A mysterious creature crept out of the Hawkins laboratory and a 12-year-old Will Byers went missing, starting a chain of events in Netflix series Stranger Things following its 2016 premiere.
What started as an expedition to search for a missing kid quickly escalated into a war with supernatural creatures and mysterious forces, giving rise to a supernatural fantasy adventure that has found fans across the globe.
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Jamie Campbell Bower, Joe Keery, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, and Natalia Dyer, Stranger Things tells the story of a group of Hawkins residents who fight demonic creatures and protect their loved ones from harm and suffering.
Over the past nine years, the series emerged as one of the most popular shows on Netflix, for its gripping plot, engaging climax, jaw-dropping action and subtle humour.
Before the final showdown between Vecna and Eleven, here’s a quick recap of events in the Stranger Things universe.
Season 1: Will’s disappearance, Eleven’s arrival and a crack into the Upside Down
Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the story opens with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) vanishing after encountering a creature from another dimension, Upside Down. While his friends Mike (Finn), Dustin (Gaten) and Lucas (Caleb) search for him, they meet Eleven (Millie) — a girl with psychokinetic powers, who ran away from the Hawkins lab. Will’s mother, Joyce (Winona), and the town’s police chief, Jim Hopper (David), learn that Will is alive. They also discover the lab’s role in opening a gateway to another world. The kids face the Demogorgon, Eleven almost sacrifices herself to destroy it, and Will is rescued in the final episode. However, Will coughing out a slug (a small demonic creature) hints that the Upside Down isn’t done with them yet.
Season 2: The Mind Flayer takes hold
A year later, Will begins to experience visions that have a connection to the Mind Flayer, the primary, gigantic controller of the Upside Down. The lab attempts to control and study the creature, but the Mind Flayer spreads throughout Hawkins via Demodogs. Eleven, who is still alive and staying with Jim, without anyone’s knowledge, runs away from the town to explore her origins and return for a final battle. With Jim’s help, she manages to close the gate and sever the creature’s link to Will. The lab closes down, and everything goes back to normal in Hawkins, until a group of Soviet scientists reopen the gateway into the Upside Down.
Season 3: Star Court Mall and the Russian mission
In 1985, a new mall, Star Court, is set up in Hawkins. But beneath it, Soviet scientists continue to reopen the gate to Upside Down. Mind Flayer builds a monstrous body made from possessed townspeople. Romances bloom, friendships shift, while a new character, Robin (Maya Hawke), teams up with Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin to decode the conspiracy plot by Russian scientists. The season ends after an explosive showdown with Jim dying and Billy (Dacre Montgomery), brother of Max (Sadie Sink), sacrificing himself to save Eleven. Now powerless, Eleven moves away with Byers family, though a post-credit scene teases that the ‘American’ in the Russian prison might be Jim.
Season 4: Vecna’s curse and the beginning of the end
Season 4 of Stranger Things widens the scale across Hawkins, California, Nevada and Russia. Vecna, a grotesque monster, starts to terrorise the town and kill teens who had past traumas. Originally, Vecna is revealed as Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), who was the first subject in the Hawkins lab and the origin of Upside Down. Max, still brooding over her brother’s death, becomes one of his targets, and copes with her anguish by listening to Kate Bush’s Running Up The Hill on a loop. Hopper is revealed to be alive in a Russian cell. Eleven learns about her past, regains her power and learns it was she who sent Henry into the Upside Down, which transformed him into Vecna. The season ends with Vecna opening four gates across Hawkins. Max slips into a coma and Upside Down begins spilling into Hawkins, setting the stage for a war.