Netflix released a new teaser for Stranger Things season 4, and the presence of a clock supports two key story theories. One of Netflix’s most successful original TV shows is Stranger Things, a sci-fi horror drama series created by the Duffer Brothers and which premiered on the platform in 2016. Stranger Things became very popular in no time thanks to its combination of genres as well as its 1980s settings, the various cultural references to that decade, and the many horror works that were used as inspiration, mostly those by John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and Stephen King.
Stranger Things introduced viewers to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and the supernatural events that have happened there as a result of the experiments conducted at Hawkins Lab. Season 1 covered the events that triggered a series of disappearances and murders in Hawkins and revealed that the people at Hawkins Lab opened a portal to another dimension, referred to as the “Upside Down” and which is home to a variety of monsters. Stranger Things season 2 continued exploring the Upside Down and its many dangers, and even though the portal to the other dimension was closed, season 3 revealed the Russians had been working on their own experiments on the Upside Down and established an underground lab in Hawkins with the purpose of opening a new gate.
At the end of Stranger Things season 3, the new gate was successfully closed, but that doesn’t mean it will be the end of the group’s problems, as Jim Hopper (David Harbour) survived the explosion and is now captive in Russia (somehow), the Byers and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) moved out of Hawkins, and there are new menaces around town that will ultimately link to the Upside Down. Plot details on Stranger Things season 4 are still a mystery, but Netflix has released a couple of teasers that hint at where the story will go, and the latest one, titled “Creel House”, supports two key fan theories: time travel and its connection to the Upside Down, all thanks to a clock.
Stranger Things season 4’s “Creel House” teaser introduces viewers to the title location, where some disturbing events happened in the 1950s when a family of four moved in. Cutting to the present day (within the Stranger Things timeline, that is), Dustin, Lucas, Max, Steve, and Robin break into Creel House searching for clues for something yet unknown, and the teaser ends with a shot of a grandfather clock in the attic, which then appears in the Upside Down version of the house, with the glass breaking at the end. This is the same clock that appeared in the very first teaser for Strange Things season 4 and thus has been at the core of various fan theories, the biggest ones being about time travel and the Upside Down. There has been a lot of emphasis on time-related elements in the marketing for Stranger Things season 4, with fans theorizing it will deal with time travel, even sending the crew to the 1990s.
Time travel has also been theorized to be linked to the Upside Down, as there are still a lot of mysteries around the other dimension. A popular fan theory suggests the Upside Down is Hawkins of the future, while others believe Hopper ended up in a Russian prison as the portal took him either back or forward in time. Another theory, and one linked to another Stranger Things season 4 teaser, suggests Eleven will go back in time in hopes of getting her powers back, and the clock at Creel House might be key in this, as it’s the one and only object so far that connects time and the Upside Down. Stranger Things season 4 has surely prepared many surprises for the audience, and the teasers are made to create speculation.