“Stranger Things 2” will pick up a year after the events of the first season. Will (Noah Schnapp) has rejoined his friends, but as evidenced in the closing moments of Season 1, all may not be well. He’s seeing images from the Upside Down and the question is whether these visions are real or the product of understandable post-traumatic stress. Further complicating things for the adolescent heroes of “Stranger Things” is the arrival of the brother-sister duo and new series regulars Max (Sadie Sink) and Billy (Dacre Montgomery). Max quickly acclimates to the boys as a potential love interest for Lucas and Dustin (Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo), but Billy, on the other hand, may well prove a more sinister addition in the mold of classic teenaged Stephen King villains like Henry Bowers and Ace Merrill.
Hopper (David Harbour), meanwhile, is working to protect Joyce (Winona Ryder) and the kids by keeping the events of last season – particularly the truth behind Barb’s disappearance – under wraps. According to David Harbour, “It kind of falls on Hopper to be the voice of authority to say, ‘This did happen and this didn’t happen.’ He’s struggling with the compromise that takes him to, having to lie and cover things up.”
And of course, what would “Stranger Things” be without otherwordly threats and shadowy conspiracies? To that end, the rift to the Upside Down is still very much open and the lab is still operational although under the new stewardship of Dr. Owen (Paul Reiser). The question is, with the Demogorgon seemingly vanquished, what else is lurking in the Upside Down? If the trailer is any indication much bigger and badder threats have their eye (or eyes…) on Hawkins, Indiana.
As for the mystery of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), well, it looks as if fans may just have to wait until October to learn more about the fate of the breakout character.