Today’s Nerdist News is heading to The Upside Down to talk about all things Stranger Things season two! The 8-episode belle of the Netflix-ball recently shot into the nerdosphere thanks to some well-harnessed nostalgia, crazy cool new sci-fi worlds, and my personal ’80s queen Winona Ryder. But the question left on everyone’s minds is: what’s next?? While Netflix hasn’t formally greenlit season two, they’ve previously renewed shows like Hemlock Grove and Marco Polo with much fewer viewers. That being said, we’re confident Stranger Things will be coming back to answer all the question breadcrumbs the show creators, the Duffer Brothers, left along the way. So let’s jump into all the clues, shall we?
And who better to start off with than Eleven. The standout badass of the show, Eleven killed it in season one. After we saw Hopper drop her favorite treat, Eggos, into a hidden forest box near Nancy’s tree-portal to the upside-down, we’re thinking Eleven’s definitely out there and the United States government knows it, too.  The question remains: is she chilling in the forest after somehow restoring herself? Did she teleport back to The Upside Down? Is she somewhere else living a brand new mystery for us to solve in season two? We’d just love to know more about that spooky evil dust and those creepy Demogorgon eggs.
Oh! And what’s wrong with Will? The last time we saw him, he was barfing inter-dimensional slugs into the sink as he flashed back to The Upside Down. (Man, I love that this show exists.) Did he really escape? Or did he bring it back to our reality and set off a whole new series of events?? The Duffer Brothers gave a hint saying, “Is Will okay? The short answer being no.” They also mentioned three other characters entered The Upside Down without a helmet, so they’re definitely susceptible to whatever affects Will is also experiencing. Does that mean season two might bring a contagion-esque epidemic our way?
That theory might hold considering the new, nicer crew running the Hawkins lab. According to the Duffers, the new batch of scientists will “seem a little bit more friendly… at least in the beginning.” Either way, it’ll be cool to see more of Hawkins, and hopefully even more sci-fi concepts thrown in! Time travel anyone? Perhaps a Hawken-stein monster? The other ten super-kids that came before Eleven?
One thing that was confirmed is the timeframe: Season two will skip forward a year, accounting for the aging of the child actors. The brothers said they’d love to produce an era-appropriate 8-bit video game to fill in the gap year’s story, to which we say: um… please?!?!?!
But what do you guys think? Are you as psyched as we are for Stranger Things season two? Were you hoping for more of an anthology series a la American Horror Story? Are you just waiting for a Twelve to show up? Let’s discuss!
