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 roundtable interview with Keery, Hawke, and Priah Ferguson (who plays Lucas' precocious younger sister Erica), which you can read below, the co-stars discuss how their characters evolve this season, as well as their relationships with one another, and how they face the supernatural elements of the show in tandem with those interpersonal dynamics. They also discuss whether Keery needs to keep his hair at a certain length to return to filming, how Erica is fitting in now that her older brother and friends are in high school, and how much plot information gets shared with them both before and during filming.
QUESTION: This question is for Joe. Throughout Season 3, Steve was lost, trying to find himself, trying to find someone to be with, and from what we were told in the pre-taped interview is that something similar is happening in Season 4. Can you give some insight into that story arc, and will we see him come to the end of that journey?
JOE KEERY: I think that's a theme with a lot of people's stories. At this age, that plays a big component, finding someone to share things with. You're right. That was a big component in Season 3. Without being too specific, there are some gains made towards that specific goal. But the relationship with Robin is what we develop there, commitment and loyalty to each other that we definitely follow through on that storyline. They're tighter than ever after last year, which has been really fun to play. I can't tell you anything. I literally can't say anything.
QUESTION: Last year, Maya, you were able to have some input with your character. In what ways did you all want your character to grow and evolve in Season 4? What is something that you wanted to bring to the role that maybe you didn't get a chance to in the past three seasons? Joe, why don't you start?
KEERY: That's a very difficult question, but a good one. I think if I say too much, I could be shot. It's a terrible joke. No, something that I really like about the character is his, albeit sometimes not so bright, but just [commitment] to making sure the other people in the cast are safe. I guess I want to continue that sort of theme. But this is a season where there is a lot thematically and there's a lot of things that are things from other seasons are starting to come together. So really apart from my own character, I was really excited to see these little threads that the Duffers have been placing throughout the show, seeing those start to converge into this one thing. So yeah, I guess that's what I was excited about. Somebody help me.
MAYA HAWKE: I'll just say—
KEERY: Please.
HAWKE: —this thing that I said was taken out of context, a hundred times. The Duffers paid really close attention to me as a new cast member, as they do to all of their cast members. They alter and shift the characters based on the person that they're meeting and interacting with. You can have conversations with them about the story, but you don't get input. You can sometimes feel like you're like, "It'd be really cool if this happened," then it doesn't happen. It happens the way that the Duffers see it. Their vision is very specific and clear and thoughtful, but they do tailor the roles and the kinds of dialogue to the people, to the actors that they're working with. I talk a lot in life, as I'm doing right now. I may or may not talk a lot in this season. But I never had input in my storyline, just to be clear.
PRIAH FERGUSON: I guess like with Erica, Season 2, I guess you could say her style and her navigating as a teenager, that changed even in Season 2. She was a lot older in Season 3 and of course, Season 4. So I would say her style and her navigating as a teenager.
QUESTION: This is just for anyone who wants to answer, but there's a balance between dealing with big supernatural elements, but also there's very tight interpersonal relationships. And how do you navigate that as an actor?
KEERY: Well, both are quite fun, I'd say.
HAWKE: We look at each other a lot.
KEERY: Oh, yeah. A lot of shared looks. It's kind of a joy after dealing with a lot of... the actual technical element of doing the action and monster stuff is a completely different muscle than doing a scene with a partner. So it's always really a joy when you get to have a nice chunk of dialogue with your scene partner. I know last year, it was great to do that scene in the bathroom and down to the lab and stuff. But those are some of my favorites, personally, because it's more about the relationships and the characters and less about the action. Even though that stuff's really fun as well.
HAWKE: I second that. Action stuff is really fun to watch, and it's really fun to act in. Some of it, especially, there's some amazing action stuff this season. Joe, especially, is such an unbelievable action hero. Someone make that guy Indiana Jones right away. It's really inspiring to work with someone who is so good with stunts and so good with imaginary bad guys, but it's always the most fun to come back into the interpersonal dynamics.
