Stranger Things Season 4 won't be lacking in content when the hit sci-fi horror series returns next month, as its creators have revealed the upcoming fourth season is aiming to bring the show's longest episodes to date.
With fans having waited for over two years since the show's Season 3 finale in 2019, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer recently hinted that Season 4's jam-packed episodes will be worth the wait. "I don’t think [Stranger Things 4 has] an episode clocking in under an hour," Matt said during an interview with Deadline. "Even in Season 1, there were episodes that were like 35 minutes. You kind of forget that. This season, they’re very long, so I think it’s almost double the length of any season. So that’s one reason it’s taken so long. It does have this sort of epic quality to it. It’s a different feel, for sure."
Matt further elaborated on the "epic" scope of the fourth and penultimate season, with the producer even going so far as to compare Stranger Things to Game of Thrones. "We kind of jokingly call it our Game of Thrones season because it’s so spread out, so I think that’s what’s unique or most unique about the season," Matt said. "Joyce and the Byers family have left at the end of Season 3. They are in California – we’ve always wanted to have that like E.T.-esque suburb aesthetic, which we finally got to do this year in the desert; and then we have Hopper in Russia; and then of course we have a group remaining in Hawkins. So we have these three storylines, are all connected and kind of interwoven together, but it’s just very different tones."
The scope and episode length won't be the only noticeable growth when Stranger Things finally returns, as the show's now teenage main characters will bring a darker, more mature storyline as well. "When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are... The Goonies in E.T.," Ross recently said. "But this year, we don't have the kids. We can't do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we're leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change."
While the specific details of Season 4 remain shrouded in mystery, fans have managed to keep themselves busy with a number of Stranger Things theories regarding its plot -- some of which, according to Ross, are "startlingly" accurate. "I'm constantly impressed with how sharp the fans are and how quickly they're able to put something together with very, very little information," he said.
Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1 premieres May 27 on Netflix, with Volume 2 arriving July 1.
Source: Deadline