Stranger Things season 4 recap: Everything to know before season 5 releases

Netflix’s Stranger Things, the adventure thriller drama series, first premiered its season 1 on the streaming platform on July 15, 2016, and was created by the Duffer brothers, Ross and Matt.

The central storyline and plot arc of the show focus on the lives of five young friends who live in Hawkins, Indiana, during the 1980s, and how they deal with a series of mysterious events that unfold after a girl called Eleven ends up in their town with psychokinetic abilities.

They spend their time unraveling the secret exploits conducted by the government and also dealing with supernatural forces from the other end of the earth.

The fourth season of the show was released in two volumes, the first one on May 27, 2022, and the second one on July 1, 2022.

The storyline of season 4 of Stranger Things was split over four different locations and timelines: 1979 Hawkins Lab, Russia, California, and Hawkins, Indiana.

The present situation surrounding the characters in season 3 is set in 1986, with Joyce trying her best to protect Eleven, Jonathan, and Will from the situation at Hawkins and eventually heading to Russia herself to rescue Hopper.

The biggest villain in the fourth season of the series installment is Vecna, who makes victims out of children with unprocessed trauma and ends up haunting them with terrifying nightmares and hallucinations of the Upside Down.

Details explored into the plot arc, storyline, and other information of season 4 of Stranger Things

Netflix’s critically acclaimed adventure drama series Stranger Things, created by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, has been well-loved by fans and audiences alike since 2016, when season 1 first premiered on the streaming website.

Season 4 of the show is set in 1986’s real time, where Joyce, in an attempt to help save Will, Jonathan, and Eleven from the events at Hawkins, Indiana, sends them away to California.

She ends up receiving a mysterious message from a Russian doll that confirms that Hopper is still alive, and she travels to Russia to rescue him.

In Hawkins, the young friends, Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and Max, are all shown growing apart from each other and moving on with their own lives.

Max, among all of them, grieves the death of her brother Billy and only tries to drown herself in music from her Walkman.

Steve and Robin are both shown working together at the video store while Nancy spends her time working for the local newspaper with Fred, her journalist co-worker. 

The villain of season 4 of the show is Vecna, who is a monster who preys on children who have unresolved trauma and targets them specifically.

He ends up making them hallucinate with terrifying visions of the Upside Down and then proceeds to suck the life out of them, which ends up breaking all their bones in the process.

Two of his major victims include Chrissy Cunningham and Fred the journalist, and then he ends up targeting Max.

The plot reveals that the only thing that can help the victim is if they listen to music to remember happier times, and Max ends up saving herself with seconds to spare.

Eleven, in California, gets arrested, and eventually, with the help of Doctor Brenner, she gets her telepathic powers back. 

Joyce also ends up rescuing Hopper with the help of Murray, and towards the end of the season, Vecna ends up taking both Eleven and Max inside his mind, and in a hallucination, he ends up killing Max while Eleven sits with her mangled body.

Season 5 of Stranger Things, which premieres on November 27, 2025, will deal with Vecna and pick up the storyline where it left off. 

Stay tuned for more updates.