We're even closer now than ever before to the return of Stranger Things Season 4, with the long-awaited premiere of the hit Netflix series finally set to drop on May 27. The upcoming fourth season, which will actually be split into two parts (the second of which will be released on July 1), takes place after the Battle at Starcourt Mall, which resulted in a fracturing within our main group in Hawkins, including a finale that saw the fate of chief of police Jim Hopper (David Harbour) left entirely up in the air, as well the Byers family (including Winona Ryder's Joyce, Charlie Heaton's Jonathan, and Noah Schnapp's Will) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) deciding to move away from town once and for all. Six months later, Season 4 picks up where the story left off, as those friends left behind — including Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), and more try to navigate the hellish hallways of high school. But that's not the only threat in store — because a new evil is lurking in Hawkins, one that arrives in tandem with a new mystery that, if solved, could finally eliminate the threat of the Upside Down once and for all.

Back in June 2021, Collider had the opportunity to participate in a virtual visit to the set of Stranger Things Season 4, as well as get a personalized tour from some of the show's production team and speak to select cast about what's in store for their characters when the series returns this May. In a group roundtable interview with Brett Gelman, which you can read below, the actor discusses Murray's mindset this season, especially in the aftermath of Hopper's disappearance, as well as how his character continues to lead with honesty. He also talks about working with the show's younger cast, whether the series' horror-oriented nature changes his approach to offering comedic relief, and more.

QUESTION: Is Murray still quite eccentric in Season 4, or did Alexei and Hopper's deaths, or Hopper's supposed death, really kind of take their toll on him?

BRETT GELMAN: No, I'd say he's eccentric. I think it would be pretty impossible for him to lose his eccentricity. This is a guy who's lived in a bunker for quite some time. So, as saddening as it was that he lost Alexei and Hopper, he's used to bad things happening and is prepared for them. That's sort of where he exists, and I think he... more expects things to be bad, and maybe has a harder time dealing with positive things rather than negativity. But yeah, he has his eccentric flare in full flame.

QUESTION: Last year, in particular, I feel like we really saw Murray kind of just cut right through the bullshit, and he'd tell the other characters the things that they didn't want to hear, maybe about their relationships, about what's going on in the world. How does that continue in Season 4?

GELMAN: Very much so. I mean he's somebody who's, if he had to say what his religion was, it would be just the truth. He's just committed to honesty, and laying out the reality of a situation and a person, a relationship. There's a thing about him too where I think he loves the adventure down deep, and he wants to be a part of people, but he also has to lay out just how hazardous it probably is going to be, lay out the reality of a situation before they roll the dice and see what happens.

QUESTION: What's it like to work with this younger cast, and how do you balance that?

GELMAN: I love it. They're total professionals, and they're real joys to work with, and it's really not that much different than acting with anybody else. They've just created these amazing characters, and I was a fan of the show before I got cast on it. It's a real joy, but they're all great actors and great people. As easy as what we do is, it's easy.

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Image via Netflix

RELATED: 'Stranger Things' Season 4: Trailer, Release Date, Cast, and Everything We Know So Far

QUESTION: Is Murray resurrecting his headquarters and new secret location after last season?

GELMAN: Oh, I don't know if I can reveal that, but he goes to Russia, though. Goes to Russia with Joyce to help save Hopper. Murray is through a lot of this season mobile, in transit.

QUESTION: Going back a little ways, when you first got the role, when you came on set, how much work did you have to do to get Murray's personality? Was it one of the things, like, day one, look at the script, you knew who he was, you had him figured out? I was just curious about the process [of] finding your character.

GELMAN: I saw him very much like a kindred spirit to Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws. I was really excited when I was cast as him because I was like, "Oh, this is a total... this is one of my childhood acting fantasies to be the comedic side character in the action sci-fi movie." It wasn't more work than I had spent on other characters, but it's all about connecting to those parts of myself that relate to the character, and translating it through that lens. So I did a lot of work on where he came from, and what he was before the bunker, before he meets Charlie and Natalia, and before he meets Hopper, and before he gets involved in this whole adventure. So, really breaking down emotionally and psychologically, what makes him be such a loner, but then also a desire that's sort of dormant in him until he's introduced to the goings-on in Hawkins. To reconnect with people and also have a real purpose in his life, and make his quest for truth bigger and more public than he has in recent years. A lot of it was working on why he was private, what made him become this sort of recluse, and so, it's mining all of that, and that's just constant work, before and leading up to set and being on set.

