4 reasons Stranger Things 4 will be released in spring 2021

We share four reasons why Stranger Things 4 will likely be released on Netflix in the spring of 2021.

Stranger Things was officially renewed for season 4 at the end of September, and we just learned recently that Stranger Things 4 will start filming in January 2020.

TV Line was the first to report the news. The report also mentions production will wrap in August 2020.

With everything we know so far, it seems like all signs are pointing to a spring 2021 release date for Stranger Things 4. 

Below, we shared a few reasons Stranger Things 4 will likely be released in the spring of 2021.

It usually takes 6-8 months after production ends until the season is released

Production on Stranger Things 4 is scheduled to wrap in August 2020. With production ending that late in the year, there’s almost no chance the series will be ready by Christmas 2020, which was a time many fans were eyeing based on conversations between Mike and Eleven at the end of season 3.

It’s going to take a lot longer than that to edit and put this season together. For Stranger Things 3, it took about eight months to be released on Netflix after the season wrapped production. Filming ended in November 2018, and we didn’t see the new season until July 2019.

If production does wrap in August 2020, it will be March or April 2021 before we see Stranger Things 4, assuming the season follows a similar release pattern as the third season.

If the show takes less time in post-production, we could see the new season in February 2021, but that seems like a little early. With the amount of promotion that will do into this season, we should expect more time between production ending and the season’s release.

The show hasn’t done a spring season yet

In Stranger Things, we have seen Hawkins in three out of the four seasons. Although the first season premiered in the summer of 2016, the first season started just after Halloween and finished around the holidays.

In Stranger Things 2, which premiered on Oct. 27, 2017, the show, again, took place around Halloween and continued through the holidays with the Snow Ball.

In Stranger Things 3, which premiered on July 4, 2019, the season starts just before July 4 and ends somewhere in the fall after the three-month time jump. We don’t know the exact date, but it’s likely October when the season ends.

To recap, we’ve seen Hawkins in the fall, spring and winter. We have yet to see a spring season, and I think there’s a strong chance the Duffer Brothers decide to make season 4 a spring season.

The show hasn’t followed a production schedule like this

As you can see, Stranger Things has not taken place during the spring yet, and with that, the show hasn’t actually filmed during much of the spring either.

For Stranger Things 4, the series starts production in January 2020, and they will continue filming throughout the spring and summer through August. That’ll give them ample time to film scenes set in the spring if they choose to go that direction.

For Stranger Things 3, production lasted between April and November 2018. For season 2, the show started in the fall of 2016 and wrapped in April 2017. The first season followed a similar timeline to season 2. Stranger Things 4’s production timeline is different from what we’ve seen so far, so it’s fair to assume the show will be set during a different season.

Based on the start of production and its continuation throughout the spring, it’s definitely possible that we’ll see Hawkins and other parts of the world in the spring.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS 4 BELOW! 

You can stop reading here if you don’t want to speculate about what could happen in the new season.

Chernobyl

For those who don’t know, the Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident and explosion at a Russian (USSR) facility, known as Chernobyl, near Pripyat.

Before the release of Stranger Things 3, theories about Chernobyl being involved were floating around online. The Chernobyl disaster happened on April 26, 1986, and frankly, the timeline makes sense to match it up with the events of the series.

When Stranger Things 3 ends, it’s the fall of 1985 in the show. Assuming there’s a time jump for Stranger Things 4, like there has been for each season so far, the show will be taking place in 1986. And, there’s a good chance, of course, that it could be taking place in the spring of that year.

There were just Russians all over Hawkins in Stranger Things 3, and they might be holding our guy, Hopper, captive in Russia. We know that Eleven has powers that can find people across large distances. We don’t know the extent of her powers, but there are a lot of fans who think we might get to take a trip to Russia in season 4. Doesn’t that sound nice? Only if we tread lightly.

Maybe Chernobyl will have nothing to do with this series, and it’s all just a coincidence in the timeline. Maybe, it’s not. We’ll find out in the new season!