After an extended break–that for us personally, was far too long–Stranger Things is returning on July 4, 2019 with a season that throws the kids of Hawkins, Indiana into the summer of 1985, which as the teasers have hinted “will change everything.”
To prepare for the newest entry of the beloved Netflix show we’ve collected all of our most vital, exciting, easter egg-filled, and important coverage so you can get reacquainted with the world of Stranger Things before jumping into the top secret mystery of season three next month.
First, the final season three trailer:
Season One
Though you’re probably very familiar with the first groundbreaking season of Stranger Things here are a couple of rad recaps to help you remember
A gorgeous animated recap of the season that started it all.
In case that’s not enough, we’ve also got this brilliant bit where Millie Bobby-Brown raps the first season.
Season Two
We took a unique approach to recapping season two with each episode centering around a certain angle, character beat, or moment. We’ve collected them all together below along with some post-mortem pieces that might give you some much-needed insight into where we left the characters at the end of last season.
Our season two premiere recap focused on the strangely somber return of the nostalgia-heavy show.
For episode two we pondered what it means to be normal in Hawkins, Indiana.
As we moved into the third episode the question on our minds was “What do you do if your bully is an interdimensional monster?”
Stranger Things is full of monsters but in this recap, we explored what it truly means to be monstrous in Hawkins, Indiana. (NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT OVER)
The fifth episode of the second season made us wonder just who we could trust.
In a season steeped in sci-fi homages, there was a lot of love for Ridley Scott’s classic space-horror chiller Alien.
In a vital but controversial episode, we got to learn all about Eleven and her origin.
(NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT OVER)
Season two packed in the classic references and this entry focuses on all the radical Jurassic Park riffs.
(NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT OVER)
After the finale here’s a roundup of where we left all of the characters at the end of the sophomore offering.
Season two introduced a really interesting new subset of characters who opened up some X-Men tinged potential for the future.
It’s always fun to try and decipher all of the clues and homages in Stranger Things and here we uncover what the horror tropes utilized in this season can tell us about where we’re headed next.
Season Three
Heading into the newest entry of Stranger Things we’ve been keeping an eye on all the theories, reveals, tie-ins, and potential secrets that have already been teased.
If you’re looking for clues about where season three could be headed we looked back at some of the movies that were released in the year that the upcoming entry is set to see if we could decipher any hints.
One of the best ways to work out what might be going on this season is to check out our breakdown of the first full trailer for Stranger Things S3.
We explored very intriguing theory about Eleven and the maniacal mind flayer that might play a big part in season three.
In case you didn’t already know Netflix has been building up the mystery of Stranger Things with the release of a behind the scenes book which introduced a new enigma in the shape of some morse code messaging.
Keep your eyes peeled as we’ll be updating this piece with all our season three thoughts when the show hits.
You can watch season one and two of Stranger Things on Netflix now and season three joins the streamer on July 4th!
Images: Netflix