What just happened? Netflix just released the final trailer for the fourth season of Stranger Things (above). We know it's the last because previous teasers have been numbered 001/004, 002/004, 003/004, and this one is 004/004. So we must be getting close to launch, right?

Update (11/08/21): Shortly after publication, Netflix shot holes in my theory with a follow-up tweet announcing that Stranger Things 4 would premiere next summer. A video clip accompanied the notice (below) naming the titles of each of Stranger Things 4's nine episodes.

It's somewhat unfortunate that it will have been a full three years since ST3. The pandemic did not help things, but three years is a long time to expect viewers to maintain their interest in a television show. The Season 3 recap will probably be the most viewed episode of Season 4.

The original story follows below:

According to my scientific calculations, I predict Stranger Things 4 will drop in Spring 2022. Okay, maybe not precisely scientific. It's just that aside from the first, which was released July 15, 2016, but took place in November 1983, each season has launched during the time of the year that the story was set.

Season 2 happened during Halloween 1984 and launched on October 27, 2017. Likewise, Stranger Things 3 dropped on July 4, 2019, and was set in the summer of 1985. As we see in trailer 004/004, otherwise titled "Welcome to California," the show takes place during the spring---presumably of 1986. Although Netflix has only officially given a vague 2022 release window, I'd say a fair assumption would be a Spring debut.

The actress that portrays Eleven, Millie Bobby Brown, narrates the trailer framed as a letter to Mike (Finn Wolfhard). She tells him everything is going well for her as she has settled into her life in Califonia. However, the montage belies her words as she does not fit in at all and gets picked on in school. The only thing she looks forward to is going to visit him during spring break.

"We will have the best spring break ever," she promises.

Well, as long as by "best," she means a spring break involving guns, explosions, creepy dolls, secret government experiments in underground bunkers, and getting chased by helicopters. Sounds like a blast.

Oh, by the way, you might want to mark November 6 on your calendar as a new holiday. Judging by a post on the Stranger Things Twitter feed (above), Netflix wants November 6 to be "Stranger Things Day." November 6, 1983 was the day Will Byers disappeared into the Upside-down.