One of Netflix’s biggest series is undoubtedly the nostalgia trip of Stranger Things. The series focuses on a group of youths that are trying to get through their teenage years while facing extra-dimensional monsters. They started production on the third season back in February before getting hit by the pandemic and shutting it down. At the time, they announced that David Harbour‘s character Jim Hopper has returned with a small teaser. There we see him imprisoned in the Russian snowy wasteland after he was seemingly killed during the ending of the last season. His absence led to Winona Ryder‘s Joyce Byers moving away with her sons and Eleven. The show was renewed for a fourth season, so this would be the first time the show would leave the suburbs of Hawkins.
As bad as the delays have been, it gave the show’s writers plenty of time to get the scripts together. The official Twitter account revealed that they finished the scripts for all eight episodes in June. This way they don’t have to catch up as the season films and could focus on ironing out the details. Now, the fourth season’s production can finally return to filming. They are currently eyeing September 28th to resume shooting in Georgia. Deadline did state that Netflix did not comment but it makes sense as other productions have also resumed over the last few weeks.
This is exciting news and curious how this upcoming season will change what we know about the series. Hopper’s return is a bizarre choice after killing him off but Harbour stated that this resurrection is similar to that of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
I’ve had those discussions with [the Duffer brothers] from the very first season. We were always interested in that idea of the Gandalf resurrection – Gandalf the Grey who fights the Balrog and then becomes Gandalf the White. It’s the idea of the resurrection of the character. And mythologically, Hopper, in a sense, had to change. I mean, you couldn’t go on the way he was going on. He has to resurrect in some way.
Duffer brothers have stated they planned most of the seasons in advance, so it isn’t too surprising that his death and resurrection were on the table for some time. Seems Harbour used the time between seasons to keep the secret, something he probably also had to learn during the filming of Black Widow. There is a good chance that the Hopper we know has changed drastically and that could be a point of conflict if he reunites with Joyce and Eleven. I am quite curious about how these stories will intersect and if Hopper will even return to the U.S. anytime in the upcoming season.
