While we don't have an official release date yet, fans are already getting excited for the release of the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things after a recent teaser gave a first look at what's next for the town of Hawkins, and the growing party of Dungeons & Dragons adventures we've been following since the first season.
Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will were the original party members who were called into action in real life when Will went missing, and while the party has grown and changed over three seasons in a few key ways, it's also stayed the same in a few other ways that we are going to explore.
CHANGED: NEW MEMBERS
While the party was at risk of losing one of their members when Will went missing in the first season, he was eventually saved due to the help of Eleven, who would become the first new member added to the party. But she wouldn't be the last.
The second season would see the eventual addition of Max to the party, while other adventurers of Hawkins like Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan have become more closely associated with the younger group. Even the older party has added members with the inclusion of Robin in the third season.
SAME: BRAVERY+2
To be fair, there is no Bravery stat in D&D, and one could argue Wisdom or Charisma would fit better, but the point remains the same. Mike and his friends have continued to display incredible amounts of bravery across all three seasons as they encountered and dealt with the Upside Down.
Whether it's finding the courage to search the woods for their missing party member Will in the first season or dealing with the corrupted citizens of Hawkins in the third season, the party has remained vigilant and courageous and we expect to see the same from the currently separated party members in the fourth season.
CHANGED: THREAT LEVEL
The party proved themselves well in the first season by dealing with the combined threats of the sinister Department of Energy as it looked for Eleven, along with the monstrous Demogorgon from the Upside Down, which almost proved too much for everyone involved.
Unfortunately, the Upside Down has continued to escalate the threat with the introduction of the Demo-Dogs and the Mind Flayer in the second season, and then the puppeteered human hosts of the Mind Flayer and the Russian government in the third season.
SAME: RULE OF LAW
While some groups have friends have some unwritten rules that they live by, the Stranger Things party follows what they call the Rule of Law, a set of governing rules that help them deal with any issues that come up within the party, like the fight between Mike and Lucas in the first season that saw Mike draw first blood, calling for him to be the first to apologize or risk banishment.
When Eleven joined with the party she added another Rule of Law that has continued to govern the group of friends and their associated members across every season - "Friends Don't Lie." While it hasn't led to the banishment of party members, when that rule is broken it never ends well for the party.
CHANGED: LARGER SUPPORT NETWORK
Stranger Things has always told a few interconnected stories in each season that explores the party as well as the other characters in the group and with each new season, the various characters who become aware of the Upside Down and the various governments and work with the party to fight against it have grown larger.
Characters like reporter Murray Bauman (who will be returning for the fourth season) have been instrumental in assisting the adults of the group, while one of our favorite third season characters Erica set herself up to potentially become a future party member herself.
SAME: THEY STILL FIGHT
Friendship can be a funny thing sometimes, because while it brings us closer to each other than almost anything, it can also make us vulnerable to those we love the most. This can often lead to quickly hurt feelings, and as we've seen among the party a few times, fights that test their bonds.
Mike and Lucas fighting in the first season is an early example of the friction they faced, though the party would be separated each season by a new issue, whether it was the addition of Max to the party or the eventual romantic relationships that would develop in the third season.
CHANGED: DATING
While Stranger Things is a supernatural mystery about another world, government experimentation, and superhuman powers, it is also a coming-of-age tale that examines a few years in the life of a not so ordinary group of teenagers.
While the older kids dealt with some of the highs and lows of the dating life in the first season, it wasn't until the third season that the party was actively dating both within itself and outside the group, with only Will still trying to cling on to the childhood that was stripped from him by the Upside Down.
SAME: STILL BEST FRIENDS
The party has explored their own thoughts on their friendship and what it means to be a best friend throughout the series, and while they have dealt with a few hurdles along the way, the party has continued to showcase their strong bond through the series.
They are set to face the biggest threat to their friendship with the departure of the Byers family and party member Will from the town of Hawkins at the close of the third season, but given the party's past success at maintaining their tight-knit group, we have high hopes the party will endure in the fourth season.
CHANGED: GROWING APART
Unfortunately, as it happens to so many of us as we grow older, things happen outside of our control that force us to grow apart from our friends, whether through the other relationships we make or pulled apart by distance as we might see in the upcoming fourth season.
Following three seasons of horror in Hawkins, Joyce finally decided to move the Byers family, which now included Eleven, out of Hawkins. That move away from town and the developing relationships between the other party members are the first steps in the sometimes inevitable act of growing apart.
SAME: STILL NERDS
The very first time we meet the party, they are locked into a 10-hour campaign of Dungeons & Dragons when they encounter the game version of the Demogorgon, which would become the name of the first monster the party faced in real-life as well. This trend would continue throughout the series with abilities like True Sight and the Mind Flayer.
The series is full of other references and examples of the group's continuing nerdiness - which of course reflects our own - through their involvement with the A/V club and love of comics and video games, and while their devotion to D&D was tested in the last season, it's clear the party members will always be nerds.