Stranger things season 1 was an amazing blend of  ’80s pop-culture references & startling performances from a young cast. Season 2 may have lacked the element of surprise but it was still good enough to keep the audience thrilled and excited. Now, the Duffer Brothers, creators of the series, have confirmed that Season 3 is on the way proven by the released behind the scenes footage of the set. Even though the footage only includes the cast meeting up again to start filming season three, watching everyone gather and reconnect (and in some cases for the first time) for a table read is priceless. Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo and David Harbour meet up with Maya Hawke, Cary Elwes, and Jake Busey and the entire scenario makes fans more excited for what’s to come. The video doesn’t feature much of anyone speaking except Priah Ferguson who exclaims “Get out of here nerds!” while pushing the camera away.

Things that can be expected from season 3

Release date

Netflix officially renewed Stranger Things for season three on December 1, but didn’t confirm either the episode count or when exactly the show would return.

The first season dropped in July 2016, Season two was timed to coincide with Halloween, and came out in late October 2017. Given that the third season is reportedly still being written, it wouldn’t start filming until spring 2018 at the earliest, meaning fans may have to wait until 2019 to see it.

Cast

The stars are becoming more and more popular with casting agents by the week – David Harbour is signed up to play Hellboy in the upcoming reboot, Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) will star in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Finn Wolfhard is likely to return to Derry (in flashback) for IT: Chapter 2. But we’d expect all the main surviving cast to return for season 3. One lesser character from season two will definitely be getting more screen time: Lucas’s sister Erica (Priah Ferguson). Matt Duffer told that she was just a local hire they made in Atlanta. Erica wasn’t even supposed to be in season two as much as she was.

Another, less well-loved, character is strongly tipped to return: Eleven’s “lost” sister Kali, aka 008. “It feels weird to me that we wouldn’t solve her storyline,” Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter. “I would say chances are very high she comes back.”

We know that Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) is apparently still alive, so it would seem likely that we’ll see more of him in seasons to come. Little Women actress Maya Hawke will join the cast for season three as an “alternative girl” whose boring day job gets much more interesting when she discovers the town’s dark secret.

There will also be at least three more new major characters joining in on the fun; first up is middle-aged Mayor of Hawkins, Larry Kline, who is described as “a classic, 80s-style slick politician.” He’ll be played by Cary Elwes of The Princess Bride and Saw fame.

Then there’s a “sexist” and “morally compromised news reporter in his 50s” called Bruce(played by Jack Busey) and a “sweet neighborhood elder” called Patricia Brown who spends her time gardening and offering advice to the children in the neighborhood.

Ideas

The Duffer brothers have confirmed that there will be a one year time jump between season 2 & 3. Matt Duffer told Hollywood Reporter, “Even if we wanted to hop into the action faster, we couldn’t. Our kids are ageing.”

David Harbour has also hinted somethings about Hopper’s back story, “We’ve also seen a lot of things, when Eleven goes down to his cellar and sees the boxes, we see a box that says Dad, a box that says New York, a box that says Vietnam. These are little Easter Eggs for Jim, further layers of the onion that can be peeled back. More will be revealed on that front.”

“Season 3 is set in the summer, so right out of the gate that’s a big difference”, Shawn Levy(executive producer and director) confirmed. “The first two seasons were very much school-based. This is that time of year where it’s about swimming pool, campfires, parades, Fourth of July and fireworks, so there’s kind of a poppy fun to season 3 that’s really enjoyable before things turn super dark.”

We can be fairly sure that after that final shot of season two, we’ll definitely see the Mind Flayer again. Season three will further the explore the mythology of the Upside Down, but no clear answers can be expected.

Ross Duffer says, “There is no way the kids can ever fully understand this place. We have a Upside Down document which describes its rules and its mythology in quite a bit of detail, but i think we’re just going to slowly parse that out, and maybe not even fully use of it. Our favorite thing to do on this show is that these characters, especially the kids, are able to make these leaps about the Mind Flayer and how it operates and what it wants, but they’re just basing this off of games that they’ve played. They don’t really know for sure.”

Matt hinted that the next season will focus more on character development than scale. “It’s not necessarily going to be bigger in scale. What I am really excited about is giving these characters an interesting journey to go on.”