The 'Stranger Things' Creators Promise They're Not Done With Hawkins Just Yet

The kids of Stranger Things are growing up. And while that might mean less time playing Dungeons & Dragons and more time spent with girlfriends, that doesn't mean their adventures are over. Netflix hasn't officially renewed its sensational series, but there's a very good reason to believe that Stranger Things will return for a Season 4. No, this isn't some Murray Bauman-approved conspiracy theory or just an assumption based on how popular Stranger Things is. Producer and director Shawn Levy has discussed the future of the Duffer Brothers show and has made it sound like Stranger Things 4 is a done deal.

Levy mostly stays behind-the-scenes on Stranger Things (with the exception of a cameo in his Season 1 episode, "The Body"). But viewers of Beyond Stranger Things should be familiar with him since he was a frequent guest on the Season 2 companion aftershow. For the third season out on July 4, Levy directs "The Case of the Missing Lifeguard" and "The Sauna Test." And before Stranger Things 3 began filming, he told Collider that fans should expect at least a fourth installment if not more.

“I mean I will say we have a good sense of stuff that happens in Season 4. Season 4 is definitely happening," Levy told Collider back in April 2018. "There's very much the possibility of a season beyond that one, that's currently undecided."

This response echoes what Levy — and the Duffer Brothers — told Entertainment Weekly in September 2017 ahead of Stranger Things 2 dropping. The Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross, had previously told Vulture that they were thinking their love letter to the '80s would only last four seasons. "We're thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out," Ross told Vulture. But Levy gave an update to EW about how that Vulture interview led to discussions of extending the show to a possible five seasons.

"Hearts were heard breaking in Netflix headquarters when the Brothers made four seasons sound like an official end, and I was suddenly getting phone calls from our actors' agents," Levy told EW. "The truth is we're definitely going four seasons and there's very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely."

So while Collider's April Fool's joke that Stranger Things would end with a fourth season followed by a movie was a prank, a fourth chapter and maybe a fifth one are in the cards. As for when Stranger Things 4 could drop, well, Netflix needs to give the official greenlight first. And even if a Season 4 feels unofficially official, it took Netflix more than a month after Stranger Things 2 premiered to announce a third season. So that means you'll have to be a bit patient following the Fourth of July-set season.

When it comes to what will happen in a Season 4, the Duffer Brothers seemed to tease that Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Hopper, and Joyce's worlds could extend beyond the Upside Down and Hawkins.

When discussing how many seasons the show will have in that September 2017 EW interview, Ross said, "If we're able to, there will be at least four, there could be more. I think there's going to come a point where why aren't these people leaving Hawkins? Like we're going to stretch credibility. It wasn't intended to be a seven-season thing."

Perhaps Ross was saying that they'll want to end the show before people start wondering why all this supernatural stuff only happens in Hawkins. But maybe it's a sign that there's a whole lot more world for the gang to see ... and maybe even a whole lot more evil creatures in that world. And fans can be grateful that they'll very likely get to go along for the ride — wherever the characters end up — at least one more time after Stranger Things 3.