Warning! Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 4, volume 2.
The Duffer Brothers reveal that Stranger Things season 4 almost ended with an additional character's death. After an almost 3-year wait, season 4, volume 1, of Netflix's hit horror/fantasy series was finally released in May. Stranger Things season 4 introduced a new villain in the form of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), an interdimensional being who kills his victims by invading their thoughts. Volume 2 of season 4 hit Netflix last week, promptly breaking viewership records and setting the stage for the show's final season.
Season 4 is noticeably more gruesome than previous seasons, seeing Vecna kill his victims by breaking all of their limbs, blinding them, and then snapping their necks. Hawkins High School student Chrissy (Grace Van Dien) was the first to go, followed soon after by Fred (Logan Riley Bruner) and Patrick (Myles Truitt). Despite the shocking nature of those characters' deaths, it was Eddie Munson's (Joseph Quinn) demise in the Stranger Things season 4 finale that proved the most emotional, with the beloved character sacrificing himself in order to distract Vecna. Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) also did not make it through the most recent season, despite the character's miraculous Demogorgon survival in Stranger Things season 1.
In a new interview with Collider, the Duffer Brothers reveal that Dmitri (Tom Wlaschiha), aka Enzo, was also slated to die at one point. They don't reveal how exactly the character would have met his end, but it was originally planned to happen at some point in volume 2. Check out the Duffer Brothers' full comment below:
"In terms of who makes it, who lives or dies. I think there was a version where Dimitri, AKA Enzo, didn't make it. Then he ended up making it. But that's [the most] radical of a departure from the original idea versus what we ended up with."
Although something of a wildcard when audiences first meet him in Stranger Things season 4, Enzo, as Hopper calls him, ends up becoming a strong ally. The character starts off as a prison guard at Kamchatka prison camp, attempting to blackmail Joyce for Hopper's release but, upon being found out, is himself thrown into prison alongside Hopper. The two characters end up being among the few survivors of the prison after a Demogorgon and a handful of Demodogs get loose and, by the end of season 4, Hopper and Enzo have actually grown quite close.
Although fans of the show are no strangers to emotional character deaths, season 4, in particular, proved to be quite ruthless. With both Eddie and Dr. Brenner definitively dead, and Max (Sadie Sink) appearing to die (despite later being revived), Enzo also biting the dust would have made Stranger Things season 4 especially lethal. It remains to be seen whether Hopper's prison comrade will return at all in Stranger Things season 5, but fans of the character will undoubtedly be happy that the Duffer Brothers decided against adding him to the season 4 death toll.
Source: Collider