The pandemic has impacted production significantly across the board. Release dates are being pushed all over the place, some productions halted work due to confirmed COVID cases, and then some shows are getting canceled despite earlier renewals due to the current circumstances. There’s no minimizing the devastating effects the pandemic is having on the industry (and beyond), but I’ll take a silver lining wherever I can get one, and apparently Stranger Things 4 has pivoted for the better in one particular way. 

In early October we found out that cameras were rolling on the fourth season of the hit Netflix series courtesy of a photo shared on the official Netflix Twitter account. While the photo was an encouraging sign that things were moving forward again, one can’t help but wonder how much this delay really affected production and what it means for the season’s release date.

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Image via Netflix

During a recent chat with executive producer Shawn Levy for his new Netflix series, Dash & Lily, he offered a brief Stranger Things update, which included a little detail about their process that might have just changed for the better:

“I’ll just say the pandemic definitely massively delayed shooting and therefore the launch of our current Season 4, date still TBD. But it impacted very positively by allowing the Duffer brothers, for the first time ever, to write the entire season before we shoot it and to have time to rewrite in a way that they rarely had before so the quality of these screenplays are exceptional, maybe better than ever.” 

If we’re stuck in this position where we’re likely waiting longer than originally anticipated for Season 4 of the show, it certainly helps to keep in mind that we’ve got some of their best screenplays ever coming our way at some point. Also, come November 10th, you’ll have Dash & Lily to help pass the time! And when you fall head over heels for that show too, Collider will have you covered with loads of Dash & Lily content including the rest of our conversation with Levy and interviews with Dash & Lily stars Austin Abrams, Midori Francis, Dante Brown and Troy Iwata.