Small Stranger Things 3 Trailer Details You Missed
The final trailer for Stranger Things season 3 is here, and it's the one we've been waiting for. While the first official trailer and the Summer in Hawkins teaser both did a great job setting the tone for the third season of the hit Netflix show, they were light on actual plot details. The most recent trailer gives a lot more away about what the Duffer brothers have in store for us this time out — you just have to know where to look.
Our young heroes saved their friend and their town from the malevolent Mind Flayer in season 2, which ended up being a lot broader than the show's debut season. Many expected the Duffers to go even bigger with the third season, but that's not the direction they wanted to go in, as Matt Duffer explained to IndieWire. "It's not necessarily going to be bigger in scale," he revealed. "What I am really excited about is giving these characters an interesting journey to go on."
The final trailer for the upcoming season drops plenty of hints about these character journeys. We also get some big clues about the villains of the season, as well as a few obligatory '80s Easter eggs. Let's take a look at the small details you may have missed.
When does Stranger Things season 3 take place?
The third season of Stranger Things will be the first that doesn't take place during Halloween. Netflix revealed that season 3 would be dropping on Independence Day 2019 with a special date announcement, and the 4th of July holiday will also be the setting of the show this year. The final season 3 trailer opens with a wide shot of a 4th of July fun fair, but the whole thing seems to be a political stunt of sorts — the sign above the entrance reminds the voting-age residents of Hawkins, Indiana just who they have to thank for the festivities: Mayor Kline.
A new character for season 3, Larry Kline is portrayed by Cary Elwes, star of '80s classic The Princess Bride. Promotional materials for the show (via Deadline) describe Kline as "handsome, slick and sleazy... your classic '80s politician — more concerned with his own image than with the people of the small town he governs." It looks like the mayor will be a secondary villain of sorts, but could his arc tie in to a previously unexplored plot? We're going back to Hawkins in the summer of 1985, at the height of the Cold War. Theory crafters are predicting that the Duffers will return to the Russian spy subplot planted by journalist-turned-private investigator Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) in season 2.
Will Stranger Things season 3 take us back to the Upside Down?
"It doesn't make sense," Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven says in the final season 3 trailer, "I closed the gate." She's referring to the moment she used her psychokinetic powers to seal the portal to the Upside Down at the end of season 2, seemingly saving Hawkins from the monstrous creatures that dwell within. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Upside Down would feature in the coming third season, however, and the final trailer confirms that this will indeed be the case.
We see Eleven in her sense-depriving blindfold early on in the trailer, surrounded by her concerned friends. Her trademark nosebleed tells us that she's using her special abilities, and the following shot reveals what she's doing with them — the gifted girl is shown (wearing the exact same '80s-tastic shirt as the previous shot) in the hellscape that is the Upside Down, standing in front of a large steelworks warehouse.
This warehouse (which appears again just before the minute mark) appears to be the source/hideout of the evil that will be unleashed this coming season. We see a swarm of rats converging on the place, and a dark smoke-like entity whirling its way through the empty corridors. But is this entity a new foe, or one the gang has faced before?
Where's the Mind Flayer in Stranger Things season 3?
As we enter the aforementioned warehouse there's a brief but unmistakable shot of the Mind Flayer, the creature that took control of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in season 2. The young heroes of Hawkins thought they'd locked the Mind Flayer (a.k.a. the Shadow Monster) in the Upside Down, but as Byers points out in the final season 3 trailer, they don't know that for sure. "What if he never left?" he asks Eleven. "What if we locked him out here with us?"
Byers is clearly still connected to the Mind Flayer in some way (the gooseflesh on his neck makes this perfectly clear), and he drops a huge clue about the malevolent entity's intentions for season 3 in the last trailer. "He'll want to attach himself to someone again," he reveals. "A new host." The face of Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) appears onscreen as Byers utters the words "a new host," heavily implying that the season 2 bully will become an even bigger threat to the kids this time out.
If you've been picking apart season 3 posters for clues like we have, this reveal won't come as much of a surprise — Billy has already been shown looking ominous in front of the Brimborn steelworks warehouse, where he'll evidently be possessed. A close-up shot of his eyeball darkening leaves little room for argument here, but the question is, will Billy be the only villain? Could the Mind Flayer take more than one host?
Who does that spooky voice belong to in the Stranger Things season 3 trailer?
There's an ominous voiceover in the final Stranger Things season 3 trailer that has everybody scratching their heads. It begins right at the start of the trailer, playing over some lingering shots of our tween heroes. "You let us in, and now, you are going to have to let us stay," the disembodied male voice says, seemingly speaking on behalf of the residents of the Upside Down. The same voice can be heard later in the trailer ("We are going to end you, we are going to end your friends, then we are going to end everyone," it claims) but the owner of said voice is never identified.
