Final Stranger Things Season 3 Trailer Teases Terrifying Monster, Epic Showdown
Summer is about to get a whole lot stranger.
Two weeks ahead of the premiere of Stranger Things season 3, Netflix unveiled the final trailer for the impending batch of episodes.
The footage makes some big promises — teasing that the action will be bigger, the stakes higher, and the monsters that terrorize the fictional town of Hawkins badder than ever before.
The vibe of Stranger Things' highly anticipated third season starts off lighter and brighter than seasons past, bursting with the innocence of pre-teen days and the "poppy fun" of summer. That doesn't last long, though, and the summer of 1985 turns into a nightmare when the Mind Flayer returns. Though Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) defeated the monster at the tail end of Stranger Things season 2, closing the gap between our world and the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer wound up on the wrong side and is now bent on destroying Eleven, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), and the repeat monster victim Will (Noah Schnapp).
In the Stranger Things season 3 trailer, we hear the Mind Flayer take on a voice of its own, warning the youngsters that they, their friends, and their family are doomed. While Will finally catches a break and is no longer the target of the creature's relentless wrath, Max's brutish older brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) is apparently facing some karmic retribution for all his past wrongdoings. It looks as though the musclebound, mullet-rocking teen will become the host for the Mind Flayer on the upcoming season. This elevates him from a foul-mouthed, quick-tempered human villain into a supernatural force of evil — and whether he can ever come down from that place of heightened antagonism when all is said and done remains to be seen. (We're hoping the experience will humble Billy, and that he can undergo a drastic transformation from violent meathead to all-around nice guy, much like Joe Keery's Steve Harrington went from an uppity prep to a sweet and gentle babysitter last season.)
The resurgence of the Mind Flayer means a huge showdown involving all of our favorite characters — including Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), and Chief Hopper (David Harbour). Alongside the older characters, the pre-teens will converge in Hawkins' coolest new spot, the Starcourt Mall, for a blowout battle against the monster.
Overall, Stranger Things season 3 is shaping up to be something totally fresh — a lot darker than seasons 1 and 2 and leaning more toward '80s actioners than deep sci-fi stuff. This trailer doesn't answer all of our many questions but it does give us a taste of what's to come, and it should get fans more excited than ever to queue up the new season on Netflix starting on July 4.