The following article contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 2, streaming now on Netflix.
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have revealed that a key Season 4 character was nearly killed off, though was ultimately saved by a rewrite.
One of the breakout fan-favorite characters of Stranger Things Season 4 was the Russian prison guard turned inmate Dmitri Antonov (Tom Wlaschiha), aka Enzo, who became a friend and ally to series mainstay Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Hopper and Enzo ultimately managed to escape alongside Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) and Yuri Ismaylov (Nikola Đuričko). In a previous draft, however, Enzo wasn't quite so lucky.
"In terms of who makes it, who lives or dies. I think there was a version where Dimitri, AKA Enzo, didn't make it," Matt Duffer told Collider. "Then, he ended up making it. But that's [the most] radical of a departure from the original idea versus what we ended up with."
Elsewhere in the same interview, Ross Duffer spoke to the great amount of emphasis he and his brother put on "sticking the landing" whenever they write a new season of Stranger Things. "For Matt and I, it's such an important part," he said. The Duffer Brothers elaborated, "[W]hen we're breaking a season, that is one of the first things we're talking about is, where do we want this story to end up? So the ending is always that goal post. Even as we're breaking episode one, we know exactly where we're going. I don't think we've deviated truly in any season for the finale, we've always stuck to it. I believe the case is the same here."
Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1 -- consisting of the season's first seven episodes -- dropped on Netflix earlier this year on May 27. Season 4, Volume 2 -- consisting of the season's final two episodes -- followed suit on July 1. The fan-favorite sci-fi horror drama has been renewed for a fifth season on Netflix, which will be its last.
While it remains to be seen when Stranger Things Season 5 will drop, series star Harbour recently predicted that a 2024 release window was likely. "I think we'll [shoot] next year," he said. "They're finishing writing it this year, and they need to prep and stuff, so hopefully it'll be this year. But I think that's the plan. So it'd probably come out mid-2024, based on our track record."
The entirety of Stranger Things Season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix. Season 5 does not yet have a premiere date.
Source: Collider