Because of the way the trailer is edited, some jumped to the conclusion that this was Billy Hargrove speaking, though the tones don't seem to match up. Others became convinced that this was a distorted version of Jim Hopper's (David Harbour) voice we were hearing, but we're not buying this, either. If you listen carefully, the voice from the trailer sounds an awful lot like Jake Busey, a new addition to the Stranger Things cast. He's playing a character called Bruce, a reporter from The Hawkins Post who has some "questionable morals and a sick sense of humor," Netflix confirms (via Deadline).
It's probably no coincidence that Busey's character shares a name with the shark from Steven Spielberg classic, Jaws. Our money is on Busey being the big bad of the third season.
Who's joining the cast for season 3 of Stranger Things?
We got our first good look at season 3 newbie Maya Hawke (daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman) in the Starcourt mall teaser that Netflix dropped in July 2018. The celebrity scion plays a character named Robin, a co-worker of Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) at the sparkly new mall's Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor. The first season 3 trailer showcased Robin in this capacity, but now we know for sure that she's going to be doing way more than just scooping ice cream − there's a shot of her peering through a glass door at (judging by Dustin's expression) something not of this dimension, and she pops up again later in the trailer as all hell breaks loose in the mall.
The title of the very last season 3 episode ("The Battle of Starcourt") already hinted heavily at a final showdown in the mall, and the last trailer for the upcoming season seems to confirm that this will indeed be the case. This all fits with the character description previously released by Netflix. The streaming giant described Robin as "an alternative girl who is equal parts sharp and playful. Bored with her mundane day job, she just wants a little excitement in her life... and gets more than she bargained for when she uncovers a dark secret in Hawkins." Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair) is also present. The young actress was reportedly given more screen time after impressing as Lucas' sister in season 2.
What's the significance of the new mall in Stranger Things season 3?
The "dark secret" that Robin uncovers is probably connected to the unidentified green substance that her co-worker comes across. In the final season 3 trailer, Steve Harrington and his good buddy Dustin Henderson unearth a canister filled with something peculiar, and judging by what Harrington is wearing at the time, he's in the middle of a shift at Scoops Ahoy. "What the hell," a concerned looking Harrington says as Dustin watches on. It's one of the standout shots from the final trailer, but what does it tell us? Alone, nothing, but as part of a sequence it seems to indicate that something is going on in the bowels of the Starcourt mall.
The two shots that come right after Harrington's discovery feature people in Spielbergian hazmat suits gathered around what appears to be some kind of particle collider. The machine fires up and shoots a white beam of energy, which could well be the cause of the blackout at the end of the trailer. But who is experimenting under the mall? The Hawkins National Laboratory was shut down after it was linked to the death of season 1 fan favorite Barbara Holland, though there are bound to be plenty of other interested parties when it comes to unlocking the secrets of the Upside Down.
Good news for Jopper shippers in Stranger Things season 3
There's lots of quick editing in the final season 3 trailer, but if you watch it back a couple of times you'll notice that a few different teams seem to have formed by the end. Eleven, Mike, and Max cower together behind a counter, while Will, Jonathan, Nancy, and Lucas take cover behind a battered car. Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Erica evidently escape the mall, because they're briefly seen at the makeshift antenna (the one shown in more detail in the previous trailer). Lastly, there are the adults: Hopper, Joyce and Murray.
Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) had a thing with Sean Astin's Bob Newby in season 2, but the Radio Shack manager was killed helping the gang escape. Bob wasn't unpopular, but most Stranger Things fans have been shipping a Joyce-Hopper relationship since the early days of the show. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the final trailer all but confirms that they'll make the leap in season 3. The shot is a close-up of two unidentified people holding hands. Pause it, and you'll notice that the shirts they're wearing match the ones worn by Joyce and Hopper earlier in the trailer.
David Harbour (Hopper) is aware of how much people want this, and he gets it. "The fans, they call it 'Jopper,'" he said on Beyond Stranger Things (via Uproxx). "They all ship this relationship with Hopper and Joyce and I do too, because I feel like they're two really lonely, lost people that really need each other."
Stranger Things season 3 Easter eggs
Stranger Things just wouldn't be Stranger Things without all the '80s Easter eggs, and there are going to be plenty of those in the upcoming third season. Ross Duffer kept his cards close when IndieWire asked him which films he and his brother would be referencing this time out ("I don't want to say any movies in particular, I might give it away"), but the final season 3 trailer contains a few subtle clues. Lucas, for example, wears an outfit reminiscent of The Karate Kid (1984), and there's one shot that looks like it could be right out of Ghostbusters (also 1984).
One of the most blatant nods to an iconic movie comes when Max, Eleven and Mike take cover behind a counter in the mall. The shot is super similar to the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park, which is of course an early '90s movie, but seeing as it's directed by Steven Spielberg, it's fair game. The Duffer brothers have made no secret of the fact that they're heavily into Spielberg, naming E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jaws as big influences during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.