The only promo we’ve got of Stranger Things season 3 so far is a tongue-in-cheek fake commercial for Hawkins’ new Starcourt Mall. Though it doesn’t feature any footage from the upcoming run, it did see newcomer Maya Thurman Hawke and fan favorite Joe Keery appear as Robin and Steve, who now works in the mall’s ice cream parlor. The teaser was all about the show’s own brand of 80s nostalgia and unfortunately, didn’t give us any nods to the darker aspects of living in Indiana’s scariest town.
When you put this together with the fact that stars Noah Schnapp and Millie Bobby Brown have said that the third season will take place in the summer and will let the kids be kids a little, it sounds like the next run of Netflix’s smash hit show will be much lighter than what we’re used to. According to producer Shawn Levy, though, that’s simply not the case
Levy, who developed Stranger Things with creators the Duffer brothers, told The Playlist that it would be correct to expect some “bright levity” to start with, but things will soon get much “darker” again and eventually become more “action-packed” than the series has ever been.
“That would be part of the store. but not at all representative of the season. There’s no question that, as you saw in that infomercial, Starcourt Mall is a part of Season Three. As is summertime. So Season Three has a really healthy dose of poppy, bright levity and cultural fun. But I can only promise you that Season Three eventually goes places that are darker, and unquestionably more action-packed, than we’ve ever gone before… It would be a mistake for anyone to think that Season Three is the summer of fun and lightness because it’s a whole lot more than that.”
Plot details on the new run remain under wraps for now, but as always, season 3 will jump forward another year and take place in 1985. We know that Eleven will get another new look, too, as she finally gets to be a regular teen, and her adoptive father, Sheriff Hopper, may get some luck in his love life for once – fingers crossed it’s with Joyce Byers.
On the whole, it’s said that the next season of Stranger Things will be influenced by the works of John Carpenter more than ever and though an exact premiere date has yet to be revealed, we expect it to arrive at some point in early 2019.
