One summer can change everything…

Mae Brando
5 min readMay 3, 2019

It’s almost summer and that means Stranger Things season 3 will be coming out this fourth of July. Here are my thoughts and theories about the nostalgic 80’s hit series(spoilers ahead if you’re not caught up.)

It’s 1985! The trailer released two months ago opens with the homecoming ballad of Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue. We see Dustin has returned from camp. Eleven uses her telepathic powers to manipulate his toys and they surprise him. There is no dialogue shared between the gang in the trailer except when Mike ambiguously says “We’re not kids anymore,” along with a few other indirect VO’S.

Dustin says “At least someone’s happy I’m home,” to his pet turtle (that everyone was concerned about earlier at the end of the season.) In an interview Gaten said Dustin was “the glue” that held them all together and from the trailer you can tell he’s been feeling isolated from the rest. Its implied that he’s been a loner.

We get a great tracking shot of all the gang grown up: Max, Lucas, Will, Mike, and Eleven. Lucas gets a bigger surprise than he asked for by getting sprayed in the face. Then they’re seen in an open field putting up a kind of communicating antenna that is also shown during night on the fourth. One of the episodes is called “Suzie Do you Copy?” This could be the purpose of that. And on the poster Dustin is wearing a headset. Baba O’Riley by The Who starts to play. Then a shot of Hawkins Post, its assumed Nancy and Jonathan are together now and working as reporters since the last season when they settled the case of Barb. They have excellent chemistry and its most likely we’ll see more of them this season.

This antenna could actually be problematic.

Billy is a lifeguard now and that really fits him. He might as well go missing since episode three is called “The Missing Lifeguard”. This brings up more of a purposeful developed antagonist.

Hopper is shown by himself at dinner smoking the unfiltered cigarette that Joyce hates. She’s still shaken by everything that happened but the way it’s edited Hopper looks up and puts his napkin down so I believe she does go to meet him for dinner. Their romance was hinted at in the first two seasons since they were together in high school. Also they have shared trauma so I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

Mike turns around to look at Will’s house and I actually think the house looks pretty empty and you don’t see a car there. There’s no reason Will wouldn’t want to to with them so I have reason to believe Joyce finally decided to make the move to move out of Hawkins with her boys. We get to see Eleven and Max bonding by just doing normal girl things. This is the most exciting prospect of the new season. Eleven has been around boys for too long. This bedroom is seen in another shot so its most likely Elevens room but I also think there’s a chance Eleven may have gone to California with Max.

Millie was seen in California shooting these scenes on a beach so is she really there or in the upside down of her mind? It suggests the mindflayer may be in the sky, as we’ve seen this shot before.

On the hillside (most likely fourth of July) Dustin longingly looks on as Max and Lucas run down together. This also shows more of how he’s feeling. Will is seen holding a group photo of the boys and it looks like his shed so I think we’re going to get a scene of him going through it recollecting their moments together. This could also be why he’s cleaning it out in preparation for the move. You can also see boxes in the background. Either way, Will is wet throughout the trailer?

Then there’s Dustin and Steve’s grown bond which is just so pure. He works at the brand new Starcourt Mall. I have reason to believe the mall was built near or on top of the tunnels that were underground in the upside down previously and that the rats infest the mall and whoever they bite they get a disease turning them zombie like. This will all go down on the fourth of July night. Maya Hawke is a newcomer and she’ll be Steve’s love interest.

There’s a carnival sequence and it seems Mayor Kline is going to also be a threat to Hawkins this season. There are also protesters so not a lot like him. Hopper says “I want you to feel safe like this can still be your home.” This is edited to look like he’s talking to Joyce but really I think it’s too his newly adopted daughter Jane Hopper (Eleven). This also brings up the question if she’s going to go by Jane or still Eleven? There is so much growth just from the trailer.

Eleven is shown on the beach and I think during this she will encounter possibly the mindflayer. I also think this season Will is going to stand up to him. This looks like it could be wear coast-possibly going with the idea that she went to California with Max for some reason. Eleven is having troubles in her mirrored meditative dimension.

And then There’s Billy’s arm. Episode 7 is titled The Bite so there’s reason to believe he gets infected from either the rats or another way. Also I think he’s the monster in the final shot. We see a lot of action at the Starcourt Mall appropriately so because the final episode is called The Battle of Starcourt. There’s a lot of clues just from the episode titles. We get a final flashy montage that shows everyone in peril and the new monster taking shape in a hospital.

I think Hawkins will continually be in danger and I don’t know what much more you can do with the same town. In season 3 I’m looking forward to Max and Eleven’s relationship, #JOPPER, the villains, the 1985 culture, the music, seeing everyone back together, and everything just looks more mature, more nostalgic and cinematic. I don’t expect Will to be a victim like he was in the first two seasons and I can’t wait to see how everything plays out.

This is all I need.

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Mae Brando

Essentialist. Double majoring in Film & Media Arts and English, minoring in Gender Studies. Host of Aspect Radio Podcast! Writing about film.