Stranger Things Promotes Brett Gelman to Series Regular for Season 4

You're about to see a whole lot more of Murray Bauman. Stranger Things star Brett Gelman has been promoted to series regular for the hit Netflix show, a healthy increase from his already sizable role in Season Three. Production for the fourth outing of the show is underway and we've already gotten at least one teaser for the upcoming, one which seemingly confirms the fact Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is alive in Russia.

Gelman first joined the production as a guest star in the second season before being upgraded to a recurring role last year. He plays a bizarro conspiracy theorist that helped Hopper and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) infiltrate a secret Russian lair that had been set up under the Starcourt Mall in Hawkins. Gelman's extended role likely comes as a result not only of the fan's reaction to the character, but the actor's breakout role in Amazon's Fleabag.

Prior to the release of the initial teaser trailer, Harbour played coy about the return of his character. After all, Stranger Things 3 ended with Hopper apparently dying as he sacrificed himself to shut off the Key that had been keeping the Upside Down open.

"I think Hopper — from the very beginning I've said this — he's very lovable in a certain way, but also, he's kind of a rough guy," Harbour said at a convention appearance last year at German Comic Con Dortmund. "Certainly in the beginning of Season 1 he's kind of dark, and he's drinking, and he's trying to kill himself, and he hates himself for what happened to his daughter. I feel like, in a sense, that character needed to die. He needed to make some sacrifice to make up for the way he's been living for the past like 10 years, the resentments that he's had. So he needed to die."

"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. 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."

Stranger Things 4 has yet to set a release date. You can binge the first three seasons now on Netflix.

[h/t Deadline]