The Russians look likely to be Stranger Things’ season 4 villains, but the show should focus on the shadowy denizens of Hawkins National Laboratory instead. Since it debuted in 2016, Stranger Things has become a nostalgic sci-fi horror phenomenon for Netflix. Created by t he Duffer Brothers, the show boasts an incredible young cast, including It star Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown as the show's young heroine El.
Each new season of Stranger Things has introduced new villains, both human and supernatural, with some fan favorites including the monstrous Demogorgon, the powerful Mind-Flayer, and the terrifying body-snatched bully Billy. But the show hasn't always focused on the right villains, and this new season look set to make the wrong call with its choice of big bad.
With Billy redeemed but still very much dead and gone and Hopper sent to Siberia via an inter-dimensional portal, it looks like season 4’s primary antagonists will be the Russian military scientists who were introduced in season 3. While some of Stranger Things’ villains have been compelling, the Russian enemies had already served their purpose and don’t have much potential going forward. While they were a refreshing break from the norm in season 3, the series now needs to retire its Russian villains and return to the shadowy operatives behind Hawkins Lab for season 4.
The Russians Are Set Up As The Villains Of Stranger Things Season 4
There's no getting around the fact the Russians will play some sort of role in the upcoming Stranger Things season 4. The first glimpse of the new season already confirmed what fans had guessed: that Detective Hopper's self-sacrifice was a fake-out and David Harbour's stoic anti-hero is alive in some snowy locale. His prison appears to be in the wilds of Siberia, where faceless Soviets will be as much of a threat to Hopper as the show's less human villains. Meanwhile, the Russian base located beneath the show's local mall means that Steve, Dustin, and Robin won't soon forget their violent face-off with Russian troops, and having defied death at their hands once it seems unlikely that the heavily armed scientists will simply let bygones be bygones and leave the kids alone.
The Problem With The Russians Being Season 4's Villains
The arrival of the gruff Russian villains in season 3 was a cute way for Stranger Things to reference '80s Cold War paranoia, and they were a serviceable nostalgic baddy for fans of the decade's action movies like Red Dawn. But the combination of a language barrier and lack of a memorable figurehead meant the Russians weren’t particularly compelling villains the way the simmering psycho Billy and the faceless, uncaring scientists of Hawkins Lab been. Sure, season 3’s Russian Terminator homage hitman was a solid addition, but he was only a pawn in their plan and the rest of the season’s personality-free Soviets were quickly dispatched like the interchangeable henchmen they were.
The Russians' underground lair had none of Hawkins Lab’s paranoia-inducing connections to local institutions, making the subplot less of a conspiracy mystery and more of a bizarre “there’s a secret lab under the mall” gag. The first two seasons left viewers wondering whether politicians, papers, and even police forces were in on the Hawkins Lab plot. In contrast, Stranger Things season 3's new arrival Cary Elwes’ sleazy mayor wasn't in league with the Russians and seemed as clueless to their schemes as everyone else, making their presence credulity-stretching even in a season with the multi-story Mind-Flayer as its monster.
Stranger Things Needs To Expose Hawkins Lab (& Bring Back Dr. Brenner)
It was hinted at in Stranger Things season 1 and almost occurred in season 2, but Jonathan and Nancy’s attempt at an expose of Hawkins Lab and the creepy secrets that the institution is home to was buried even though the lab's monsters almost killed the kids and their friends, and the lab technician's experiments put Jonathan's little brother Will in life-threatening danger. As a result, the people of Hawkins are still blissfully unaware of the coverup (although if they didn’t notice the Mind Flayer rampaging around, maybe they deserve to be left in the dark). Bringing the focus back to Hawkins Lab and the still-largely unexplained group who ran the lab and experimented on El could lead the heroes to finally getting justice for the many victims killed in the first two seasons (RIP Barb and Bob).
Meanwhile, bringing back the Hawkins Lab villains could spell a return for Full Metal Jacket star Matthew Modine’s unsettling season 1 villain, Dr. Brenner. This creepy “father” figure to El was an unsettling emotionless doctor, last seen being body-tackled by the Demogorgon at the close of season 1. However, the creators have since acknowledged that it takes more than a multi-dimensional monster to keep the good doctor down, teasing that Dr. Brenner is not quite dead yet. With Hopper confirmed to return, seeing her two “dads” duke it out would give El more of an emotionally resonant connection to the fourth season’s villains than she ever had to season 3’s big bads, Billy and the Russians. Speaking of Hopper, his isolated existence in Russia could end dragging out over most of the season and keep him cut off from the rest of the cast if the Russians are the primary villains. But if they’re swiftly replaced by Hawkins Lab as the focus of the season, this could fast-track the character’s return and facilitate a face-off with the villains who started all of this, four long seasons ago.
Hawkins Lab As The Villain Can Help Fix The Show's Lost Sister Mistake
Speaking of El and her emotional connections, bringing back Hawkins Lab could allow the show to bring back its other famous experiment, El’s lost sister Kali. Yes, Kali’s lone appearance in the show’s second season wasn’t one of its most critically acclaimed hours, with many viewers hating the character due to the episode’s awkward inability to ground her and her group of misfit friends in the show’s established reality. But a big part of the reason that Kali's character was never properly explored is that her episode took place in another setting, with El transported to Chicago briefly (and with little narrative purpose).
As this sojourn only lasted one episode, Kali never had a chance to make a good impression so the possibility of Hawkins Lab not only returning but being reinstated as season four’s primary villains would give her and the rest of Hawkins Lab's test subjects ample reason to arrive in Hawkins and bring these disparate story threads together. This could finally clarify the character’s backstory and maybe even give her a triumphant chance to stick it to her former tormentors. Bear in mind after all that Kali wanted Brenner dead above everything else, and the showrunners have confirmed that the Demogorgon has not yet seen to that. Bringing back Kali could prove that the show’s Chicago diversion wasn’t a mistake and having Kali be the one to kill Brenner would be a far better end to the chilling villain than an offscreen mauling by the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired ghoul.