Take a deep breath: That Stranger Things episode 7 ending wasn’t, y’know, The End. We promise. Snatching a page from the Ozark playbook, Netflix’s deliriously anticipated thriller Stranger Things is stretching its fourth season into two parts—sorry, volumes—which means fans will have to wait a teensy bit longer for the final, actual, we-mean-it-this-time ending.
Stranger Things season four was bigger and darker than ever before, with that epic volume one finale twist raising fan expectations (and concerns) to new heights.
Inspired by the Night King from Game of Thrones, Vecna is the show’s most menacing antagonist yet, exacting his villainy by stalking traumatized teens with nightmares before slaughtering them in a truly horrifying manner.
The revelation of Vecna as test subject 001 aka Henry Creel in the volume one finale sets up volume two for an action-packed battle between the Hawkins misfits and the tentacled creature, but it also has fans worried about the fate of some of their favourite characters.
Unlike the first three seasons, Netflix opted to split the latest run of Stranger Things into two volumes. The first one debuted on May 27, bringing back Eleven, Mike, and the rest of the inhabitants of the fictional town called Hawkins, Indiana. Without spoiling too much for those who haven’t watched Season 4 Volume 1 yet, let’s just say that the second part will feature an interesting clash between Eleven and a very dangerous monster.
Perhaps even more confusingly, the seasonal split is lopsided. Volume 1, out as of May 27, features seven episodes, but volume 2 will feature only two. But each of those two episodes will be, as one Jason Bateman once put it, “super-sized”—more like feature films than traditional television. (We can all stick around after the credits roll and argue if “television that’s more like the film” is really a good idea.) As Netflix attempts to squeeze some juice out of its cash cow, here’s what we know about the next chapter.
When does season 4 volume 2 come out?
Okay, so don’t shoot the messenger, but it’s gonna be a painful wait. The final two episodes are expected to drop at 12 a.m. PST on July 1, just in time for a Fourth of July weekend binge. Bad news: Those five weeks between May 27 and July 1 are going to pass slowly. Good news: More time for theorizing!
After all, it’s not as if the Duffer brothers have been prepared to ease that worry. In fact, they’ve only increased it by warning us that we have every reason to be concerned.
“I don’t really want to say, but I would be concerned about the characters going into volume two, for sure,” Ross Duffer explained.
“I hope that that is sort of the sense, because it is a darker season and the kids are no longer kids. And there’s sort of an ominous feeling that things might not go well. Now, whether they do [die] or not, you’ll have to watch.”
With that unfortunately being said, here are the characters we think are most likely to die in volume two, and those who could possibly be on the chopping block.
When to Watch Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2
Netflix will release Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT on Friday, July 1. Volume 2 consists of two episodes called “Chapter Eight: Papa” and “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback,” respectively. Matt and Ross Duffer wrote and directed the episodes. Volume 2 will likely answer some pending questions and set the tone for the show’s upcoming fifth season. Stranger Things premiered in 2016 and will conclude its run with Season 5. However, the producers are already teasing some potential spin-off series. Season 4 set the record for Netflix’s biggest-ever premiere weekend for an English-language series. According to the streaming platform, viewers spent 287 million hours during the week of May 23-30 watching Stranger Things.
The series currently stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, and Gaten Matarazzo. Additionally, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Charlie Heaton, Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, as well as Cara Buono, and Brett Gelman.
Season 4 also introduced a number of new actors including Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund, Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, Sherman Augustus, Mason Dye, Nikola Djuricko, Tom Wlaschiha, Myles Truitt, Regina Ting Chen, Grace Van Dien, and Amybeth McNulty.
How long will volume 2 be? How many episodes?
Prepare for an, er, extended binge. Volume 2 might consist of only two episodes, but they’re each feature-length: Episode 8 clocks in at 1 hour and 25 minutes, while the grand finale runs 2 hours and 30 minutes. So, not as long as The Batman, but still really long!
Wait, so how does this work again?
Let’s break it down simply. The following episodes premiered at the same time on May 27:
Episode 1: “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (runs 1 hour and 16 minutes)
Episode 2: “Chapter Two: Vecna’s Curse” (runs 1 hour and 15 minutes)
Episode 3: “Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero” (runs 1 hour and 3 minutes)
Episode 4: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy” (runs 1 hour and 17 minutes)
Episode 5: “Chapter Five: The Nina Project” (runs 1 hour and 14 minutes)
Episode 6: “Chapter Six: The Dive” (runs 1 hour and 13 minutes)
Episode 7: “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” (runs 1 hour and 39 minutes)
And then the remaining episodes premieres at the same time on July 1:
Episode 8: “Chapter Eight: Papa” (runs 1 hour and 25 minutes)
Episode 9: “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback” (runs 2 hours and 30 minutes)
Why do this to us??
Apparently, the Duffer brothers—the masterminds behind Stranger Things—felt it was warranted. “Episode 7 is as big as any season finale we’ve ever had, so it made sense to everyone involved to split the season there,” they told Variety in a joint email interview. “Episode 7 really serves as the end of the second act—and we feel that our final act had enough meat on the bone to make up Volume 2.”
As for why a split was warranted in the first place: “As we began turning over episodes, everyone began to feel the season was too big to be released in one batch—at nearly 13 hours, it is really more two seasons than one. We discussed various release options with Ted [Sarandos, Netflix’s CEO], and early on the proposed the two-volume split, which would allow us to break up the season while also staying true to Netflix’s binge model.”
Is there a trailer yet?
Netflix released a sneak peek on June 9, flashing scenes of what’s to come in volume 2. Over the montage is a voiceover of Vecna taunting Eleven: “It is over, Eleven, you have freed me,” he says. “You can’t stop this now.” We’re thinking a big showdown is due in the upcoming episodes.
This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, on their website.
Netflix then released a bunch of first-look photos on June 14, teasing the final two episodes. Scenes include the kids scheming in Hawkins, Eleven with Dr. Brenner, and Hopper, Joyce, Murray, and Dmitri teaming up for what looks like a standoff. Scroll through the stills below.
The official, two-minute-long trailer arrived on June 21 (of course soundtracked by Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (Deal with God).” The footage teases Eleven leaving the lab to join her friends in Hawkins even though Dr. Brenner thinks she’s “not ready,” the kids gearing up for an epic battle, Nancy’s apparent survival from the last episode’s cliffhanger (hopefully??), Eddie possibly saving his friends with a gnarly guitar solo, explosions at Dr. Brenner’s lab in the middle of the desert, and more Vecna. It also looks like Eleven returns to the Upside Down to face the villain, as the final shot shows her in a red-tinted version of the Creel house in Vecna’s mind lair—with the rose door behind her.
Will season 5 be split up as well?
Unclear. Per TVLine, Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for the United States and Canada, told industry members that season 5 will be released as a binge-watch just like its Netflix compatriots—meaning most, if not all, of the episodes, will drop at once—but it’s possible the final season could be “batched” like season 4.
“When you see something like a batched season with Stranger Things, this is our attempt at making sure we can get shows out quicker to the members,” Friedlander said.
Lauren Puckett-Pope Associate Editor Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers news and culture.
