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5 Things We Learned From the “Stranger Things” Season 2 Teaser
The game was pretty great last night. But for us, it was all about “Stranger Things.”
As promised, the first teaser for the second season of Netflix’s nostalgic series premiered during the Super Bowl last night, and though it was only 30-seconds long, it was more than enough to whet our appetite and, well, let’s be honest: it made us so goddamn happy. We also learned quite a bit about the new season from the trailer, despite how short-but-sweet it may have been.
What did we learn, you ask? Here are the 5 most important things.
1) PREMIERING ON HALLOWEEN!
We knew that “Stranger Things” was returning this year, but it wasn’t until last night that we learned it’ll be hitting Netflix on the most perfect day of the year for it to premiere: Halloween, of course! That’s right, all nine episodes of Season 2 will be available for streaming on October 31st, and if you’re thinking you’ll probably spend the entire day on the couch binging the whole damn thing, just know that you won’t be alone. The wait is a bit longer than expected (Season 1 premiered last July), but we’d rather them take their time than rush to get it up before it’s ready.
2) SET ON HALLOWEEN!
We already picked up on this when the above screen-grab hit the net prior to the Super Bowl, but not only will the second season of “Stranger Things” premiere on Halloween, it’s also set right around Halloween! As evidenced by the kids wearing Ghostbusters costumes (the film was released in June of ’84), the second season looks to take place in late October of 1984 – just about one year after the events of the first season. There’s also a shot in the teaser of Will Byers being tested in the wake of his Upside Down nightmare: the timestamp indicates it’s 10/30/84.
3) NEW MONSTER!
We got two glimpses of the second season’s new monster in the “Stranger Things” Super Bowl spot, first courtesy of a drawing and then an actual shot of the monster against an eerie red backdrop. But what the hell is this creature, which looks like something out of The Mist? You may remember that Season One ended just as it began, with the kids playing Dungeons & Dragons, and in the game they encountered the Thessalhydra: a monster that has multiple, snake-like heads and a deadly tail. Season One’s Demogorgon was inspired by a D&D character, so it stands to reason that the season finale’s reference to the Thessalhydra was a big time Season 2 clue. And judging by what we’ve seen so far, the new monster sure looks similar to the Thessalhydra.
4) ELEVEN LIVES!
Season One of “Stranger Things” ended with Eleven seemingly sacrificing herself to kill the Demogorgon, but we were pretty sure that we hadn’t seen the last of the beloved character. Indeed Millie Bobby Brown will be reprising the role of Eleven in Season 2, and the teaser gave us our first glimpse of her coming back to life. At the start of the teaser, we see her opening her eyes with blood dripping from her nose; fittingly, she’s upside down in that shot. We’ll likely have to wait until October to find out what really happened to Eleven; how is she still alive?!
5) MORE HOMAGES!
One of the coolest things about the first season of “Stranger Things” is that it was loaded with homages to ’80s movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, E.T., and Stand By Me; and it looks like Season 2, also set in the ’80s, will continue that tradition. In less than 30-seconds of footage, we’ve already seen our first homage from Season 2. There’s a shot in the teaser of Will standing in front of an open door, with an otherworldly glow lighting up the sky outside, and that moment is almost directly lifted from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Should be fun to watch the new season and pick out all the little Easter eggs.
If you missed it, you can watch the Season 2 Super Bowl spot below!
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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