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The new Stranger Things season 3 trailer is a hellish nightmare

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

From Cosmopolitan

Season 3 of Stranger Things is so close we can almost taste it. If you're raring to get back into the world of the Upside Down and find out what happens to Eleven and the gang, here's everything you need to know about the next instalment of their story, dropping on Netflix this summer.

Do we have a Stranger Things Season 3 trailer yet?

Yes. It's up there ☝️☝️☝️

But feel free to watch it again here...

Netflix also released a trailer for Stranger Things on 21 May 2019, which shows Billy working as a lifeguard at the local pool, flirting with Nancy and Mike's mum Mrs. Wheeler and shouting at kids for running.

Character posters were also released alongside the trailer, reminding viewers that 'One summer can change everything'. And wait, what's this? New characters? WHO ARE THEY? Scroll down to read who's reportedly joining the cast for the new series.

Netflix dropped the first proper trailer on 20 March 2019, which shows Eleven and the gang surprising Dustin on his return home. It then gives us a glimpse at all of our fave characters, back and better than ever. Nancy and Jonathan, Billy, Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers and of course, main man Steve.

"One summer can change everything," the text reads, after Mike's voiceover says, "We're not kids anymore. I mean what did you think? We're just going to sit in my basement all day? Play games for the rest of our lives?"

SO GOOD.

Our first look at the new series came in July 2018 with a video attached to a tweet captioned, "Ahoy! Something is coming... to Hawkins, Indiana!". In it, Steve works at an ice-cream cafe, and Hawkins is getting a 'Starcourt Mall'. It's so 1980s, and looks as bizarre as you'd expect.

When will Stranger Things Season 3 be released?

After over a year of waiting, we finally know when we'll be watching the upcoming season of Stranger Things. Netflix welcomed in 2019 by revealing that the confirmed release date for the show is 4th July 2019.

The confirmed release date appeared alongside a new poster for the season, which featured all the kids: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink).

"One summer can change everything," reads the tagline.

They wrapped filming in late 2018

On 12 November 2018, Millie Bobby Brown confirmed filming had officially finished on the latest season of the show, and she was emotional af about it. Taking to Instagram Stories to share a number of selfies, she wrote, "Last day of shooting Stranger Things 3 / I will cry all day FYI / @sadiesink_ I can't say goodbye / @noahschnapp this is not OK"

She later shared a selfie crying, as well as a photo of Noah and Sadi with "love of my life". Sorry you're sad Millie, but we are super excited for this.

Photo credit: Instagram Stories/Millie Bobby Brown
Photo credit: Instagram Stories/Millie Bobby Brown

What will happen in Stranger Things Season 3?

"Season 3 is set in the summer, so right out of the gate that's a big difference. The first two seasons were very much school-based," executive producer and director Shawn Levy told Variety. "This is that time of year where it's not about school, it's about the swimming pool and campfires and parades and Fourth of July and fireworks, so there's kind of a poppy fun to season 3 that's really enjoyable before things inevitably turn super dark."

As for which bad guys will be returning, he added, "The Shadow Monster is still lurking up there out there in the Upside Down. He is determined to find a way to achieve his goals,. The dogs didn't get it done in season two, so he's going to have some new strategies."

According to Natalie Dyer, who plays Nancy, there's also the potential for Barb's character to be revisited, and a closer look at Jonathan and Nancy's complicated relationship.

"The whole Barb thing,” Natalia Dyer began to ELLE.com, "I don’t think she feels completely validated, I don’t think that’s over. I think there’s still more there that feels wrong and off, and I don’t know if you can ever fix that.”

On the topic of Jancy - that's Jonathan and Nancy, of course - she added, "It’ll be really interesting to see what happens. There’s a little push-pull, there’s some tension there. I feel like they probably fight a lot. I don’t know where they’re going to be because it’ll be sometime later since we’ve seen them, so who knows what’s happened after where we left them."

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter they wanted a "clean slate" for the show's third instalment ("We didn't want to box ourselves in for Season 3"), which suggests it won't be a direct follow on from series 2.

The show's creators have been sparse about details, explaining that they had barely even had a chance to think about the third instalment of Stranger Things .

"We're maybe two days into the writer's room. It's so fresh," shared Matt Duffer to E! News. "I'm scared if I say anything because even this early on things change so dramatically. We know where we want to go, but we're trying to figure out still how long it will take to get there."

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

Netflix have also released a companion book to Stranger Things, Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down, which has dished some spoilers ahead of the third series of the show.

First of all, the book (via ScreenRant) reveals the Shadow Monster – aka Mind Flayer – is "still lurking up there out there in the Upside Down", and "the tentacled creature continues to loom near Hawkins inside the Upside Down, and its malevolent influence isn't absent from the new season."

Photo credit: Giphy
Photo credit: Giphy

But it's not just outside sources that are threatening the core gang of Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), as co-creator Ross Duffer also explained how their relationships are tested this series.

"It's really the final summer of their childhood," Ross Duffer explains in the book. "They're dealing with growing up, with these complicated new relationships. They're starting to fall apart a little bit, and maybe they don't love playing Dungeons & Dragons as much as they used to. Naturally, that's going to generate conflict."

What will the Stranger Things season 3 episodes be called?

On December 10 2018, Netflix dropped the episode titles for Stranger Things season 3, confirming the series will contain eight episodes and drop in full next year. The episode titles include:

  • Suzy, Do You Copy?

  • The Mall Rats

  • The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard

  • The Sauna Test

  • The Source

  • The Birthday

  • Bite

  • The Battle Of Starcourt

There's no word on whether the episodes will follow that order, but fans are already theorising about what they mean. "I hope 'Stranger Things' S3 follows the progression of the 'Alien' franchise and they all shave their heads this time", one wrote, while another added, "WTF WITH THE FIRST ONE??? SUZIE WHO THE HELL IS SUZIE??"

What the trailer also confirms is that the series will be set in Summer 1985, so that's exciting.

Will there be new characters in Stranger Things series 3?

Yep! According to That Hashtag Show, there are at least three -

Mayor Larry Kline, described as a "classic, 80's style slick politician" who is "pathetic and driven only by his own interests."

Bruce, "a morally compromised news reporter in his 50s", described as "outwardly sexist, overweight and bedraggled".

Patricia Brown, who the website say will be a sweet elderly neighbour whom spends "a lot of time tending to her garden and offering her advice to the neighbourhood kids."

Who will star in Stranger Things Season 3?

The likes of Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) and Noah Schnapp (Will) will be back at the centre of the story again.

Also, the chances are we haven't seen the last of Eleven's sister Kali, played by Linnea Berthelsen.

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

"It feels weird to me that we wouldn't solve [Kali's] storyline," Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter. "I would say chances are very high she comes back. [Millie Bobby Brown and Berthelsen] had, I think, a really powerful connection."

Stranger Things season 3 is due for release on Netflix next year.

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