The first Stranger Things season 4 teaser answers season 3’s big mystery

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We finally know who was behind the door at the end of Stranger Things season 3 , As it turns out, it was a familiar face.

[Ed. note: For those going in blind, this post contains a big spoiler from Stranger Things season 4.]

The first teaser for season 4, which Netflix released on Friday morning, confirms that Hopper is alive. But he’s not exactly well, chained up somewhere in a remote and snowy part of Russia.

The teaser does’t give us many details. The camera pans across a Russian prison camp, complete with dozens of guards and prisoners constructing a railroad. As we get closer to one prisoner, the camera stops and Hawkins Sheriff Jim Hopper turns around.

Hopper was last seen in Hawkins, during season 3, in the secret lab under the Star Court mall, and was presumed dead after he heroically destroyed the machine that was set to bring creatures from the Upside Down into our reality. But, in the closing scene of season 3, it was revealed that somewhere in a remote prison in Russia, an American was being kept alive in a cell.

Based on the teaser, it’s hard to tell anything about Hopper’s current state. He has a shaved head, and doesn’t look thrilled to be in the snow working on a railroad. But is it the same Hopper that saved his loved ones in Hawkins? Or has he been brainwashed? The good news is, if he is a Russian sleeper agent now, we already know David Harbour can do the accent thanks to some good old Marvel training for Black Widow.

According to a Netflix press release, Hopper starts season 4 still at the prison in Kamchatka, where he’ll face, “dangers both human ... and other.” With a description like that it seems possible that we’ll get a closer look at the kinds of experiments the Russians are doing with the Upside Down, and maybe even learn a little more about what exactly it is.

The release also lets us know that back in the states a new threat lurks below, “long buried, something that connects everything.” Whatever that means, it’s sure to endanger the world one way or another.

The season 4 teaser is called “From Russia With Love,” a nod to the 1963 Sean Connery Bond movie of the same name. The movie’s story involves plenty of Russian intrigue and espionage so it’s safe to assume we’ll get something similar here. It’s also worth noting that part of From Russia with Love takes place on the Orient Express, a long distance passenger train, which along with the railroad under construction, could mean that trains will serve a purpose in the new season.

The teaser cuts to black immediately after we see Hopper and doesn’t give us any clues about when the show is set to debut. Netflix released last year’s season on the Fourth of July, but previous seasons have been released in October, so there’s really no way to know. But expect Stranger Things season 4 sometime later this year.