“The Demogorgon was destroyed but evil wasn’t.” That’s Shawn Levy, executive producer on Stranger Things, who warned EW late last week that while Eleven and the gang brought peace (and Will Byers!) back to Hawkins in 2016, the second season of Netflix’s über-popular original series will introduce a whole new form of horror.
Pegged to arrive in October, Netflix has now offered up our first look at Stranger Things season 2 in motion, which aired during Super Bowl LI. It’s an event often reserved for Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, and already tonight we’ve locked eyes on stingers for Transformers: The Last Knight, Ghost in the Shell and The Fate of the Furious. But Stranger Things isn’t your average TV series, and buoyed by the show’s overwhelmingly positive reception last summer, it’s little wonder that the Powers That Be have drafted up early plans for a potential third season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though; instead, let us bask in the wonderful first promo for the show’s sophomore outing, which doesn’t give us a whole lot but teases just enough to get us excited for a return to Hawkins. And when we do return, there will be several new characters to get acquainted with, as Stranger Things season 2 has recruited Brett Gelman, Paul Reiser, Linnea Berthelsen and The Goonies alum Sean Astin, among others.
Though character details remain scarce, we know that the latter landed the role of Bob Newby, “a kindhearted former nerd who went to high school with Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) and now manages the local Hawkins RadioShack.” Such an addition teases up a potentially fiery love triangle between Joyce, Hopper and Astin’s mild-mannered radio presenter, and we all know how much Chief Jim Hopper likes to punch people in the face.
Can the second season of Netflix’s retro-inspired phenomenon really trump the first? Stranger Things have happened, and we’ll soon find out as the show returns to the streaming service on Halloween.
