Stranger Things on Netflix has become such a cultural phenomenon. With novels, comic books, and all kinds of other media tie-ins. Most viewers will need something to help them make sense of it all. Here is how to watch Stranger Things in order, so you can follow the story of the TV show as it grows.
This so-called “Stranger Things Expanded Universe” began in October 2017, when the first video game came out just before the second season. After that, it didn’t do much for almost a year. Then, in September 2018, Netflix and its publishing partners stepped on the gas and started putting out new titles at an almost breakneck speed. Now, there are three novels, two comic-book miniseries, and a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes materials. To go with that one mobile game, and there are more on the way (Stranger Things 3: The Game, for instance, came out the same day as the third season).
With its fourth season Volume 2 set to release on July 1, here’s how to catch up on all the episodes. Here is the best way to see everything in Stranger Things in order.
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Stranger Things Season 1
To begin watching Stranger Things in order, we start right at the beginning.
On July 15, 2016, Netflix put out the first season of Stranger Things. It is made up of eight episodes that range in length from 42 to 55 minutes. The season takes place in the made-up town of Hawkins, Indiana in 1983. Will Byers goes missing, and his family, friends, and the police start looking for him.
The people who made it thought it would be an eight-hour blockbuster movie. It was inspired by and pays tribute to classic genre movies from the 1980s, especially those by Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter, as well as Stephen King’s books. Both critics and viewers liked the season. It was praised for its direction, acting, title sequence, and synth-heavy score.
Detailed Summary
The first eight episodes of Stranger Things introduce viewers to the property’s premise, characters, tone, themes, and – perhaps most importantly for our Expanded Universe purposes – the backstory. This is the best way to get to know the source material before taking a series of deep dives into its different parts. Once the first season is over and people have seen the Upside Down, Hawkins National Laboratory, and Police Chief Jim Hopper for the first time, the real fun can start.
In November 1983, scientists at Hawkins National Laboratory open a hole to the “Upside Down,” an alternate world that mirrors the real world. This is the start of the first season. A monster that looks like a human gets away and takes a boy named Will Byers and a girl named Barbara Holland away. Joyce, Will’s mother, and Jim Hopper, the town’s police chief, look for Will. At the same time, a young girl named “Eleven” who can move things with her mind escapes from the lab and helps Will’s friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas find him. [2]
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Stranger Things Season 2
Next in how to watch Stranger Things in order is Season2. On August 31, 2016, Netflix said that Stranger Things 2 would come out in 2017. In an announcement trailer, it was shown that the second season would have nine episodes. Along with it, each episode’s working title was also shown. On November 7, 2016, the season began to be filmed in Atlanta, Georgia.
Detailed Summary
The story keeps going in Hawkins in the fall of 1984. When strange things start to happen again in the town. The season focuses mostly on the main characters and cast from the first season. But it also introduces a few new characters. These include tomboy Max and her older stepbrother Billy. Along with it, a girl named Kali who works at Hawkins Lab, RadioShack manager Bob Newby. It also introduces Department of Energy agent Dr. Owens and disgraced journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman. Like the first season, Season 2 was praised by both critics and viewers. It is much scarier than the first season.
In the fall of 1984, Will Byers becomes a target of the Upside Down when a large tentacled creature called the Mind Flayer terrorizes the people of Hawkins. Joyce and Hopper, as well as Mike’s sister Nancy, Will’s brother Jonathan, Nancy’s boyfriend Steve, and Will’s close friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, are drawn back to Hawkins by the Mind Flayer. The whole group, plus Max from California and a missing Eleven, must work together again to stop the threat from getting worse.
With all of the Expanded Universe materials now in hand, Stranger Things season 2 is even more dramatic: the reveal of how Terry Ives ends up in a catatonic state is more heartbreakingly climactic instead of just being expository; Eight is less of a dead-end storyline and more of an emotionally invested character, and the Hawkins National Laboratory’s death hits harder because of how much more it means to the characters.
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Stranger Things Season 3
Further in how to watch Stranger Things in order is Season 3. On December 1, 2017, it was officially announced that Stranger Things 3 would be the third season. The season came out on July 4, 2019, on Netflix. [3] It has eight episodes that range in length from 49 minutes to 77 minutes. Like the previous season, this one jumps ahead in time to the summer of 1985 and focuses on “new forces of evil.”
The summer of 1985 is hot in Hawkins, Indiana. The Hawkins kids are on the verge of becoming adults. School is out, there’s a brand-new mall in town, and they’re about to turn 16. A romance develops, which changes the way the group works. They have to figure out how to grow up without growing apart.
Meanwhile, danger looms. When old and new enemies threaten the town, Eleven and her friends are reminded that evil never goes away; it just changes. Now, they’ll have to work together to stay alive, and they should always remember that friendship is stronger than fear.
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Detailed Summary
In Hawkins, California, in the summer of 1985, the new Starcourt Mall has become the town’s main attraction, putting other stores out of business. Jim Hopper, the chief of police in Hawkins, doesn’t like how Eleven and Mike are getting closer, and Joyce is thinking about leaving Hawkins for a better life for her kids and herself. This leaves the kids’ friendships and her relationship with Hopper up in the air. Joyce sees that her magnets are doing something strange, so she decides to look into it.
