Netflix’s Stranger Things season four volume two is nearly here and we are *not* ready for the epic finale.
If you thought volume one was a lot, you’ve got another thing coming. Character deaths, lots of gore and intense “dread” are just some of the things we’ve been told to expect for the rest of the season. Here’s everything we know about Stranger Things season four volume two.
When will Stranger Things 4 volume 2 come out in Australia?
Volume two of season four will stream in Australia on Friday July 1, five weeks after the volume one began streaming on May 27.
Netflix dropped the release time on its Facebook page, and for Eastern Australian residents that time is 5PM. Petition to duck out of work half and hour early, amirite?
The episodes were spread across two volumes and two months because of the sheer size and scale of them.
Not only do the final two episodes of season four contain more special effects than the entire season three, they’re also super long.
“Nearly every episode is super-sized — literally!” Netflix tweeted.
“That means season four is 2x as long as season three!”
How many episodes are in volume 2?
Volume one of Stranger Things season four had seven episodes, but volume two will only have two.
Despite the limited episodes, the run time for volume two is still nearly four hours, with the finale being a huge 2.5 hours. That’s a whole feature length movie!
Is there a trailer for Stranger Things volume 2?
The brand spanking new official trailer for Stranger Things volume two dropped on Wednesday 22 June and it’s nearly two minutes long. Check it out below!
….I have chills. And I’m also weirdly teary. It’s just a lot!!
There is much to unpack here but let’s be relieved Nancy (Natalie Dyer) makes it out of the Upside Down alive. Last time we saw her she was in Vecna’s clutches.
Whether she actually survives the season is another thing though, considering Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) doesn’t kill on first contact anyway. He also says Eleven’s (Millie Bobby Brown) friends have “lost”. I am choosing not to process this.
I also Do Not Like how the group are yet to be reunited, at least from the glimpses we saw in the trailer. Do Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) not make it back to Hawkins in time? And why are they crying? Does someone die? Probably.
Netflix also released a teaser for Stranger Things season four volume two earlier this month which is equally horrifying.
Reaaalllllyyyyy not loving Vecna being “freed”.
Also, is that Joyce (Winona Ryder) wrapped in his tentacles in the Upside Down? WTF is happening!
What are the Easter eggs for Stranger Things 4?
Glad you asked! We found quite a few Easter eggs from this season, which you should read before we dive into volume two.
If we’re right, some of these could be the key to defeating Vecna. At the very least, they allude to the plot points we want addressed in the finale.
Check out Stranger Things season four’s Easter eggs here.
What will Stranger Things 4 volume 2 be about?
According to Joseph Quinn, who plays Eddie Munson, Stranger Things season four’s finale will finally answer our burning questions. And probably traumatise us, too.
“The scale and ambition are astonishing,” Quinn told The Guardian.
“All the seeds that have been planted bear fruit and it’s just carnage.”
when the stranger things cast said that this is the darkest season… they were not lying, i’m truly scared.#StrangerThings4 pic.twitter.com/DZkr6yaakx
— sam (@joycelhopper) June 21, 2022
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer also said the finale is going to be intense AF.
“There’s an hour-long chunk in the final episode that just doesn’t stop,” Ross told Empire Magazine.
“It’s the most complicated thing we’ve ever attempted to do. [It’s] all tension and dread, with a run-time that would be long even for a movie. Then – well, everything goes to hell…”
Carnage. Dread. Hell. Love that for us!
Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas Sinclair, also said there will be a “traitor” in season four. We don’t know if that was in volume one or two, but since Lucas ultimately chose his friends in volume one, I reckon this could be referencing something that happens in the finale.
Has Stranger Things season 5 been confirmed?
While there hasn’t been an announcement to confirm Stranger Things season five, the Duffer brothers said they pitched it to really positive responses.
“We do have an outline for Season 5 and we pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it,’ Matt told The Wrap.
“I mean, it was hard. It’s the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before and it was wild.
“And it’s not just to do with the story, just the fact that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, this thing that has defined so many of our lives, these Netflix people who has been with us from the beginning, seven years now’, and it’s hard to imagine the journey coming to an end,” he said.
If that crying is because Steve dies, the Duffer brothers will be hearing from me personally…
What are all the questions we need answered when Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 drops?
Every single episode of Stranger Things season four ended on a mini cliffhanger. This was excruciating when you realised it was midnight and you had to get up for work the next day.
The final episode “Chapter Seven: The Massacre At Hawkins Lab” ended with the revelation that this season’s big bad Vecna is actually One (Jamie Campbell Bower) — a fellow lab child just like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).
So that was one (1) question answered, but we have a metric fuck-tonne of other loose ends that need to be tied up when Netflix drops Stranger Things season four volume two. Here’s a refresher on all the things the show needs to address.
Why is Vecna killing a bunch of kids anyway?
Okay, so now we know who Vecna is. He’s not some random demon, but Victor Creel’s disturbed son Henry. He was a Hawkins lab kid dubbed “One” before Dr Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) put a chip in his neck to stop his powers, and made him work in the lab as an orderly instead.
We’re hoping Stranger Things season four volume two answers the question of why the fuck he’s decided to start targeting Hawkins teens who have traumatic pasts and breaking all their bones in extraordinarily graphic fashion.
