The most recent trailer for Stranger Things season 4 seems to show that the Netflix hit will be bringing back Eleven’s fellow test subjects, but what if the rest of them are villains working for Hawkins Lab instead of rebelling against them? Debuting in 2016, Stranger Things instantly became a word-of-mouth phenomenon and a major hit for streaming service Netflix and its creators, Hidden helmers the Duffer Brothers.
The first season of Stranger Things combined Stephen King with Steven Spielberg in its story of a few plucky kids uncovering a government conspiracy, secret human experimentation, and a multi-dimensional monster. The series became a huge hit thanks to a stellar multi-generational cast, effective scares, and a compelling central mystery. Still, they left some important questions unanswered surrounding the unseen backstory of Stranger Things. For example, although Stranger Things quickly established that its heroine Eleven had telekinetic powers and was the subject of shady human experimentation under the supervision of Matthew Modine’s villainous Dr. Brenner, the first season of the show never answered the question of why Hawkins Lab was conducting these experiments and what happened to the other test subjects.
Fortunately, season 2 soon explained with the arrival of Eleven’s lost sister Kali. Still, the story of Kali getting revenge on Hawkins Lab technicians and uncovering the nefarious villains behind these experiments was abandoned when fans disliked the episode dedicated to this new character’s quest. Since then, the fandom has come up with many theories about Kali, Eleven, and the fate of their unseen fellow escapees, and particularly the idea that the rest of the test subjects may unite against Hawkins lab in season 4. But the show’s latest trailer might be hinting that the rest of the test subjects are loyal to Hawkins Lab and could be brainwashed villains in Eleven’s eyes.
The Villainous Test Subject Theory Explained
Frequent COVID-related delays mean that Stranger Things season 4's arrival has been pushed back (possibly until as late as 2022), but the show is nonetheless providing fans with intriguing early teaser trailers to over-analyze in the meantime. The earliest trailer confirmed that the series antihero Hopper was alive despite his season 3 self-sacrifice, and last week’s second Stranger Things season 4 trailer depicted a group of kids identical to Eleven milling about playing with preschool toys in a test facility. The teaser clip then slowly Steadicam’d its way to the closed door of Eleven’s cell as the children chanted a greeting to their captor/mentor Dr. Brenner. Then, the question is whether Eleven was still in her room because she is the only one rebelling against the experiments. If so, could Eleven and Kali be the only test subjects who wanted to escape Hawkins Lab and Matthew Modine’s “Papa?”
Evidence For The Villainous Test Subject Theory
The fact that the kids congregated in the season 4 trailer all chant “good morning Papa“ when Modine’s creepy father figure arrived, with only the absent Eleven abstaining, gave the room an unsettling atmosphere. It also made it seem unlikely that these children were aware of their plight in the way that Eleven’s conflicted season 1 self seemed to be in flashback scenes. The conformity of these test subjects could suggest that, if this scene is indeed a flashback, the rest of the test subjects may now work for Hawkins lab, and the few rebels who escaped, like Eleven and Kali, are the exception rather than the rule. The trailer singling out Eleven’s cell reinforces this idea that the heroine of Stranger Things is an outlier, and the rest of her fellow inmates are far from staging a New Mutants-style prison break.
What This Means For Stranger Things 4
This theory would clarify who the villains of Stranger Things season 4 are, as the other test subjects could be used by Hawkins lab to hunt down Kali, Eleven, and any other defectors, much like Kali hunts the employees of Hawkins Lab. The test subjects could also be unleashed on the Byers family, Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, and anyone else (civilian or otherwise) who knows too much about the shady goings-on in Hawkins’ institution. It would mark an interesting move away from the increasingly large-scale monster villains of the last two seasons back to the more human-sized villains of season 1, something that Stranger Things’ casting of Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund may also lend credence to. Many fans have argued that the series is overdue a return to the smaller-scale, more intimate action of Stranger Things season 1 rather than the giant monster antics of the divisive season 3, and the test subjects being a creepy human villain (albeit with some Eleven-esque powers) could be just the trick to pull of this tonal transformation.
Why The Theory Might Not Be True
However, while the theory is an intriguing one, another Stranger Things teaser trailer posted on the Netflix show’s official Youtube channel a few hours earlier may have already disproven it. The trailer, entitled "HNL Control Room," displays a series of CCTV screens in the Hawkins Lab facility wherein the test subjects have caused bloody chaos in what could be a breakout. It’s unclear whether Eleven’s early season 1 escape occurred before or after this gruesome jailbreak, but the chaos of the scene seems to imply that all of the kids will be rebelling against their captors en masse. If this is the case, the test subjects clearly have followed Eleven’s example and will likely be as sympathetic to the characters and viewers as their former fellow captive.
That said, if the teaser trailer depicts an entirely new Hawkins Lab filled with new test subjects, as some fans have theorized, then the fact that the kids have broken out en masse is no reason to think they will not be the villains of Stranger Things season 4. If the superpowered test subjects are strong enough to break out of Hawkins Lab and kill their captors in the process, Hawkins may be in for an influx of killer kids with telekinetic powers, a lot of unprocessed anger, and no self-control to rein in either. Much like Eleven would have been a dangerous prospect if she hadn’t been met with the kindness of Dustin, Mike, and Lucas, a whole team of Elevens, armed with hitherto-unseen powers could cause no end of mayhem in the small-town setting of Stranger Things in season 4.