Barring one ill-conceived filler episode, Stranger Things season 2 was a worthy follow-up to the Netflix sleeper hit of 2016. But what’s next for the haunted folks of Hawkins, Indiana?
That’s a conundrum that has been left in the very capable hands of Matt and Ross Duffer, who seemingly have an “end goal” in mind when it comes to Hawkins, the Upside Down, and Eleven, who went from bald to bitchin’ in the space of 17 episodes. One thing that’s nigh on certain is that season 3 will feature a sizeable time jump to accommodate an aging cast, while the show’s producers, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, recently told Collider that a handful of unresolved story clues are littered throughout the second season.
We definitely see when Will is saved… that particulate, we used to call it ‘the particulate of evil,’ it emerges not in the Upside Down but in our world. And maybe that’s gotta be dealt with. There’s only so much evil that can happen in that lab.
During the final episode of season 2, that so-called “particulate” escaped Will’s scorched body and shot up into the night sky, never to be seen again. Then again, as Levy points out, that jet-black specter represents a footprint of the Upside Down, and the fact that it’s loose on our world will surely be factored into the story of season 3. Because let’s face it: Stranger Things can’t be limited to Hawkins forever.
“Matt and Ross [Duffer] joke, how many times can this happen to this town, to these kids?” Cohen added.
“That feeling of the world getting bigger, especially coupled with the fact that it now seems clear that Brenner [Matthew Modine] is alive, Brenner is out there… and also we’ve now confirmed Eleven is not the only one,” Levy said. “There are more numbers.”
The kids are all right…for now. Stranger Things became the biggest show on the planet just in time for Halloween, when season 2’s premiere attracted 15.8 million views in the U.S. over the course of three days. We’ll be keeping a close eye on season 3 as it begins to fall into place, so stay tuned for more.
