4 predictions for the Stranger Things 4 release date

When is the Stranger Things 4 release date? We made a few guesses about the release date for the upcoming season of the Netflix original series.

Stranger Things 4 is now filming in the United States! Netflix recently announced the news with the table read teaser trailer.

Now that production has started, it’s only a matter of time before we find out a lot more information about the show, including the release date, which is what all fans are trying to find out!

Since Stranger Things has not shared any information about the release date yet and we still don’t even know what year it will be released, we made a few *good* guesses about when Stranger Things 4 will be released.

Let’s get to it!

December 19, 2020

If we see Stranger Things 4 in December 2020, this is the Christmas release everybody has been hoping to see for a long time. Netflix always releases a big show or movie for Christmas. In 2019, Netflix released The Witcher this same weekend.

Since Stranger Things 3 ended, we’ve heard so many rumors and so much speculation about Stranger Things 4 being a Christmas season. We heard it considered by a few characters in the season finale. Stranger Things has been released around holidays for the last two seasons. It makes a lot of sense that the new season would arrive at Christmastime.

And, honestly, I’m hoping for it! I want to see the new season as soon as possible!

There are a few things that might get in the way of that happening, though. First of all, Stranger Things 3 likely ended around October. That’s when the Byers and Eleven left Hawkins after the time jump. Is that enough time between seasons? Generally, we see a bigger jump than that between seasons of Stranger Things.

In the show’s timeline, we see Stranger Things 2 happen about 10 months after season 1. In Stranger Things 3, we pick up about seven months after season 2. I’m assuming we’ll likely see a bigger time jump than a month or two when Stranger Things 4 comes back.

Along with that, we also have to consider the production timeline. Stranger Things 4 is filming now, and has been since the start of the year or close to it, but according to TV Line, production is supposed to last through August. Will they be able to finish post-production in such a short window to make a December release date possible?

I mean, anything is possible, but I’m skeptical they can get it done and then promote it. I just don’t see Netflix rushing to get Stranger Things 4 finished and released in a relatively short amount of time.

Because of that, Christmas is the least likely of these three release date guesses.

February 12, 2021

Stranger Things likes to release new seasons around holidays. We know this. The second season was the Halloween season, and it premiered on Oct. 27, 2018. Last season, we saw Fourth of July weekend in Hawkins, and the season was released on July 4.

Next year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday, and Netflix, primarily, does not release big shows and movies on Sundays. Thursdays and Fridays are far more common, so that’s why the release date would be Friday, Feb. 12, 2021.

The timeline sets up nicely for a Valentine’s Day release. We left off with these characters around October, and then we could catch up with them a few months later. Just enough time has passed for things to happen.

I don’t see Valentine’s Day tying into the show directly, but there are a few young relationships ongoing, so there’s that angle. Hopper and Joyce clearly love each other, too, so there’s that angle, as well.

What’s really interesting is that the first teaser trailer for Stranger Things 4 was released on (guess when?) Valentine’s Day. We learned Hopper was still alive, and that obviously warmed our hearts, but that wasn’t exactly related to Valentine’s Day.

If I had to guess, I’d say there’s something more going on here, and that’s why Valentine’s Day 2021 (Feb. 12, 2021) is now the most likely release date for Stranger Things 4. 

March 19, 2021

Spring break!

If we don’t see Stranger Things 4 on Netflix for Christmas 2020, I think we’re going to have to wait a few months. TV is weird in January and February. There’s so much going on with sports, shows returning and all that, and it’s kind of a down time after the holidays. I think Stranger Things could skip a January or February release date and move to March.

Then, we can get something going for spring break!

We know the Byers left Hawkins, and that limits the time that they can come back to Hawkins to visit. It also limits the time Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Max can come visit them. Spring break is another story, though. That’d be the perfect time for these characters to go visit each other.

They’d be out of school and ready to do some damage, get into trouble, save Hopper and hopefully survive.

Spring break generally lasts through March and into April, so there’s a chance we could get the new season any day during that few weeks.

April 23, 2021

I like this release date for a few reasons, but mostly because it plays into the common theory that somehow Stranger Things relates to Chernobyl. The Chernobyl disaster happened in April 1986.

I don’t know how accurate this is, but the timeline sort of lines up. We last checked in with these characters in the fall of 1985, so we’re only a few months from the failures at the nuclear reactors in the upcoming spring.

On top of that, we are seeing the series move to Russia for the first time. We know Hopper is alive in a Russian prison, but that’s a long way from Chernobyl.

I don’t think this is the direction Stranger Things is going, but if it does, there’s a chance we could see Stranger Things 4 in late April 2021.

That’s the best we can do for predicting the Stranger Things 4 release date right now! Of course, we should learn more information in the coming weeks and months with the series starting production in March 2020.