stranger plots

At Last, Plot Details for Stranger Things Season Two Have Been Revealed, and Things Aren’t Looking Too Great in Hawkins

Photo: Jackson Davis/Netflix/Courtesy of EW

We’ve been getting some pretty tantalizing teases for the upcoming second season of Stranger Things so far this year — even though we have to wait until October 31 for the actual premiere, sigh — but fear not, because some plot details have just been unveiled. Entertainment Weekly has obtained a few key details for the sophomore season, which, as we already know, will take place nearly a year after the events of the first season’s finale. (On Halloween to be exact, how apropos.) Per EW, things still aren’t totally great with the slug-coughing Will Byers. Shocker! “He seems to be seeing images from the Upside-Down — the question is whether they’re real or not,” co-creator Matt Duffer says. “So it seems like he’s having some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Among other details, Chief Hopper will prove to be doing the emotional heavy-lifting of all the characters in an attempt to keep last season’s events from becoming public knowledge. “It kind of falls on Hopper to be the voice of authority to say, ‘This did happen and this didn’t happen,’” actor David Harbour explains. “He’s struggling with the compromise that takes him to having to lie and cover things up.” Additionally, we’ll be witnessing the sibling duo of Nancy and Mike mourning the apparent deaths of their respective friends Barb and Eleven. “She and Mike are both the most screwed-up because they’re the ones who both lost someone,” co-creator Ross Duffer said. “They’re both grappling with that, and we see the effects.”

Don’t worry though, Eleven will indeed be back. “I want people to know that she’s back and she’s a major part of the season and not know how or why,” Matt Duffer said. “We do get into her story and backstory. We learn about where she came from and how she came into the world and the program that resulted in her.” And perhaps most important: Yes, the rift to the Upside-Down and the Hawkins National Laboratory have both remained open, and the Duffers promise that the new season will be exploring “different kinds of horror.” Sign us up.

At Last, Plot Details for Stranger Things Season Two