How the Stranger Things Season 4 Finale Sets Up the End of the Series-3

Joyce and Hopper have been reunited and finally kissed, so hopefully, the season will have a chance to let them just be happy, even if it’s only for a little bit. Lucas reconciled his relationship with Max, but her injuries have put their future in serious doubt. Robin appears to have hit it off with her bandmate/crush Vickie (Amybeth Mcnulty), and there’s hope that Vickie might be into her, too, despite the risks of being a lesbian in 1980s Indiana.

The last two episodes continued to build toward a coming-out plotline for Will. First, there was the moment where Will gets unexpectedly emotional after telling his longtime friend Mike that he’s the heart of their group and that Eleven needs him. (Does Will have feelings for Mike that he knows can never be, or is there something else going on?) Then, in the finale, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) senses that Will has something he needs to get off his chest, and commits to being a better big brother who will always be there to listen.

Jonathan is involved in the other big bit of relationship drama season 4 sets up for season 5. Jonathan spent months between season 3 and 4 in his new California home, away from his girlfriend Nancy in Hawkins. Though the two had plans to attend Emerson College in Massachusetts together, Jonathan’s not sure he wants to put his family in debt to go, nor does he want Nancy to give up on her dreams and follow him to a community college instead. It’s a valid concern, but rather than communicate any of this to Nancy, Jonathan just lies to her and gets high instead. Meanwhile, Nancy and Steve—who she was dating back in season 1—have some seriously renewed chemistry, and they get very close to one another while battling Vecna. Steve is clearly into Nancy, but he isn’t about to directly get between her and Jonathan. Neither Nancy nor Jonathan seem super secure with their relationship. Season 5 seems like it’s going to have a good ol’ fashioned love triangle.

Some Stranger Things characters are probably going to die

Finally, the season 4 finale doesn’t directly mark any characters for death in the fifth and final season—save perhaps for Doctor Owens, who might already be dead, and Max, who is in a state of limbo. That said, it certainly feels like there’s going to be a body count in the final season. The show has killed off major characters before, like Brenner and Eddie (Joseph Quinn) this season, but all of the core protagonists from the first season are still around. If the Upside Down is stronger and more dangerous than ever going into season 5, it seems likely that not all of our heroes will make it.

Cast

Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers

David Harbour as Jim Hopper

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper

Martie Blair as Young Eleven

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler

Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield

Belle Henry as Young Max

Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler

Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers

Joe Keery as Steve Harrington

Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley

Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman

Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair

Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner

Paul Reiser as Sam Owens

Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel / One / Vecna

Raphael Luce as Young Henry Creel

Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler

Eduardo Franco as Argyle

Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson

Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler

Mason Dye as Jason Carver

Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri "Enzo" Antonov[citation needed]

Nikola Đuričko as Yuri Ismaylov

Rob Morgan as Sheriff Powell

John Reynolds as Officer Callahan

Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan

Myles Truitt as Patrick McKinney

Gabriella Pizzolo as Suzie

Tinsley and Anniston Price as Holly Wheeler

Clayton Royal Johnson as Andy

Tristan Spohn as Two

Christian Ganiere as Ten

Regina Ting Chen as Ms. Kelly

Elodie Grace Orkin as Angela

Logan Allen as Jake

Hunter Romanillos as Chance

Pasha D. Lychnikoff as Oleg

Vaidotas Martinaitis as Warden Melnikov

Nikolai Nikolaeff as Ivan

Paris Benjamin as Agent Ellen Stinson

Catherine Curtin as Claudia Henderson

Karen Ceesay as Sue Sinclair

Arnell Powell as Charles Sinclair

Ira Amyx as Harmon

Kendrick Cross as Wallace

Hendrix Yancey as Thirteen

Grace Van Dien as Chrissy Cunningham

Amybeth McNulty as Vickie

Logan Riley Bruner as Fred Benson

Joel Stoffer as Wayne Munson

Dacre Montgomery as Billy Hargrove

Robert Englund as Victor Creel

Kevin L. Johnson as Young Victor Creel

Tyner Rushing as Virginia Creel

Livi Burch as Alice Creel

Ed Amatrudo as Director Hatch

Audrey Holcomb as Eden