'Stranger Things' confirms 2022 return to Netflix with all-new Season 4 teaser footage

Season 4 of Stranger Things is closer than it's ever been, people! Netflix confirmed Friday that the hit series will make its long-awaited return in 2022. Sadly, the streaming giant did not disclose a specific premiere date, but that's okay because the company did release some all-new teaser footage of the upcoming episodes with a single ominous tagline: "See you in the Upside Down."

Among the never-before-seen snippets, you can see Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) being detained by what looks like shady government agents, Hopper (David Harbour) entering a room with an active flamethrower (à la Kurt Russell in The Thing), a high school cheerleading squad, and a group of core characters (Steve, Dustin, Nancy, Max, Lucas, and Robin) exploring a creepy old house. Even with these small flashes, you can tell that our young heroes are maturing along with the overall scope.

"You kind of know we've got some action in Hawkins, we’ve got some action apparently in Russia, and we have an entire storyline set elsewhere that will soon come to light," executive producer Shawn Levy teased in a recent interview with Collider. "So this is the first season where we have this sprawling geography, multiple location shoots, and we're doing it all against a backdrop of a world that has made filming slower longer in delay. So that's why it's taking so long."

Check it out below (the fresh footage comes around the 20-second mark)

"Trust me: worth the wait," Levy wrote on his Instagram story.

"Season 4 won't be the end," co-creator Ross Duffer said last summer. "We know what the end is, and we know when it is. [The pandemic] has given us time to look ahead, figure out what is best for the show. Starting to fill that out gave us a better idea of how long we need to tell that story."