‘Stranger Things’: Here’s What You Need To Remember Ahead Of Season 3

As the premiere date for Season 3 of Netflix’s Stranger Things approaches, here’s a reminder of what happened leading up to the new season.

SPOILER ALERT: This article the first two seasons of Netflix’s Stranger Things. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed all available episodes and wish to avoid spoilers.

As CNN points out, many of the plots points for Season 3 of Stranger Things are still under embargo. However, considering it has been a while since Season 2 dropped, there is plenty still to catch up on ahead of the Season 3 premiere of July 4.

Season 1 of Stranger Things is set in the 1980s and opens with young Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) getting stuck in a place called the Upside Down. This alternative universe is accessed thanks to a gate, or portal, created within the Hawkins National Laboratory. With the help of his friends and the newly introduced, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who was a human experiment being held at the laboratory, the children manage to help Will to escape.

During this process, a monster called the Demogorgon is introduced. Eleven is able to communicate with the Demogorgon thanks to the telekinesis that was a part of her experimentation. By the close of Season 1 of Stranger Things, Eleven uses her powers to help defeat the Demogorgon and life looks set to return to normal in Hawkins.

Season 2 of Stranger Things then delves further into the Upside Down and Eleven’s past. As USA Today points out, while Season 1 deals with Will being stuck in the Upside Down, whereas Season 2 deals with the fact that the Upside Down in now inside of Will Byers.

A new monster called the Mind Flayer is also introduced in Season 3 of Stranger Things as well as the demodogs, which are a younger version of the Demogorgon seen in Season 1. Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) also mistakenly raises one of these demodogs.

Season 1 of Stranger Things mostly revolves around Will, Eleven, Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). In Season 2, the group expands to include Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), newcomer, Max (Sadie Sink), and Mike’s older sister, Nancy (Natalia Dyer).

Eleven, on the other hand, takes a break from the group and goes off to find others like her, that were used in the experiments at the Hawkins National Laboratory. Eventually, Eleven returns to Hawkins and helps Will and the gang shut down the portal inside the laboratory and everything looks good once more.

However, Season 2 of Stranger Things closes by revealing that the Mind Flayer still exists and the premise for Season 3 is set.

Season 3 of Stranger Things drops globally on Netflix on July 4.

The synopsis for Season 3 of Stranger Things is below.

“It’s 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana, and summer’s heating up. School’s out, there’s a brand new mall in town, and the Hawkins crew are on the cusp of adulthood. Romance blossoms and complicates the group’s dynamic, and they’ll have to figure out how to grow up without growing apart. Meanwhile, danger looms. When the town’s threatened by enemies old and new, Eleven and her friends are reminded that evil never ends; it evolves. Now they’ll have to band together to survive, and remember that friendship is always stronger than fear.”