Greetings from the Upside Down. “Stranger Things” doesn’t return until much later this year, but it seems there’s already a new mystery for conspiracy-minded viewers to obsess over: the release date for the upcoming second season of the hit Netflix series.
The reason? Shortly after the first teaser image from the second season was revealed earlier today, fans were set alight by a different image, shared on the official “Stranger Things” Twitter account, of what looks like a 1980s TV weather report.
Sure, it could be nothing more than a nod to the season 2 teaser trailer set to air Sunday during the Super Bowl. The big game is of course being held in Houston, Texas, location of the weather report above. But the image is full of numbers, and the Internet loves puzzles, so fans are already digging into it for secret clues. And a pretty simple solution has emerged as the leading theory: “Stranger Things” Season 2 will launch on Netflix September 8.
Here’s how they reached that conclusion: Other than the 11’s, the image contains three sets of numbers: 58 and 67, 42 and 50, and 30 and 13. If you subtract the lows from the highs in the first two sets, you get the numbers 9 and 8. Subtract the two barometric pressure numbers and you get 17.
Three numbers with the last being 17 looks a lot like a date: 9/8/17, or Sept. 8, 2017. That’s a Friday, the day when Netflix traditionally releases new shows. And voila! Mystery solved.
Assuming that there is one, of course. Perhaps Netflix turned the season launch date announcement into a puzzle for fans, but if that’s what happened here, it was awfully easy. It’s possible we’ll know for sure come Sunday.
In the meantime, I have a “Stranger Things” Season 2 theory of my own. Note that three-day forecast ending with red lightning clouds and the significant numbers “11” and “-11”? That obviously to refer to Eleven, the telepathic human experiment played by Millie Bobby Brown in Season 1. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d think “Stranger Things” Season 2 might be about the kids helping Eleven deal with her powers. She might even be the villain for a bit (hence “Negative Eleven”). Or maybe it’s one of the other 10 experiments the Department of Energy was doing prior to the series’ start.
Netflix
One last thing. That first image from the second season shows the kids wearing “Ghostbusters” costumes. Appropriate because it takes place a year later, 1984, presumably right after the film was release. And it immediately suggests Halloween. But how come no one else is dressed up?
Thanks, “Stranger Things.” You’ve trained us well.
11 'Stranger Things' Fan Theories About Season 2
Season 1 of Netflix's "Stranger Things" left fans with a lot of questions. Now that information is finally trickling out for Season 2, fans are formulating all-new theories to make guesses about everything from what the Upside Down is to who Nancy Wheeler will end up dating. Here are nine of the most interesting.
1. Eleven is alive, but she's in serious trouble The Super Bowl 51 trailer confirmed what everyone suspected: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) survived her encounter with the Demogorgon creature in Season 1, and she'll be coming back in Season 2. Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer said we'll see more of Elle's background and origins. It seems very likely that finding and saving Eleven will be another element that looms large in Season 2.
2. Eleven is inextricably tied to the Upside Down She said it herself in an early episode -- that she's the monster. We discover more toward the end of Season 1 during a flashback, when Elle touches the faceless creature for the first time through a sensory tank at a government lab. It's that contact with the Demogorgon that has fans thinking that's when she was infiltrated by its darkness. The idea that there's more to her relationship with the monsters is gaining some traction in Season 2.
3. The Thessalhydra from 'D&D' is Season 2's monster Fans paid very close attention to the final "Dungeons & Dragons" game of Season 1, in which Will defeated a creature called the "Thessalhydra." Like the hydra of Greek myth, the Thessalhydra has several heads. The giant creature shown in the Super Bowl teaser looks an awful lot like it could be a multi-headed hydra monster.
4. Nancy Wheeler may ultimately wind up with Jonathan Byers Sure, the show ends with Nancy (Natalia Dyer) in Steve Harrington's arms, but one observant fan noted her distant stare. Just seconds prior, she had given Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) a still camera to replace the one that Steve (Joe Keery) broke in an earlier episode. Jonathan and Nancy were the ones to team up against the monster and Steve only barged in on their plot unwittingly at the last minute. The two have a strong connection.
5. Barb's disappearance will be a major problem The small amount of information trickling out about Season 2 has confirmed one thing: Barb's dead. Bummer. The Duffer Brothers said Barb will get justice in Season 2. But Barb's disappearance sounds like it looms large over Hawkins. It also sounds like Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) has been covering up the circumstances of Barb's death and Will's disappearance to protect the Byers family.
6. Will Byers is part monster now We see Will cough up one of those slimy things from the Upside Down world in which he resided for nearly the entire season. Then the bathroom in which he's standing flickers, bringing the world's creepy darkness into view momentarily. If the above fan theory No. 2 is true, it stands to reason that since Will was in contact with the faceless monster, that he too has a touch of its evil inside of him. Clips from the teaser suggest to fans that Will has some connection with the giant Season 2 monster shown there.
7. Hopper works for the government now He's spotted stepping into a car with a couple of the bad guys from the lab. Earlier on Hopper cut a deal with them to keep their nefarious secrets under wraps in exchange for Will. Some fans think he's infiltrating the organization in attempts of taking it down while others think he's rejoining the team after a long absence as a federal agent. The Duffers have suggested Hopper is helping cover up the events of Season 1, and that seems to add more credence to this theory.
8. The Upside Down is Hawkins' future Fans are still trying to figure out what the Upside Down actually is. One suggestion: it's not another dimensions, its Hawkins' future. The supposition is that, somehow, Eleven tore a hole in the space-time continuum, allowing bits of a potential future to flow into Hawkins to create a time loop. The future she's seeing? It's Hawkins after the site has been nuked by the U.S. government to stop the giant mutant creature from the teaser, and the Upside Down.
9. The Upside Down isn't an evil dimension, it was attacked An even better theory to explain the Upside Down is that it's an alternate dimension, but not a necessarily malignant one. The Upside Down looks like Hawkins because it's just an alternate version of the town where people live. The gross tentacles, the creatures, the slugs, and the toxic atmosphere are symptoms of an invasion from a third dimension. This invader destroys life. Eleven attracted the invasion, but it's still in the early stages of taking over Earth -- until Season 2.
10. Hopper's daughter is actually Eleven This theory takes a little heavy lifting to get to, but YouTuber Planet Calvin lays out a fairly compelling case for it. It centers hints in Season 1 that maybe Hopper's memory of his daughter Sarah's death from cancer isn't really what happened, but a lie he tells himself. The timeline of what happened to Hopper's daughter also matches fairly well with the timeline of what happens to Terry Ives, Eleven's mother, if you look for some clues. Planet Calvin does a good job of breaking it down in two complementary theory videos you can watch here. At the very least, Planet Calvin has probably picked up on some minor details that might actually be pretty significant in the future.
11. The only one who can stop Monster Will is Eleven This one just makes some thematic sense from a narrative standpoint, but it stands to reason that if Will has been taken in by the monster-ness of the Upside Down, Eleven is the only person equipped to deal with it. A showdown is one way it could go; another is the pair of them trying to figure out how to deal with their dark, conflicted natures together.
Explore guesses around the demogorgan’s fate, those mystery Eggos and Nancy Wheeler’s true love
Season 1 of Netflix's "Stranger Things" left fans with a lot of questions. Now that information is finally trickling out for Season 2, fans are formulating all-new theories to make guesses about everything from what the Upside Down is to who Nancy Wheeler will end up dating. Here are nine of the most interesting.
