Stranger Things 4 Teases Hopper’s Escape From Russian Prison

Ever since the shocking end to Stranger Things 3 resulted in the tragic death of Hawkins Sheriff Jim Hopper, fans have been wondering how the show could possibly continue. Well, don’t worry because Hopper never really died on the Netflix series, and as many people suspected he actually disappeared and was seemingly transported to a Soviet gulag, forced into manual labor as revealed in the latest teaser for Stranger Things 4. And after this week’s massive teaser made its way online, fans have been speculating about how Hopper could possibly escape jail AND make it back to his hometown in the United States.

Well, don’t worry too much because the writers of Stranger Things are thinking the same thing, and it looks like they may have tipped their hands when it comes to Hopper.

The official Twitter account for the Stranger Things 4 writers room has been posting inspirations for the new season, including one tweet on the day the new teaser dropped that seemingly reveals just where they’re going for Hopper. The tweet referenced many stories about prison, and more importantly about escaping prison.

While the teaser has since confirmed Hopper is alive (or, at the very least, a version of Hopper…) the actor David Harbour has done a good job of not answering any questions, instead choosing to mislead fans by saying he’s not sure what’s going on.

“Oh my Lord! I don’t know. Should we call the Duffer brothers?” Harbour said German Comic Con Dortmund in December. “We don’t know yet, we don’t know. They won’t tell me anything, so we’ll have to see. I think you’ll find out at some point, we’ll find out at some point. Let’s hope he’s alive.”

Even then, Harbour hinted that he expected to see Hopper back in some capacity, though he wasn’t sure exactly how it could happen.

“Now whether or not there is this second act, whether or not there is some sort of resurrection, whether or not we can see him go off in a certain way, would be really interesting to me. I would love it,” Harbour said. “Anybody watch Lord of the Rings? Gandalf the Grey fights the Balrog, descends into darkness, battles him forever, and everyone thinks he’s dead. And then he re-emerges as Gandalf the White, with sort of a new strength and a new power. That would be an interesting arc for him.”

We’ll see if Hopper gets some Upside Down-granted superpowers when Stranger Things 4 premieres on Netflix in the future.