That Stranger Things season 3 cliffhanger has finally been resolved. The last instalment of the Netflix series ended with the supposed death of Jim Hopper (David Harbour) while down in the Hawkins facility with Joyce (Winona Ryder). One moment, they were setting up a date, and the other, Hopper is getting knowingly obliterated alongside the machine that was keeping the Upside Down alive. It was a heroic sacrifice, but a post-credits scene left the actual fate of the character in question. In a new season 4 teaser, however, the (mind-boggling) truth is revealed: Hopper is alive.
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He's also bald. In the short teaser, we find ourselves in snowy Russia. The camera pans through what appears to be some type of prisoner camp. As a bunch of bundled men build a train track, one turns around and takes off his hat. It's Hopper, his hair is gone, and he's a long way from Hawkins, Indiana.
Netflix teases that Hopper "will face dangers both human...and other" while imprisoned in Kamchatka. But Hawkins, as you may have guessed by season 4, still isn't safe. Netflix warns that a "new horror is beginning to surface, something long-buried, something that connects everything."
Netflix and Harbour himself teased this possible return in the most cryptic of ways. Last summer, following season 3's release, Harbour posted a series of numbers that ended up being a phone number. When called, fans heard the voicemail of Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman).
“Hi, you have reached the residence of Murray Bauman,” his voicemail says. “Mom, if this is you, please hang up and call me between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m. as previously discussed, okay? If this is Joyce, Joyce, thank you for calling, I have been trying to reach ya. I have an update. It’s about, well, it’s probably best if we speak in person. It’s not good or bad, but it’s something…”
Stranger Things season 4: "It's Something." Watch the teaser below.