- "Stranger Things" just released the trailer for the third season of the hit Netflix show.
- It gives us a glimpse of where some of TV's favorite characters, now entering their teenage years, are heading next, including Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb Sinclair), Dustin (Gaten Matrazzo), and Will (Noah Schnapp).
- The trailer has clues about when the season takes place, new characters, and important locations, like the Starcourt Mall.
Following is a transcript of the video.
Narrator: The kids from "Stranger Things" may be going through some changes. Eleven and the gang are now teenagers, but Hawkins seems to be stuck in the midst of a never-ending monster infestation.
Netflix released the first full-length trailer for the third season of "Stranger Things." Here's everything you might've missed.
The third season will take place in 1985, six months after the events in season 2. We know this because Dustin is back from some kind of science camp.
Dustin: At least someone's happy I'm home.
Narrator: called Camp Know Where, and he's wearing a hat that says '85 on the computer screen. The song that plays in the beginning is also from 1985, Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home."
♪ Long and winding road ♪
In addition to the original cast, we have some fresh faces that we get a glimpse of for the first time. Cary Elwes from "The Princess Bride" plays Hawkins' mayor, whom the residents don't seem to be happy with and whose campaign sign is strikingly similar to Donald Trump's.
Maya Hawke, daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, plays a character named Robin. Maya will also appear in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
And Jake Busey, Gary Busey's son, will play someone named Bruce.
Dustin comes home to see his Tommy Atomic robot emerge from the shadows. It's followed by R2-D2, two tanks, a train, and Ultra Magnus, who's a Transformer. The toys move completely on their own, but it turns out to just be a surprise party with Eleven using her powers.
Dustin attacks Lucas using the Farrah Fawcett hairspray that Steve gave him in season 2.
Lucas has a little sister named Erica who's shown in multiple shots, so she may play a bigger role in season 3.
The kids are all clearly going through some growing pains. A remix of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" is playing through much of the trailer, likely to support the characters becoming part of this "teenage wasteland."
♪ It's only teenage wasteland ♪
Everyone seems to have a new summer job. Nancy and Jonathan appear to be applying to or working for the local newspaper, or they're just trying to alert the press of something going on in Hawkins. Billy is a lifeguard at the Hawkins pool. One of the episodes is titled "The Case of the Missing Lifeguard." This could be a reference to the lifeguard that passes Billy at the pool who's later seen in peril.
Steve is working alongside Robin at an ice cream shop called Scoops Ahoy.
Much of the season looks like it will take place at the local Starcourt Mall, which we saw in an earlier teaser for the show, and the finale is actually called "The Battle of Starcourt," so something big is expected to happen here.
Part of the season will probably revolve around a carnival called the Fun Fair. We get a shot of a man with a gun walking through a hall of mirrors, showing that things will turn sinister. At one point, you can see Hopper standing in front of a Gravitron, a classic 1980s carnival ride.
Eleven is back in the Upside Down. She's also wearing a blue hair tie on her wrist. This used to belong to Sheriff Hopper's daughter before she died, which we learned in season 2. So he must have passed it on to her at some point.
There's also a very brief glimpse of Eleven standing blindfolded in front of a grocery store freezer full of Eggo waffles. In every season, there's at least one shot of Eleven going straight for the waffles.
In one shot, Eleven is wearing a yellow shirt by the blue sea. A previous teaser included the mysterious phrase "When blue and yellow meet in the west." This could be the moment referenced, but it could be when the blue and yellow hands on the clock meet at the Starcourt Mall as shown in another teaser.
We also get a first glimpse of this season's monster. So far each season of the show has tried to top itself in terms of its monsters. In one brief shot, we see the creature transform right in front of Jonathan. It starts off as a slimy ball. A few shots later, we see the creature in full. It's much different from the Demogorgon from season 1 and the Demodogs from season 2. This one has a very spiderlike appearance. All the other monsters from the show have drawn inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons.
Mike: The Demogorgon!
Narrator: It's unclear which monster this is inspired by, but there are several possibilities.
In one shot, we see a bunch of rats scurrying into a warehouse. Rats are typically associated with disease and the plague. Is there some sort of infection spreading around town? It looks like Billy may have caught whatever it is here.
We won't know anything for sure until season 3 comes out on July Fourth.
Did you notice anything we didn't? Let us know in the comments.