Stranger Things season 4 could introduce a new Hawkins Lab. Netflix recently gave viewers their first detailed look at Stranger Things season 4, a teaser that focused on Eleven and Dr. Brenner's experiments with similar children he believed to have psychic potential. It's interesting to note the focus of Stranger Things has changed significantly. While teasers for the first three seasons focused on the Upside-Down, those for season 4 have been centered on human antagonists.

At first glance, the new Stranger Things teaser shows Eleven's childhood at Hawkins Lab. The rooms and corridors are identical in style to those of Dr. Brenner's facility at Hawkins, the children are numbered in exactly the same way, and Dr. Brenner is clearly in charge. What's more, the teaser ends by approaching the door to a cell that bears the number "11," and it's followed by Dr. Brenner asking whether Eleven is listening - prompting El's eyes to snap open in shock. The general consensus is that she's suddenly recalling a repressed memory.

Related: Stranger Things Season 4: Every Reveal From The Eleven Trailer

That may be the popular opinion, but there is an alternative. It's quite possible Stranger Things season 4 is actually hinting at Dr. Brenner's current role - as head of a new Hawkins Lab. And that he still has his eyes set on obtaining Eleven.

Doctor Brenner's Status Is Currently Unknown

Stranger Things 4 Theory where is Dr Brenner

In Stranger Things, Dr. Brenner is one of the most notable scientists involved in Project MK Ultra, a secret CIA operation that launched in the 1950s attempting to weaponize psychic powers and develop techniques of mind control. The CIA had become convinced the Soviets had already mastered some way of manipulating peoples' minds, and the U.S. was desperate to catch up. So they conducted dangerous and unethical experiments across the United States and even in detention centers in Japan, Germany, and the Philippines. Dr. Brenner was running a facility based at Hawkins, Arizona, and he unlocked the potential of the human mind within a small number of test subjects. Eleven was the most powerful of Dr. Brenner's test subjects, and in Stranger Things season 1, she successfully opened a portal to the Upside-Down. This ultimately led to Dr. Brenner's apparent death when the Demogorgon attacked him.

But Stranger Things season 2 revealed Dr. Brenner was still alive when Eleven tracked down another member of staff who used to work at Hawkins Lab. In fear of his life, he offered to give up the location of other people who had been his seniors, including Dr. Brenner. There are countless theories about what Dr. Brenner has been up to; perhaps he's a prisoner of the Russians, or perhaps he's been working with them voluntarily, having turned traitor. But another possibility is that he's still working for the CIA, and that he has founded a new lab.

Dr. Brenner Would Still Be An Asset To The CIA

Stranger Things Eleven and Dr Brenner In Lab

While it's true Dr. Brenner's experiments went in an unexpected direction, it's worth noting he would be viewed as one of the CIA's greatest successes as he managed to identify a number of children with tremendous psychic powers. Stranger Things has so far featured children with telekinesis, telepathy, and illusion-casting, but tie-ins have featured a number of Hawkins lab experiment test subjects with abilities ranging from pyrokinesis to precognition. What's more, the CIA would be particularly interested in the prospect of accessing the Upside-Down, of opening portals to another dimension and traveling through it. Imagine a spy entering an enemy base in the Upside-Down, then opening a portal and stepping into the real world; no locked door or security system could stop them.

Related: Stranger Things: Everything We Know About Eleven's Origins

The CIA would prioritize the Upside-Down after the events of Stranger Things season 3, when Russians created a new Gate at Hawkins. The U.S. and the Soviets are in a technological and scientific competition right now, and the Upside-Down has become part of that competition. That means the CIA will relentlessly pursue weaponizing the abilities Dr. Brenner has unlocked and the alternate dimension he has managed to access, simply because they will fear the Russians beating them to it. Dr. Brenner would be considered their most valuable asset, and they could have concealed Dr. Brenner's surviving the Demogorgon attack simply because it had gotten too hot for him in Arizona.

The Stranger Things Season 4 Teaser Could Show A New "Hawkins Lab"

Psychic children in Rainbow Room in Stranger Things

That brings us to the teaser trailer for Stranger Things season 4, which at first glance shows us Hawkins Lab. But it's important to note Dr. Brenner kept Hawkins as nondescript as possible, meaning it would be easy - and, of course, cheap - for him to build an identical establishment. He spent years working at Hawkins, and in his attempt to reproduce the experiments he would simply have duplicated the environment. Intriguingly, while the trailer showed children playing in the Rainbow Room, this playroom was larger than any room that has been seen at Hawkins Lab. Given the amount of time Hopper has spent exploring Hawkins Lab, you'd have expected him to stumble upon a room that suggested there were so many children playing together at once. And he'd then have been prompted to ask questions, simply because Hopper cares too much about kids not to do so.

So it's possible this is not Hawkins Lab, but instead is a new facility that Dr. Brenner has established since. That would mean Stranger Things season 4 doesn't involve time travel or extensive flashbacks, but rather that it involves Eleven learning Dr. Brenner is up to his old tricks. He's much more experienced now, meaning he could have easily identified new test subjects.

Dr. Brenner Could Be Hunting For Eleven

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things

But Eleven was Dr. Brenner's greatest success, possessing the power to accomplish feats nobody else could manage. That success will be almost impossible to reproduce as Brenner has absolutely no way of knowing what aspect of his experiments upon Eleven's mother led to the baby being born with such potential, and he probably doesn't have the time to waste trying to duplicate the powerset. If Dr. Brenner wants to get access to the Upside-Down again, then he needs to find a way to reacquire Eleven. And this brings us neatly to the fact he already has a room set aside numbered "Eleven," and the trailer ending with Brenner's voice asking "Eleven, are you listening?"

In the real world, the goal of MK Ultra was to develop mind control abilities in its subjects. That could be what Dr. Brenner is attempting to accomplish through his new children; he could be trying to find a way to control Eleven's mind, to force her to come to him so he can use her once again. This whole sequence would therefore be a vision rather than a flashback, projected into Eleven's mind in order to draw her to him. That would explain Brenner's final words and Eleven awakening in shock and horror. There has been an unexpected intrusion in her mind, one that leaves her terrified, and propels her into the plot of Stranger Things season 4 - as she is forced to figure out how to unlock her own powers once again in order to discover Dr. Brenner's new location, and free the children he is now experimenting on.

More: Stranger Things Season 4 Will Change How Powerful Fans Think Eleven Is