Honestly, How Much More Can The 'Stranger Things' Kids Take?

Stranger Things Season 3 dropped July 4 and it doesn't take diehard fans long to marathon eight episodes. So I know you're wondering about what's up for next season and I have some bittersweet news: Stranger Things Season 4 might be the end of The Upside Down.

It's way too early to have official news about the future of the series. So, there isn't official word from Netflix or anywhere else about when the show will end. I'm pretty confident that Stranger Things will get a Season 4 because it's one of the most popular shows on Netflix, but the Duffer brothers, who created the show, told Vulture way back in 2017 that they were already planning for Season 4 to be the show's final season. “We’re thinking it will be a four-season thing and then out,” Ross Duffer said at the time.

The brothers had convincing logic for their preference to end the show so soon. "We just have to keep adjusting the story," Matt Duffer said. “Though I don’t know if we can justify something bad happening to them once a year.” Showrunners admitting that their show probably can't last forever is such refreshing honesty and so rare.

I'd give Stranger Things a bit more leeway on the type of "bad things" that can happen to the kids because it's a sci-fi show, not a serious drama based on real life. But Ross made a convincing argument for a short and sweet series. “They’re going to have to get the f*ck out of this town! It’s ridiculous!” Ross told Vulture. I love writers who can joke about their work.

As for Season 3, it's definitely more mature. "All the elements we know from prior seasons are back and there's more of them," Gaten Matarazzo told the Associated Press at the Stranger Things premiere in Santa Monica, California on July 1. "So like, there's more romance. Actually romance plays a big role in the season this year and it's scarier, it's gorier, which is cool. There's a lot more body horror."

The Duffer brothers planned for the show to grow at a similar pace to its actors. The stars of the show have known that from the start and credit it for some of the show's success. "I remember [writers] talking to me in the first season being like, 'If we keep going we want it to be kind of like a Harry Potter effect and see you guys growing up and coming back every year and seeing where everyone is,'" Finn Wolfhard said to the Associated Press about his first meetings with the Duffers. "That's what gives the story a natural storyline that people resonate with."

Wolfhard hasn't gotten word about Season 4 yet. He's waiting along with fans — but he seems confident it's coming. "We all are clamoring to do another season, we're just waiting for that email," he said at the Season 3 premiere. "I think we'll be back, hopefully."

The immediate future of The Upside Down is technically uncertain, but seems bright. For now just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sometimes horrific, sometimes romantic exploits that Season 3's '80s summer in Indiana is offering.