‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 Release Date, Story Resumes A Year Later

The Stranger Things season 2 release date is one of the most anticipated out of all of Netflix’s series to date. Even Luke Cage, the much renowned Netflix original series about the Marvel Comics Harlem superhero, could see a real challenge competing with the hit series set in the 1980s.

From the beginning, when Jonathan and Will Byers (Charlie Heaton and Noah Schnapp, respectively) rocked out to The Clash, the tone for the series made it obvious that it was going for the nostalgic feel of a decade when synthesizers were still acceptable. It was the decade of E.T., the video game crash resulting from the movie’s tie-in on Atari 2600, and some of the most memorable pop and rock music in history.

Mysterious things began happening, though, as Joyce Byers’ (Winona Ryder of Beetlejuice) son Will went missing and spawned a police investigation right around the same time that a mysterious girl (Millie Bobby Brown of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland) who gained the nickname Eleven showed up out of nowhere. The girl explained to a group of outcast boys about a place called the Upside Down, which was apparently a nightmare alternate reality she could visit simply by “dreaming.” The problem with these visits was that there was a monster which could occasionally visit the real world and kidnap children.

Of course, one of those children was Barb (Shannon Purser), Nancy Wheeler’s (Natalia Dyer) best friend, taken while Nancy was “busy” with a boy.

Shannon Purser's 'Stranger Things' was the first to be lost in the Upside Down. — Shannon Purser’s ‘Stranger Things’ was the first to be lost in the Upside Down. [Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for MTV]

Eleven also had a gift which had to be kept unknown to the majority. She could move things with her mind, even though it made her nose bleed, much like the father in the Stephen King movie adaptation of Firestarter.

In her search to find her son, Joyce discovered she could talk to him by supernatural means. Eventually, Eleven went into the Upside Down to discover that Barb was gone for good, burping up slugs like Ron Weasley from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Joyce’s son was in danger.

By the end of the first season, Will was brought back, but Barb was lost to the Upside Down.

Actor David Harbour, who plays officer Jim Hopper, revealed the time setting for the Stranger Things season 2 release date in an appearance on the Fan2Sea Comic-Con cruise, according to GamesRadar.

“It’s a year later in the story, so there are several things that happened last year … There are certain people in the town [who] know what happened, and then certain people [who] don’t. [T]here’s a lot of fallout with who knows what.”

We may see a broader scope as the story continues and the town is explored a bit more, possibly with a crowd seeing Eleven’s powers by accident and igniting a storm of paranoia to rival Joyce in the first season. A lot can happen in a year’s time, and Eleven might end up forced to go to school with the boys who took her in last season.

The mysterious institute which had been trying to capture Eleven in the first season might also start gaining attention and be forced to take a more tactical approach to their means. If it’s discovered that they have been after a young girl, they could end up being the subject of a government investigation, and the race will be on more than ever.

Sean Astin will make his debut as Bob Newby, Joyce’s new love interest and an old classmate of hers and Jim’s. There could be some romantic rivalry between Bob and Jim as Joyce has to play the referee. If you recognize Sean, but can’t quite figure out where from, Sean Astin was Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s Hobbit friend from the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.