Netflix's surprise hit of last year, the nostalgia-fueled sci-fi horror drama Stranger Things, returns Friday for a second season, thrusting viewers back into all the weirdness that early-'80s Hawkins, Indiana, can muster. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer have been largely quiet about what Season 2 holds, but posters, trailers and a slew of teasers have offered hints as to what lies ahead.

RELATED: Eleven Returns, But Will Is the Key in Stranger Things Season 2 Trailer

The first season centered on the disappearance of 12-year-old Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), who was whisked away to the chaotic Upside-Down dimension by one of its monstrous denizens. Will's friends teamed up with the enigmatic telekinetic girl Eleven (Milly Bobbie Brown), while his mother sought the help of the local police chief. The two groups eventually came together to liberate Will from the Upside-Down, seemingly losing Eleven in the process. But Will's connection to that dark dimension is far from over.

Promotional materials for the second season have teased a massive, sinister force on the horizon, with Will seemingly the focus of its attention. Meanwhile, Eleven is back, but what do a series of since-removed episode titles reveal about her arc? And is the nefarious Department of Energy still up to its old tricks? Most importantly, what about Barb? Let's make some predictions!

We'll Meet One of Eleven's 'Brothers'

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In August 2016, Netflix released the titles of each episode in Season 2, only to reveal new ones early this month. What's the reason for the change? Well, once those original titles debuted the Duffer brothers discovered they were a little too revealing, as fans began to theorize, piecing together major plot points from little more than a handful of words. Perhaps the most interesting of the original titles was the finale: "The Lost Brother."

Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) was one of the more interesting characters in Season 1, not only because she was a clairvoyant raised to penetrate the veil between worlds, but because her name implies she's not the first to do so. It's completely possible there's a Five, Six and Seven, and maybe even a Twelve or a Thirteen. It seems clear the Upside-Down has been riled in the second season, and it could be that the Department of Energy hasn't completed its experiments. Maybe part of that has to do with one of Eleven's laboratory siblings?

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The Thessalhydra Is This Season's Big Bad

The first season contained some heavy foreshadowing right out of the gate, introducing viewers to the core group of friends -- Finn Wolfhard's Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo's Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin's Lucas Sinclair and Noah Schnapp's Will Byers -- as they played Dungeons & Dragons. The primary antagonist of that campaign was the dreaded Demigorgon, a named that was later applied to the season's monster. Fans have long assumed that the D&D session that capped off Season 1 foreshadowed what's in store for the second season.

RELATED: New Stranger Things Promo Hints At Eleven's Origin

The theory has legs – lots of them, in fact. While the exact nature of the second season's Upside-Down threat has yet to be revealed, the trailers point to a massive, many-tentacled creature so enormous that it looms over Hawkins. It's perhaps no coincidence then that the monster the boys encounter in their game at the end of Season 1 is the Thessalhydra, a massive, many-headed monster. We'll have to wait and see if there are any other similarities, like heads that regenerate when they're lopped off.

The Upside-Down Is Alive and On the Prowl

The Upside-Down remained a static in Season 1; it was both everywhere and nowhere at all. The Demigorgon could pass between worlds easy enough, but any humans wishing to take the trip had to find a disgusting-looking entry point. Aside from that, the two worlds remained separate. Now, though, it looks as if the Upside-Down is on the move, and the two worlds are colliding, resulting in some serious ramifications for Hawkins, Indiana, and possibly beyond.

It's likely something from the Upside-Down is actually tunneling its way into our world. The first season established that the connection between the two worlds creates something like an infected scar. Now that infection is spreading, likely by way of a creature we haven't seen yet or the Thessalhydra's many arms. The spread is alluded to in the drawings Will makes in the trailer, which hint at an underground network of Upside-Down tunnels. We'll probably learn the infection is part of one massive organism, and, because this is science fiction, the Stranger Things crew will have to track down the infection's origin point – its brain (another reference to a former episode title) -- if they want to stop the spread. What revelations could lie at the epicenter?

Will Might Be a Slug Factory

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One of the more disturbing scenes of Stranger Things came at the very end of Season 1, when Will Byers was safely back home and the mystery of his disappearance concretely solved. Unfortunately, however, Will's ordeal isn't over, as we saw when Boy Who Came Back to Life retreats to the bathroom only to cough up an otherworldly slug. The Season 2 trailers have established that Will now has a connection to the Upside-Down; sometimes he can even see directly into the ghostly dimension. Is that all, though?

RELATED: Stranger Things Will Probably Run More Than Four Seasons

The Upside-Down looks to be a mirror version of our world, only infected. Clearly, we're talking about a multiverse theory, but that raises the question of whether the Upside-Down was always infected. If not, how did these otherworldly growths get started? Perhaps by infecting members of a host world, which would go on to spread the plague to other dimensions, organically terraforming alien worlds for, well, shadow monsters. One of the most popular theories is that Will is now either a host or a hybrid. The trailers make it pretty clear that modern science is baffled by his state, but maybe the Hawkins crew can figure out how to help Will yet again.

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Barb Is Dead and Will Stay Dead

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Shannon Purser's Barb was one of the breakout characters of Stranger Things' first season. The vigilant friend of Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Barb was the kind of character viewers could sympathize with in her constant disapproval of bully-dweeb Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). Her sound judgment was seemingly all for naught, however, as she was abducted to the Upside-Down moments after Nancy and Steve sneaked away for some alone time. The last time viewers saw Barb, she was a pile of half-eaten goo writhing with slug creatures. Ever since, Stranger Things fans have been listening intently for any news of Barb's resurrection.

Unfortunately, sometimes the truth is the hardest thing to bear. Barb is very likely to remain dead as a door nail, although the Duffer brothers have heard the cries for justice (just Google #JusticeForBarb if you're questioning people's devotion). That said, David Harbour, who plays Chief Jim Hopper, has confirmed that justice for Barb is a big part of Season 2. Hopefully that's the case, because while much of Season 1 focused on the hunt for Will Byers, few batted an eyelash when Barb went missing.

The Department of Energy Isn't Done Yet

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It looks like the events of the first season didn't go unnoticed by the government of the Stranger Things universe. The end of Season 1 saw Hopper receiving a talking-to from some very haughty government agents, and any bureaucracy larger than the local police department was cast as "in on the conspiracy." Heck, the Department of Energy was even surveilling phone calls. Now, it seems like the feds will have more to reveal. You'd think that once things went really and truly haywire in Hawkins (several people literally lost their heads) the government would have pulled out, but that's not what we're seeing.

RELATED: Justice For Barb Is "a Big Thing" in Stranger Things Season 2

Civilian surveillance is making a comeback, and in a big way. Teaser after teaser has established that the government is listening in on the residents of Hawkins who were most embroiled in the events of Season 1. Not only that, but it looks as if the experiments into alternate worlds never actually ended. The trailer shows an old-fashioned computer panel alight with readings, and men in hazmat suits can be seen bathing some unsightly Upside-Down evidence in cleansing fire. It's all but assured that Eleven is coming back, so there's a very good chance we'll be learning more about her history. Aside from that, we're bound to figure out just what the hell the Hawkins lab wanted by poking their noses into, uh, hell.


Debuting Friday on Netflix, the second season of Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery.