Stranger Things Season 4’s Hopper Story Is Its Biggest Risk

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Although Stranger Things season 4 is hotly anticipated, the show’s next outing runs a major risk by keeping its hero Hopper so far removed from the primary cast. When Stranger Things season 3 seemingly killed off the taciturn antihero Detective Hopper, many correctly guessed that the character’s demise would be short-lived. The Netflix hit had brought characters like Will Byers and Eleven back from fake-out deaths before, and the creators admitted that Stranger Things villain Dr. Brenner would be returning from his apparent demise in upcoming episodes.

As such, despite Stranger Things season 3 making Hopper a more thoughtless and mean-spirited character than before, many fans were comfortably certain that he would be back and were still eager to see his return. However, Stranger Things season 4 may be repeating a major mistake that the series made once before via the format of Hopper’s return. Although it is clear that David Harbour’s gruff character is still alive, it’s not clear how he will escape Siberia alone — something that could prove problematic judging by the show’s storytelling pedigree.

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Many found Eleven’s slow road back to the Hawkins gang to be the most frustrating element of the otherwise-solid and fast-paced Stranger Things season 2. Although the scope ofStranger Things changed with each season, season 2 mostly kept the elements of season 1 that audiences loved, such as the charming adventure story among the young leads, the creepy conspiracy plot among the adult characters, and the coming-of-age dramedy shared by the teen characters. Where the outing dropped the ball was in Eleven’s plot, which saw her repeatedly come