
However, it is looking like the show’s grand finale will have a feature-film length.
The Duffers and their writers room are still finalizing the season 5 story.
Harbour toldU.K.GQ, “I think we’ll [shoot] next year.
Harbour predicted season 5 will premiere sometime in mid-2024, “based on our track record.”
A lot can happen in between now and then.
EW’sUltimate Guide to Stranger Thingsisavailable onlineor wherever magazines are sold.