But strange power changes make Will notice something from another world, and Eleven and Max feel that something is off about the people in the town. Even though they closed the door to Upside Down, they are worried that they are still all in danger from it. The friends work together to fight Max’s brother Billy, who is the new host for the Mindflayer, while Hopper and Joyce look into why the power keeps going out.
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Stranger Things Season 4 (Volume 1)
Next in how to watch Stranger Things in order is Season 4, VOlume 1. Stranger Things 4 was announced on September 30, 2019. It will be the fourth season of the show. This season is different from the others because it is split into two parts. The first part, which has seven episodes, started on Netflix on May 27, 2022, and the second part, which has two episodes, will come out five weeks later on July 1, 2022.
The first seven episodes of the season have mostly gotten good reviews. Critics liked the acting, especially by Bower, Brown, Quinn, and Sink. They also liked the look, the action scenes, and the darker, more adult tone compared to previous seasons. However, some said that the longer episode runtimes made it feel too full and too long.
Like the first three seasons, the fourth season jumps ahead in time to March 1986. And looks at places other than Hawkins, Indiana, like California and Russia. Six months have passed since The Battle of Starcourt, which caused a lot of fear and damage in Hawkins. Our group of friends is now split up for the first time. We’re all still trying to deal with what happened, and high school hasn’t made things any easier. At this most dangerous time, a new supernatural threat appears that is both scary and mysterious. If this mystery can be solved, the horrors of Upside Down might finally end.
Detailed Summary
The fourth season has three main plots.
The first storyline happens in Hawkins, where a number of teenagers die in mysterious ways. It has Dustin, Max, Erica, Steve, Nancy, Robin, Lucas, and Eddie Munson. Dustin and his friends are part of the Hellfire Club, which plays Dungeons & Dragons. Eddie is the main suspect in the murder, and Jason and the rest of the basketball team go looking for him. They think Eddie killed Jason’s girlfriend Chrissy by using satanic powers, and they want Eddie caught. Dustin and his friends look into the murders and find that they were done by a powerful being they call Vecna, which is the name of a villain in a D&D game. Vecna lives in the Upside Down.
In the second storyline, Mike goes to California to see Eleven, Will, and Jonathan at their new home. Eleven goes with Dr. Brenner and Owens to a secret facility to help her get her powers back because of what happened in Hawkins and how dangerous it is for her friends. Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle, who is a friend of Jonathan’s, all try to find Eleven.
Joyce and Murray learn that Hopper may still be alive and are told to bring money to pay for his transfer. This is the third plot line. In the meantime, Hopper is being held prisoner in a Russian gulag in Kamchatka. He and other prisoners are forced to fight a Demogorgon that the Russians have captured as a gladiator-style game for the prison guards and a death sentence.
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Stranger Things Season 4 (Volume 2)
In Stranger things in order, next in line is Season 4, Volume 2. Since Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1 ended with a shocking plot twist and several cliffhangers, fans have been eager for the second part of the season to come out. Now that the full-length trailer for Volume 2 is out, it seems to hint that a major character will die. Every one of Hawkins’ heroes seems to be in danger now that this big death could happen.
The fourth season of Stranger Things is made up of several different storylines that take place in different places. The Hawkins crew has been dealing with Vecna, a scary new bad guy with a scary past. After Eleven was taken to Dr. Brenner’s secret headquarters, the California group has been looking for her. Joyce and Murray finally found Hopper in a Russian prison, but now all three of them have to get out.
The show’s characters seem to be put into the same groups in Volume 2 as they were in the first episode of the season. At the end of Volume 1, Vecna has taken over Nancy, and she and Steve are still stuck in the Upside Down. Max could still be killed at any time by Vecna, so she has to keep listening to a Kate Bush song over and over to protect herself. Eddie is still being blamed for Vecna’s murders. Lucas, Dustin, and Erica just want to save Hawkins and help their friends. There’s a lot going on in town, so it’s likely that at least one of these characters won’t make it to Season 5.
How And Where To Watch It?
On July 1, 2022, at 12 a.m. PST and 3 a.m. EST, you’ll be able to stream Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 2 on Netflix. The second part of the season will pick up where the first one left off. With Vecna still being the main bad guy. As the characters fight to save Hawkins from Vecna. The new trailer makes it look like the last two episodes will be both intense and sad. In a short clip from the next episode, Robin tells Steve, “It might work out for us this time.”
When the episodes of Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 2 come out on July 1, fans will be able to watch them all at once completing the entire Stranger Things in order. There are only two episodes in the book. Episode 8 will carry the title “Chapter Eight: Papa” and will last 1 hour and 25 minutes. Episode 9, which is “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback,” is two hours and thirty minutes long. It is longer than most movies that aren’t about superheroes. The trailer calls these last two episodes “epic,” and they may finally bring all the characters back to Hawkins for a final battle against Vecna.
Based on the new trailer, Eleven finally has her powers back. She might be the one to lead everyone back to Hawkins. Mike wants to find her, and she wants to help them find her. Also, Will’s sexuality hasn’t been talked about yet, and it seems like that will happen in Volume 2. While Hopper, Joyce, and Murray are still in Russia, Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship is getting worse. That’s a lot to fit into just two episodes, no matter how long they are, but they are both good enough to watch all at once.
Closing Statement
Here’s the best way to watch Stranger things in Order. The new Volume of Stranger Things Season 4 has created quite a lot of buzz. Once again, Stranger Things will keep up its tradition of telling what happened on TV from a different point of view for the fifth time in a row.
