Stranger Things 4: Here’s What You Need to Know Before Volume 2

Stranger Things 4: Here’s What You Need to Know Before Volume 2

Folks, after nearly three years we finally welcomed Stranger Things 4 onto our screens on May 27. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait another three years for more and Volume 2 of Stranger Things 4 is set to release today!

If you need a crash course on Volume 1 or are here to find out any little tidbit of info about Volume 2 of Stranger Things, we’ve got you covered.

When can I watch Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 and Volume 2?

stranger things 4
Image: Netflix

While filming kicked off on Stranger Things 4 back in March 2020, COVID-19 has significantly delayed things.

Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1 was released on May 27, 2022. In Australia, it went live on Netflix at 5:00 pm AEST. If you want to read our review of the season so far, you can do that here.

The Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 will drop on July 1, 2022.

Here’s when you can expect it to go live in each time zone.

Some other good news is that Stranger Things will be getting a fifth and final season, so this isn’t the end yet.

Stranger Things 4 episode titles

stranger things 4
Stranger Things 4 Review (Image: Netflix)

As of November 2021, we have the episode titles for all nine episodes dropping in Stranger Things 4. They are:

  • The Hellfire Club
  • Vecna’s Curse
  • The Monster and the Superhero
  • Dear Billy
  • The Nina Project
  • The Dive
  • The Massacre At Hawking Lab
  • Papa
  • The Piggyback

How long are Stranger Things 4 episodes?

The Duffer Brothers teased that Season 4’s nine scripts are over 800 cumulative pages and have almost twice the runtime of any previous season. They also confirmed each and every episode will be over an hour long. It’s been worth the wait then!

Shortly after the split season was announced we learned that it would be a fairly uneven episode ratio.

Volume 1 consisted of seven rather long episodes, with each clocking over an hour.

Volume 2 of Stranger Things 4, however, is confirmed to only have 2 episodes, including the season finale.

That may seem disappointing at first except we learned that Episode 8 will also be over an hour long and then Episode 9 (the season finale) will clock in at 2 hours and 19 minutes. That’s like a movie!

Stranger Things Volume 1 recap

Image: Netflix

Major spoilers for Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 ahead. Do not read until you’ve caught up.

We left things in Volume 1 with the reveal of Vecna’s identity.

The monster was in fact Jamie Campbell Bower’s orderly, who turned out to be Number One in Dr Brenner’s series of experiments. Number One also happened to be Victor Creel’s son, which is why all the murder went down in that spooky house.

After spending the whole season thinking Eleven had murdered all her fellow children in the rainbow room, we learned it was in fact One, who then planned to escape with Eleven and rule the world (or something).

Instead, Eleven used her own psychic powers against him and ended up winning, forcing him through the gate into the Upside Down. Once there, One became scarred and mutilated by the parallel dimension and turned into the beast we know as Vecna. And he ain’t happy about it.

As for the rest of the gang. The Hawkins crew found a way to travel through the Upside Down, but Nancy was put in a trance by Vecna before she could escape, leaving her and Steve trapped there for now.

We also saw Joyce and Murray rescue Hopper from becoming a Demogorgon’s lunch at the prison, but they’ve still got to get out of Russia alive.

If you’d like a quick visual recap, you can check out this video from Netflix.

What will happen in Volume 2?

So what will we see in Volume 2?

As far as Volume 2 goes, we don’t have a whole lot of information just yet except that it will set things up for an epic fifth and final season.

The Duffer brothers told Variety that not everyone is safe heading into Volume 2.

“I would be concerned about the characters going into Volume 2, for sure. I hope that that is sort of the sense, because it is a darker season and the kids are no longer kids. So everybody is in danger. And there’s sort of an ominous feeling that things might not go well.”

Joseph Quinn, who plays everyone’s favourite new character Eddie, also gave a hint at what we could see in Volume 2.

“I can say there’s a guitar scene and that the scale and ambition are astonishing. All the seeds that have been planted bear fruit and it’s just carnage. You know the finale is two-and-a-half hours, right? Ending with this monster, feature-length episode is so bold.”

A further tease can be seen in these new images for Volume 2.

Stranger Things 4 Trailer

We finally have our first proper trailer for Stranger Things 4 Volume 2.

Netflix knows we all really like ‘Running Up That Hill’, hey?

It also looks like they’re really pushing that narrative that someone is going to die in the finale. We are not here for this.

We also have this quick teaser which was released at Netflix Geeked Week.

I have a bad feeling they’re going to kill one of my children.

Stranger Things characters

stranger things 4 trailer
Screenshot: Netflix

Are there any new characters?

Stranger Things 4 introduced us to a lot of new cast members. After all, with Russia, Hawkins and California to cover, we’re bound to see some new faces.

Joining the cast were Robert Englund (Victor Creel), Eduardo Franco (Argyle), Jamie Campbell Bower (Peter Ballard), Sherman Augustus (Lt. Colonel Sullivan), Mason Dye (Jason Carver), Tom Wlashicha (Dmitri), Nikola Djuricko (Yuri), Joseph Quinn (Eddie Mason), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), Miles Truitt (Patrick), Grace Van Dien (Chrissy) and Regina Ting Chen (Ms Kelly).

You can read all about their new characters in the thread below.

These new Stranger Things characters joined existing cast of favourites which includes Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, David Harbour, Sadie Sink, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke and Winona Ryder.

There are also new character posters to give you another peek at the faces you’ll be seeing in season 4.

We can presume most of these characters will carry on to Volume 2 (apart from the ones who are definitely already dead).

How to avoid Stranger Things season 4 spoilers

With Stranger Things 4 Volume 1’s release only a couple of weeks ago and Volume 2’s release imminent you might want to avoid spoilers until you can watch the episodes yourself.

If you don’t want any plot details spoiled for you on social media the best thing to do is mute keywords. Or stay off social media altogether.

You can also install special extensions in your browser that will help all those internet spoilers disappear from your search.

Stranger Things soundtrack

stranger things songs vecna
Image: Netflix

One of the best things about Stranger Things is no doubt its soundtrack. Being set in the 80s, the Stranger Things soundtrack includes some absolute bangers like ‘Time After Time’ and ‘Material Girl’.

It also has a killer original score full of synth vibes and spooky tunes that makes for great background music.

Following this trend, Stranger Things 4 will also have a new soundtrack full of 80s hits. The first part will be digitally released on May 27 and includes the remix of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” from the trailer, as well as Kate Bush’s iconic ‘Running Up That Hill’.

The events of season 4 also had us wondering which song would save you from the Upside Down? So you can weigh in on that if you so choose.

Stranger Things snacks

Look, Stranger Things 4 is a big event, it’s like the Game of Thrones days all over again. And big events deserve big snacks.

If you really want to get in the spirit of the Upside Down, Grill’d has announced its infamous Demogorgon Burger has been extended in stores until July 7. Put your orders in now so your meals are all lined up in time for Volume 2 to drop.

If you haven’t tried the Demogorgon burger yet it is a beef pattie with roasted peppers, dill pickles and cos lettuce covered with backyard burger sauce and sour cream. Plus you get a bottle of dangerously delicious Buffalo dipping sauce.

Where can you catch up on Stranger Things?

Image: Netflix

If you’re still behind on Stranger Things 4 or just have a real urge to rewatch you can find all three seasons and Season 4 Volume 1 on Netflix in Australia.

There are 32 action-packed episodes available to watch which, by my calculations, you can binge in about 31 hours.

If you’re looking for other shows to watch while you wait for more from Stranger Things season 4, we’ve pulled together some suggestions.

This article has been updated since its original publish date. 


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