Stranger Things Season 4’s Production Was Largely Disrupted By The Pandemic-related Production Shutdowns.

It is not as if Netflix is without popular original series in recent months. The streamer turned into a powerful late 2020 content slate into 2021 and also had several original releases move the needle over the previous four months. Upcoming new series like Shadow and Bone and Jupiter’s Legacy is also expected to leave an imprint. Nonetheless, it’s become apparent over the last half-decade that Netflix’s true flagship series, the series which does more heavy lifting than any other, is Stranger Things. Unfortunately for fans, the wait for the show’s highly anticipated fourth season appears to be longer than expected.

Stranger Things 3 debuted July 4, 2019, yet Season 4’s production was largely disrupted by the pandemic-related manufacturing shutdowns. It had been considered that the fourth season would finally arrive in 2021, but co-star Finn Wolfhard (Mike) recently suggested a more realistic premiere date in 2022.

“It should be out sometime next season, hopefully,” the actor said in a recent interview, per the eagle-eyed Stranger Things Spoilers. Wolfhard was responding to a fan question on the website Fanmio, which allows viewers to possess 1-on-1 meetups with actors of their favorite shows. Per What is on Netflix, Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) and Noah Schnapp (Will) have been using the service to communicate with Stranger Things fans.

Production on Season 4 of Stranger Things was stopped throughout much of 2020. In October, filming finally resumed, though reports indicate that flaws continued into the new season. Regardless, Netflix has not yet made an official statement and Wolfhard’s comments shouldn’t be taken as firm confirmation.

Formerly, the first 3 seasons of Stranger Things were released July 2016, October 2017, and July 2019. Season 4 is currently on pace to amass the best amount of elapsed time between seasons. If Stranger Things 4 does not debut until 2022, it is going to leave a hole in Netflix’s Q3/Q4 schedule. The streamer will need to hope either Season 2 of The Witcher or the expected live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop is about to fill that emptiness.