QUESTION: For Priah: Erica became such a fan-favorite character in the past few seasons. Where does she fit in now that the guys are going to high school? Is she playing Dungeons and Dragons with them? What can you say to set up Erica in this season?
FERGUSON: Well, I can't say too much, but like I've said before, Erica definitely evolved from Season 2 and all the other seasons. And yeah. I don't want to say too much. That's going to be my answer on it. She is well respected, and she's a leader.
KEERY: I second that.
QUESTION: For Joe, I have a question as someone who doesn't have any hair, I'm always just very curious. On your off-season, do you have to keep your hair at a certain length? Is there anything in your contract? If you just like, "Oh, I just want to go for a buzz cut right now. I'm not feeling it right now." Can you do that? Or are you obligated to keep your hair a certain length throughout the year, so you're always ready to film?
KEERY: I pretty much have to check. I'll go over to Ted Sarandos' house, and he'll just give me all of the haircuts personally, just to make sure it stays appropriate length. He'll get the ruler out, and we do it by the book really just to be safe.
QUESTION: For all of you: how far are you right now into shooting the season, what episode are you on? I'm sure at the beginning of every season, you get told a certain amount about what's to come over the next several episodes. Do you feel like the amount you get told at the beginning of the season has increased with each season? Or do you get told less as things go on?
HAWKE: Well, we're shooting totally out of order, to a certain extent, as you do on every production. So I don't think we can really say what episode we're on, or what kind of thing is going on. But I would know way more this season about what's going on in the story than I did last year. That's true.
KEERY: Generally, I feel like we're always more concerned about, "Well, what about next year?" We get the majority of the scripts by the time we're pretty much working through stuff. So I'm always like, "Well, how does this unfold? What about next year?" But who knows, really? Because they don't tell us when it's coming out, if there's a next year, they don't. So we're kind of in the dark all of us actors. Well, this could happen, just guess at what maybe they are leading towards. So your guess is as kind of good as ours at this point.
FERGUSON: Yeah. It's like a mystery.
But no one's talking about it like it's [the] last season, though.
KEERY: People are pretty tightlipped about pretty much everything. It's pretty difficult to talk about it because you don't want to spoil anything for anybody. None of us can really speak on behalf of the Duffers, because they're the only people who really know how things going to end.
QUESTION: For Maya, in Season 3, Robin was thrust into this world very, very suddenly. So in Season 4, she evolved more and was more ready to take on the monsters and all that.
HAWKE: I mean, I thought she handled the Russian spies with intense grace and preparedness that I couldn't dream of having myself in that kind of situation. I can't really say how much more, or less, involved Robin gets in the magic of Hawkins because... and I say magic as a very open-ended term, darkness of Hawkins, the Upside Down. I can say that. That's not a spoiler, but I can't really talk about how much she does or doesn't get involved. I do think that she's definitely evolving as a character and these relationships are evolving, and she is finding her clique, for lack of a better term, and really making real relationships and friendships there. That is the most fun stuff to act in and stuff I'm really, really excited for you guys to see.
QUESTION: Building off what Maya was saying, I feel like each season so far has put these characters with other characters they maybe didn't interact with much, maybe with somebody new. Which other character are you most excited for people to see your character interact with in Season 4?
HAWKE: We can talk about Joe Quinn, Keery.
KEERY: Let's talk about Joe Quinn. Great.
HAWKE: There's a new character, and he's kind of at the center of a lot of things that I've talked—
KEERY: Yeah, there's a new character. We get to interact with him a fair amount in our storyline that is a Hawkins-centric storyline. He's a wonderful young lad, a very talented young actor from across the pond, and he brings a really light and frenetic and new energy that is really different for the group. I think it kind of shapes the season in a nice way for our storyline. So he's someone to keep your eye on, I'd say, for this next season.
FERGUSON: Without saying too much, I can. I agree with what they said, he's a really great actor. I really think with all the actors and the characters in this season, you all will be interested in seeing how their characters evolved and what they have going on.
Part 1 of Stranger Things Season 4 will premiere May 27 on Netflix.