He’s clearly been stewing ever since Eleven forced him into the Upside Down after he massacred everyone at the the lab, turning him into the tentacled creature he is today. Surely his ultimate endgame will be revealed in volume two.
Will Max and Nancy survive Vecna’s curse in Stranger Things 4 volume 2?
As we stand at the end of Stranger Things season four volume one, both Max (Sadie Sink) and Nancy have for whatever reason incurred the wrath of Vecna.
Max seems to have temporarily outsmarted him thanks to repeated listenings of Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” (thanks SO much for that earworm, Stranger Things!). But Nancy is right in his grip as we speak, learning about his backstory as Henry Creel.
As two of our very favourite gals, we’re on bloody tenterhooks wondering if they’re going to get their way out of his clutches. Not me screaming at the TV to “GET SOME HEADPHONES ON NANCY NOW”. Surely the kids will think of this to pull her out of the trance!
What was in the rest of Max’s letters?
When Max realised her days were quite possibly numbered thanks to Vecna’s curse — feeding off her guilt surrounding Billy’s (Dacre Montgomery) death in season three — she worked on a “failsafe”.
This involved staying up all night writing letters to the entire gang plus her family and her late stepbrother. She handed Steve (Joe Keery), Lucas and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) their letters and went to the cemetery to read Billy’s aloud to his headstone.
After this emotional letter reading, we were treated to one of the most stressful scenes in the Stranger Things season four (thanks, Kate Bush) when Max barely survived a run-in with — or should we say, run-away-from — Vecna.
Once I emotionally recovered from episode four, I was left wondering what was written in everyone’s else’s letters and why Max called it a “failsafe”. I’m hoping she survives obviously, but I’d still like to find out.
Meanwhile, is Steve okay?
Steve suffered some pretty horrific wounds courtesy of the Upside Down’s resident demobats. Even though Nancy (quite sexily) patched him up, I can’t help but wonder if our beloved Steve will be infected with some kind of freaky Upside Down poison.
I like the idea of Dustin somehow being the one to save him if this is the case — we all know their somewhat fraught friendship one of the funniest and most heartwarming parts of the show.
Will Steve and Nancy get back together in volume two?
Sorry Jonathan, but as much as we ship you and Nancy as a couple, Stranger Things season four is really pushing a Nancy and Steve reunion. Which we are also here for. It’s so confusing! Will Nancy end up with Jonathan (who seems kind of torn about the relationship himself) or Steve? She might even end up with no one, because she is a strong independent woman.
What’s with Will’s painting?
There’s been a lot of chat after the release of Stranger Things season four about Will’s sexuality and the nature of his feelings for Mike. We have even shared our own thoughts and feelings about it being entirely relatable normal teen stuff.
At the crux of it all is the mysterious painting that Will has been working on but won’t show anyone. The fact that he makes the effort to take it to the airport to pick up Mike hints that Will might be creating the artwork for his best friend. So what’s in the painting and what is its significance? Will it be a reference to Will’s sexuality or be completely unrelated? So many questions about one little bit of paper.
Will Mike ever say I love you to Eleven?
It seems Mike, on the other hand, is wrestling with his own feelings for Eleven. Even though they’re only in high school, we know emotions and hormones run deep and during this season, Eleven yelled at Mike for not saying “I love you”. It’s clearly contentious issue in their relationship (even as far back as the season three finale) so what is stopping him from saying it?
Wait, how did Brenner survive the Demogorgon and reappear in Stranger Things 4?
We all had this question from the moment he reappeared is Stranger Things season four with a gnarly scar on his face — how the hell did Dr Martin Brenner survive the Demogorgon all the way back in season one?
We know Demogorgons are vicious as fuck creatures, with most people dying if they’re unlucky enough to meet one. That scene in the Russian prison will give me nightmares for weeks. So to come out of a close encounter with just a scar seems… odd. Keen to see how the show explains this one!
Who will get to Eleven first?
One of the *many* stressful sub-plots in Stranger Things season four is the race to reach Eleven. Lt. Colonel Sullivan (Sherman Augustus) is certainly on the warpath. But Mike, Will, Jonathan and his new pal Argyle (Eduardo Franco) are hot on her tail thanks to a quick visit to Dustin’s hacker girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo).
It’s kind of crucial that Eleven is kept far away from Lt. Colonel Sullivan, because he basically wants her dead. Good guys, come through! We need her to save the day in Hawkins and seal up the gates to the Upside Down that keep popping up all over town.
Is a Vecna vs. Eleven showdown on the cards?
I mean, this is probably a given — our series hero going up against the big baddie. We’ve already seen Eleven and One fight it out in the Hawkins lab, but the sequel to this fight will see him in full fledged Vecna mode. Eleven is going to need to call on her backup for this battle, which will probably mean all of our old Stranger Things faves, plus newbies like Argyle and Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn).
Most importantly: is Antonov going to be a main character in the Stranger Things 4 Finale?
I have personally been in love with Tom Wlaschiha since he played the Many Faced Man Jaqen H’gar on Game of Thrones. To see him rocking an 80s moustache in Stranger Things season four has almost been too much for me.
It seems now he and Hopper (David Harbour) have met up with Murray (Brett Gelman) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) his storyline might be coming to an end. But given he’s now a Russian traitor it’s very possible he might tag along for the ride back to Hawkins, Indiana for Stranger Things season four volume two.
Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 is streaming from July 1 on Netflix.
