First Images Tease the Return of the Hawkins Gang

The long and torturous wait for Stranger Things Season 4 is slowly coming to an end, and Netflix has just released its first look of the upcoming season with new images of our Hawkins gang. Naturally, Netflix sought to highlight the fan favorites, giving Eleven and Hopper their own close-up, with the rest of our kids-turned-teens in standard detective mode.

Millie Bobby Brown‘s Eleven is sporting some new bangs as well as some to-die-for flannel, being apprehended by what looks like generic government agents. We know that Season 4 of Stranger Things is broadening our story out from the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, so the government taking a larger part of the narrative is bound to happen.

Additionally, we also get our first look at Chief Hopper looking quite unlike himself. First off, we have no police outfit on David Harbour (a true travesty), but instead an 80s puff jacket and a bizarre new shaved head. At the end of Season 3, it seemed as though Hopper sacrificed himself to save Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and the kids, although a post-credits scene revealed that he might be alive and captured by the Russians. He will certainly have a story to tell in this new season.

stranger-things-season-4-hopper-david-harbour — Image via Netflix

Our other cast members are all together and looking for clues in another image, which highlights Stranger Things‘ growing cast and aging teens. We’ve got Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke), Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) returning. The gang has got their Scooby on with some flashlights and a truly mysterious (or terrifying) image in front of them.

Our last image is a very meta one. Although not the original four, we see four of our Hawkins gang on bicycles racing down the street. This is a sweet and nostalgic throwback to the first season, which itself is a reference to 80s sci-fi films like E.T. The Extraterrestrial. One small criticism from the more recent seasons is that it lacks the cute, homey feel of the first one, that has more emotional heft and tighter storylines. Maybe this means that while Season 4 will be bigger, it will also return to its more humble 80 sci-fi roots.

We left Stranger Things at the end of Season 3 with the Byers and Eleven moving away, and Hopper, seeming dead to the others, trapped in Russia. Executive producer Shawn Levy revealed that it is easily “the most ambitious season,” since there are several separate storylines. One will take place in Russia, one in Hawkins and there will be an entire storyline set elsewhere that has yet to be revealed. Needless to say, the cast and crew are certainly hyping up Season 4 for viewers, who have waited long enough for more strange things.

Stranger Things Season 4 heads to Netflix in 2022 (confirmed by a new teaser). Check out the first images below.