The Duffer Brothers Talk About the Big Unanswered Upside Down Question in STRANGER THINGS 4

Part 2 of Stranger Things Season 4 dropped over a week ago, and fans are reeling from the roller coaster ride that was the final two super-sized episodes. The story led us in several different directions, across the states, and even across the world, but there was some great payoff in the end, and it all set us up for the fifth and final season.

One story aspect that was thrown out there for fans, but never fully addressed, was the timestamp on the Upside Down. When the group that included Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie were in the Upside Down looking for guns to fight Vecna, Nancy looked at her journal in her alternate dimension bedroom and realized that her last entry was three years prior, on the day that Will had gone missing. When he was taken, it stopped time in the Upside Down. This was revealed to viewers, but was never fully explained or revisited, so in a recent interview with Deadline, the Duffers touched on it, with Ross saying:

“We really wanted to give the audience a lot of the big answers. There’s still a few of the question marks that remain. The biggest one being we set up in the Volume One finale how the Upside Down is stuck in time on the day of Will’s disappearance. That’s something we don’t answer in volume two, and that is really the key plot point, the key question that is going to drive our final season as we try to wrap up this story and give the rest of the answers out.”

Matt went on to say:

“We knew this was going to be the penultimate season and so we were able to do a lot of stuff that we haven’t been able to do before, like the four gate collision. We’ve always wanted the Upside Down encroaching into Hawkins in a more massive way. We hinted at it a little bit in Season Two but we want a full blown Upside Down invasion, and that’s something you just can’t hit the rewind on that one.”

Ross added:

“Yeah. Once that happens, there’s no going back. So, you could only really do that this deep into the story.”

So they were just laying a little groundwork for the final season. You could tell by Will’s reaction in the final scene that he could still feel that connection to the Upside Down, and he knows something big is coming. I’m so nervous for these characters as they go into the biggest battle of their lives. I know it’s going to be epic, and I look forward to seeing what the Duffers have in store to finish out the story strong.