The benefit of shooting is that, in a lot of ways, it's a consistent rehearsal that you're trying things out. You come figured out, but how it plays, you find that the tone and the character in the space. Yeah, it was a good amount of work, and then learning Russian in Season 3, I didn't know how to do that. Learning my lines and making it sound like I knew how to speak Russian and understood it being spoken to me, that was a good amount of work too, but all the work is just, it's a joy.

QUESTION: We got teased a little bit of information before getting to do these interviews today about how Season 4 is going to be more horror-oriented. As someone who serves kind of a comic relief function, has that changed the role you play in the show to any degree because of the emphasis on horror?

GELMAN: No, I don't think so. I don't think I would say that it's necessarily changed Murray that much. Murray, he's seen a lot of stuff, and as shocking as everything that he experiences is, he's very prepared. He's sort of like a neurotic warrior in a lot of ways. And I think that his negative outlook just... as a journalist too, he's prepared for events that he would not have ever imagined, and he has to be that voice of truth and that voice of reality and keep rooted in his own negativity in order to serve his role as sort of this darkly comedic, or sardonically comedic relief.

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Image via Netflix

QUESTION: A few questions ago, you had mentioned that Murray and Joyce both go to Russia. Can you give us some more insight into that journey? Because we clearly know nothing about that.

GELMAN: They go to save Hopper from where he has been captured and being held. They have an adventure all their own leading up to that where they meet the character of Yuri, who's sort of a scheming guy. So, they don't know exactly who this guy is, and there's a lot of mishaps. Unfortunately, I can't really go into plot points, but yeah, it's really fun. It's really, really fun. I can't wait for all of you to see it. It's a very fun adventure that they go on and of course, stressful and moving.

QUESTION: I feel like prior to his life getting crashed by these teenagers, Murray had really closed himself off to the world, [and] then he met Alexei. He had sort of this platonic love story with Alexei, and Alexei died. How is that experience going to impact him as he moves forward in Season 4?

GELMAN: Obviously it saddened him, and then also Hopper died. That was devastating too. But I think that it had more of a positive effect in that it made him feel connected to people again. Not so much, I wouldn't say, family, but they have become his friends, and he feels more of a connection with the world because of that, and that not all people are untrustworthy scum. As judgmental as he is of the small town aesthetic and culture of Hawkins, I think he also admires it in its purity. I think that it has a special place in his heart, but he can't show it that much because that wouldn't be cool or smart. He's still withholding, but it has made him care. It felt good for him to care about people again.

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Image via Netflix

QUESTION: Jumping off the relationships question, what has been your favorite relationship dynamic to portray on screen?

GELMAN: I really love my relationship with Joyce this season. I mean, we kind of become a little bit of a comedy duo. And it's just amazing to get to work so extensively with Winona. It's a real dream come true. This is a person who I've worshiped since I was a teenager, so it's just... I also learned a lot from her, and she's really just a very brilliant actor and movie star. I know that's a big surprise spoiler alert. Winona Ryder is brilliant. The immediacy to which she can click into situations and roles. We have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs, and I think that they're fun because they're both equally annoyed with each other, Joyce and Murray, and don't hide it. Yet, they are able to band together and figure things out a lot. It's fun.

The Duffers had mentioned that the Hawkins setting is sort of this Nightmare on Elm Street kind of vibe. I was curious if there was sort of a unique approach or inspiration for the Russian setting.

GELMAN: A lot of it feels like very Indiana Jones to me, and same in Season 3. I always feel there is this energy that is very Indiana Jones in the way that it's constantly balancing the tension of the adventure with humor, as well as the dynamic of the original Star Wars movies too, of when they're busting in. That Luke/Leia/Han dynamic, really is an energy that's constantly flowing through my scenes with Winona and David and Niko. Maybe a little Romancing The Stone, somebody said, which I like. But I very much am always thinking about Indiana Jones. We forget how funny Harrison Ford is in those movies. He's this amazing action star, but there is a lot of humor there that is always wrapped up in the situation in the way that Spielberg can turn a tense situation and show these humorous moments in that as well. Almost just like this vibe of like, "Oh my God, I can't believe that this horrible thing is happening right now." There's a humor in that all the time. It's not always a drag.

Part 1 of Stranger Things Season 4 will premiere May 27 on Netflix.