By Naomi Anderson, Entertainment Editor
Back in July of this year, the world was turned “upside down” when the Netflix original show, Stranger Things, was released. Stranger Things told the story of best friends Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) searching for their good friend, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), when he vanished after confronting a monster that escaped through a crack to an alternate dimension, “the Upside Down,” with the help of their mind-controlling friend, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). The Duffer Brothers, the creators, writers, directors and co-executive producers of Stranger Things, had no idea that their ‘80s mystery sci-fi would become so popular and with a cliffhanger to leave people on the edge of their seat, everyone is bringing this show to life and waiting…waiting for the second season, that is!
At the end of season one, it is believed that Eleven met her fate after defeating the Demogorgon, the monster that took Byers to the Upside Down. The group of friends mourn Eleven, especially Mike, but are happy to have their best friend back. The ending, which shows Byers coughing up slugs from the Upside Down, had everyone guessing what exactly happened to Will Byers when he was in the Upside Down, and now we will get an answer! The second season was confirmed by Netflix on Aug. 31, 2016 for its 2017 release. A teaser trailer revealing the titles of the nine episodes came out to get everyone excited, and when a 30-second ad premiered during the 2017 Super Bowl, Stranger Things was back in the loop and became the big talk once again.
We’re introduced to new characters: Max (Sadie Sink) is a tomboy who will join the boys as a new friend (or love interest for Dustin and Lucas) and Billy (Dacre Montgomery), her older step-brother, and a woman named Roman (Linnea Berthelsen) who’s connected to the supernatural occurrences at Hawkins Lab, the building where the Upside Down’s entrance is. We see a few familiar faces in the season two trailer such as Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), and the infamous Jim Hopper (David Harbour), and what looks like the new creature of the show, the Thessalhydra. At the end of season one, the boys are playing another Dungeons & Dragons game like in the first episode and it is revealed that the Thessalhydra is the beast attacking, just like the Demogorgon in the beginning. Fans are convinced that the monster will be haunting Will with his experience in the Upside Down, and that’ll affect not only himself, but his mother, friends, and family. In the season two trailer, it is also revealed that Eleven is in fact alive, but now she is trapped in the Upside Down. We are meant to think she is until a clip shows her hand poking through a goopy hole to the real world.
Will Eleven reunite with her group of friends? What does the Thessalhydra mean and what will it do? Why is the wait for this so long? Grab some Eggos and a few friends to find out when season two premieres Oct. 27 on Netflix!