Waiting three years for the fourth season of Stranger Things has been agonizing for a lot of fans, but it's also given them plenty of time to speculate and come up with plenty of theories for the upcoming season.

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Stranger Things Season 4 will be released on Netflix in two parts. The first is coming out on May 27, and the second part will be released on July 1. The trailers have given us a lot of hints about what to expect, but we don't know for sure. Fans have taken all the posters, teasers, and trailers, and used them to try to piece together what we can expect to see in this new season.

Billy Is The New Villain

Dacre Montgomery as Billy in S3

The demonic creature that fans determined is named "Vecna" based on the episode titled "Vecna’s Curse", which could be a combination of Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and the Mind Flayer that the kids thought they destroyed in Season 3 when Billy sacrificed himself. The voice narrating the trailer isn’t revealed, but it's most likely Vecna, named after a powerful D&D monster, who will be the main villain of the season. The voice also sounds a lot like Robert Englund (best known for playing Freddy Krueger), who is listed as playing Victor Creel.

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Fans are convinced that there is going to be some kind of connection between Max and Vecna, perhaps she’ll even have some kind of powers herself since Eleven’s (Millie Bobby Brown) aren’t working. She is seen in the trailer talking to Billy at his grave, where she also starts levitating. This could be because Vecna is communicating with her in some way, which makes sense if the creature is her brother. You can also see her passed out later in the trailer, similarly to how Eleven's powers drain her. Max is definitely going to be a very important character this season.

The Creel House Is The Source Of Vecna's Power

The Creel house in the 1950s

It seems like Stranger Things is taking inspiration from another recent horror series starring Finn Wolfhard because the Creel House is giving off some IT vibes. Similar to how the Neibolt House in IT was where Pennywise lived, the Creel House is going to be how the kids find and defeat Vecna.

Vecna is based on a D&D monster of the same name who is a powerful lich. To destroy a lich you have to destroy their phylactery, an object containing their soul. The kids are going to have to find and destroy the phylactery if they want to defeat Vecna. It's probably somewhere in the Creel House, maybe even in the creepy grandfather clock that has been such a focal point of the trailers.

Time Will Be Distorted

The clock in the attic of the Creel House

Time is playing a huge role in this season, clocks have been heavily featured since the very first teaser was released. The concept of time and reality being distorted is a classic horror trope. It's especially reminiscent of Nightmare on Elm Street, which heavily inspired this season, and they even have Freddy Krueger himself in the cast. In Nightmare, the characters have a tough time being able to tell when they're in the real world or the dream world.

Also, in IT, Pennywise manipulates reality and makes it hard to keep track of what’s real and what isn’t. This will likely make its way into Stranger Things, similarly to how Will (Noah Schnapp) would all of a sudden find himself in the Upside-Down during Season 2. The characters are going to need to find a way to ground themselves in reality, and not let the Upside-Down take over Hawkins, or the world.

They Will Have to Solve the Murder of the Creel Family

The Creel children, dead, and Victor Creel

The description for this season says “In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.”

It seems that the kids are going to have to solve the mystery of how the Creel family was murdered. Victor Creel was probably either falsely accused or driven mad and taken over by Vecna, killing his family. They will have to enlist the help of Victor Creel himself. All we know about him is that he is “a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s.” He was shown in the trailer as an old man with his eyes sewn shut. Perhaps he did this because he couldn’t handle the horrors he was witnessing. His lack of sight in the real world might even mean that he can see more in the Upside-Down.

Joyce and Murray Break Hopper Out Of Prison

Joyce, Hopper, and Murray in Russia

Season 4 will take place in three locations — Kamchatka, Hawkins, and California. Hopper (David Harbour) is alive and trapped in a Russian prison, Joyce (Winona Ryder), Will, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Eleven are in California, and the rest of the crew is still in Hawkins. Eleven and co. were moved to California to keep them safe, but as you can see when Joyce gets a very mysterious package from Russia, danger is never that far away.

Later in the trailer, Joyce is spotted flying a helicopter with Murray (Brett Gelman) in Russia. She likely gets ahold of Murray to help her assess whatever is in the package from Russia, and since he is such a conspiracy theorist, he figures out that Hopper is stuck there. How did they get a helicopter, and how they would even get into the Russian prison to break Hopper out? Well, who knows. But one of the posters for Season 4 shows Hopper, Joyce, and Murray in the empty, blood-splattered Russian prison with a large fire at the end.

Many fans have also theorized that Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine), Eleven's "Papa" is still alive, and in Russia, so maybe he escapes with Hopper.

Eleven Becomes The Villain

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in S3 Battle at the Starcourt Mall

Since Billy and Will were both possessed by the creature through physical contact, fans theorize that the same thing could happen to Eleven. During the battle at Starcourt Mall in Season 3, a piece of the creature got stuck in her leg. She was able to remove it using her powers, but afterward, her powers stopped working. This could be because the Mind Flayer took her powers, and remains a part of her. If this is the case, Vecna could use Eleven to do his bidding. The question is, who could defeat her if this happens?

Fans have been waiting for the rest of the kids from Hawkins Lab to show up since Season 1. So far, we’ve just met Eleven and Eight (Linnea Berthelsen). Maybe Eight will be back with the rest of the test subjects to stop Eleven. Some fans also think that Hopper could be the one to bring her back, sacrificing himself as he did in Season 3, but with more dire consequences this time. Another theory is that Max (Sadie Sink) could end up fighting against her if she does get some kind of power from her connection with Vecna.

Part One is Going To End Looking Like They've Lost

Veca-Stranger Things 4

Season 4 is will be broken into two parts. Based on Vecna saying "You have lost" at the end of the trailer, the first part of the season is likely going to end with Vecna having the upper hand. It's tough to predict how Part 2 is going to end, but many fans think that the Russians and the other experiments aren't going to be showing up in Hawkins until the second part comes out in July.

Some fans and theorists have compared this season to Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Like those movies, the heroes are going to end Part 1 defeated, but will come out on top once they get more people to help them. Part 2 could start with Hopper coming back, and Eight arriving with the other experiments. As Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser) said, they can't win this war without Eleven, but if she doesn't get her powers back, or she becomes the villain, they're going to need some help.

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