'Stranger Things' Season 4 First Look Photos Show the Kids All Grown Up

'Stranger Things' Season 4 will be split into two 'volumes,' with the first launching May 27 and second on July 1.

by Danielle Turchiano — March 23, 2022 at 6:55 AM PDT

When Stranger Things returns with its fourth season premiere on May 27, some things are going to look a little different.

The kids; it's the kids.

As you can see from the first photos Netflix released from the new season (above and below), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the rest of the gang are firmly in their teenage years and are showing that maturity on their faces. A previously-released trailer featured Eleven writing to Mike on "day 185" after she moved to California, which makes it six months after the events of Season 3. In that time away from Hawkins, Ind. perhaps not a lot of interesting things happened (at least when compared to fighting demogorgons), but a lot changed.

Season 4 sees a new terror surfacing, something Netflix says "connects everything" and undoubtedly will be something these kids have to fight. Meanwhile, Hopper (David Harbour) is still imprisoned in Russia, where he will face dangers of both the human and supernatural kind.

Stranger Things Season 4 also stars Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine. Additional cast members include Jamie Campbell Bower, Joseph Quinn, Eduardo Franco, Sherman Augustus, Mason Dye, Nikola Djuricko, Tom Wlaschiha, Myles Truitt, Regina Ting Chen, Grace Van Dien, Logan Riley Bruner, Logan Allen, Elodie Grace Orkin), John Reynolds, Rob Morgan, Amybeth McNulty, and Robert Englund.

Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the show is executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, Iain Paterson, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Curtis Gwinn. This season the Duffer Brothers direct Episode 401, 402, 407, 408, and 409, while Levy directs Episodes 403 and 404, and Nimród Antal directs Episodes 405 and 406.

While the first half of the season launches on May 27, as aforementioned, the second half (or Volume Two, as Netflix is calling it), will launch on July 1.