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SYFY WIRE Stranger Things 4

Stranger Things 4: First teaser finally answers the mystery of Hopper's fate

By Josh Weiss
David Harbour Stranger Things

Good day, comrades!

In an unexpected move today, Netflix dropped a mind-blowing first teaser trailer for Season 4 of Stranger Things. Not only that, but the video answers one of the biggest mysteries left by the Season 3 finale last summer: Is David Harbour's Jim Hopper alive or dead?

Well, we can now definitively say that the Hawkins chief of police survived the explosion underneath the Starcourt Mall, and is now serving time in a snowy Russian gulag (forced labor camp). How he survived is still up for debate. Aside from a shaved head and upper lip, Hopper is looking like his usual self. The haunted and determined look in his eyes tells us that he's looking to escape from the USSR and return home to his adopted daughter Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) as soon as he can.

The bleak Soviet setting also helps underscore the Season 4 tagline of: "We're not in Hawkins anymore." Ironically, Harbour will be playing Soviet superhero Red Guardian (Alexei Shostakov) in Marvel Studios' Black Widow spinoff movie this May.

Take a look at the teaser (titled "From Russia with love …") below:

Last month, we reported on how Harbour was waiting to hear from the Duffer brothers (creators of Stranger Things) about his character's fate. In light of the teaser above, it's unclear whether the actor was playing us all for saps in order to maximize the impact of the reveal. If so, well played, David. Well played, indeed.

There's still no word on when Stranger Things 4 will debut on Netflix, though it'll likely hit this fall.

David Harbour Stranger Things 4

Thanks to a tweet from the show's writers' room, we know that the season premiere is titled "The Hellfire Club." In addition, the writers revealed that classic movies such as Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and The Fisher King served as influences on the upcoming batch of episodes.

The fourth installment in the hit supernatural/sci-fi series was confirmed back in September when the Duffers inked an overall deal with the streaming platform.