The first part of Stranger Things Season 4 dropped on Netflix mere weeks ago, and has the whole internet not just talking about it, but also checking dark corners for Vecna, and bursting into renditions of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’. Seven episodes in, Season 4 is proving to be Stranger Things’ biggest outing yet. We’re not just in Hawkins, Indiana any more, with characters spread out across the United States and beyond – there’s one character journeying back into her most traumatic memories, one trying to stay alive in a Russian prison, and the rest are trying to catch a bone-breaking, eye-popping serial killer. Now, it’s about to get even bigger, with two huge, feature-length episodes – aka Season 4 Volume 2 – still to come.
“The final episode has more FX shots than the entirety of Season 3,” co-creator Matt Duffer tells Empire. With Season 3 of the supernatural show featuring an enormous gloopy creature called the Mind Flayer, various characters melting down to become part of it, and the mega Starcourt mall battle, that’s quite a statement. “There’s an hour-long chunk in the final episode that just doesn’t stop,” adds other co-creator and Duffer brother, Ross. “It’s the most complicated thing we’ve ever attempted to do. [It's] all tension and dread, with a run-time that would be long even for a movie. Then – well, everything goes to hell…” Sounds like we’re going to be spending a lot of time in the Upside Down.
And about that eye-popping serial killer, the identity of whom was fully revealed in the bloody, rug-pulling climax of Volume 1 – according to the Duffers, the hunt for him steps up a gear in the remaining two episodes. “One of our favourite things in horror films is seeing our protagonists be proactive,” reveals Ross. “You know in The Lost Boys when they decide to go after the vampires? It’s fun to see people come up with a plan and try to outsmart the villain. That’s what Volume 2 is about. But of course, not everything goes to plan…” Does it ever?
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Read Empire’s full Stranger Things story in the upcoming The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power issue – on sale Thursday 9 June, and available to pre-order here. Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 streams on Netflix from 1 July.