New Stranger Things Season 3 Teaser Reveals Episode Names
Before we know it, Netflix will be taking us back to Hawkins, Indiana — and in preparation to return to the fictional town where human-snatching creatures lurk an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down, the streaming service has unleashed a new teaser trailer for Stranger Things' hotly anticipated third season.
Posted to the Stranger Things Twitter account and uploaded to Netflix's YouTube page, the clip doesn't actually feature any footage from the new season (sorry to burst anyone's bubble in that respect), but it does reveal something arguably just as cool: the titles of all eight upcoming episodes.
The story continues in the summer of 1985, when Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Will (Noah Schnapp), and Max (Sadie Sink) will embark on adventures that play across the following episodes:
- "Suzie, Do You Copy?"
- "The Mall Rats"
- "The Case of the Missing Life Guard"
- "The Sauna Test"
- "The Source"
- "The Birthday"
- "The Bite"
- "The Battle of Starcourt"
While pictures usually speak a thousand words, in this case, text is all we need to get amped up about more Stranger Things.
These episode names might not mean a whole lot to casual Stranger Things viewers, but for hardcore fans who have kept their fingers on the pulse of all things strange, the titles carry deeper meaning, as they seem to tie into already-released clues about the new season.
"The Mall Rats" and "The Battle of Starcourt" likely connect to the series' hip new set piece: the Starcourt Mall, where Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and new Stranger Things character Robin (Maya Thurman-Hawke) work at the Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream Shop in the "state-of-the-art food court." Perhaps the pre-teen crew will hang out at Starcourt early on in the season, then stumble across something dangerous that sets off their new mission, which will ultimately lead them back to the mall for an epic confrontation. Robin will certainly have a hand in whatever goes down, as she's been described as getting "more than she bargained for when she uncovers a dark secret in Hawkins."
The other episodes — especially "The Case of the Missing Life Guard," "The Sauna Test," "The Source," "The Birthday," and "The Bite" — all sound like references Eleven's upbringing at Hawkins Laboratory and the experiments that took place within its walls, as well as nods to the "new forces of evil" that will surface in the impending installments.
Stranger Things season 3 is expected to feel different from past seasons, as it takes place during a time of the year fans haven't seen on the series before. Per Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy, the third season is "about the swimming pool and campfires and parades and Fourth of July and fireworks," which contributes to a "kind of a poppy fun to season 3 that's really enjoyable." That lightness will turn dark when the gang learns that the Mind Flayer from season 2 "is still lurking up there out there in the Upside Down," and is "determined to find a way to achieve his goals." Let's just hope the Starcourt Mall carries shoes in the shadow monster's size.
The third season of Stranger Things is set to premiere on Netflix in the summer of 2019.