Netflix Plans to Restart Stranger Things 4 Filming Before the End of September

The fourth season of Netflix series Stranger Things is reportedly preparing for a late September production restart after putting a six-month pause on filming amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 13, the streamer ordered an initial two-week hold on all productions in the U.S. and Canada when Stranger Things 4 was in the early stages of production. This next season, which picks up with Jim Hopper (David Harbour) still alive but now a prisoner in a Russian gulag following the events of the third season, is tentatively inching towards a new shooting start in Georgia.

Stranger Things 4 is now planning to resume filming on September 28, according to Deadline. That date is tentative and subject to change due to the nature of the pandemic.

Show creators the Duffer Brothers confirmed Hopper's return when announcing the start of production on February 14, revealing what's in store for the prisoner now that he's survived his apparent death in the Season 3 finale:

"Although it's not all good news for our 'American'; he is imprisoned far from home in the snowy wasteland of Kamchatka, where he will face dangers both human…and other. Meanwhile, back in the states, a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything," the Duffers wrote in a statement. "Season 4 is shaping up to be the biggest and most frightening season yet, and we cannot wait for everyone to see more. In the meantime — pray for the American."

In May, Harbour teased the new season will reveal a "huge" piece of Hopper's backstory. The actor hinted this revelation is the "pay off" to a discovery made by Hopper's adopted daughter Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in Season 2, where she uncovered boxes marked "New York" and "Vietnam."

Eleven comes across "five boxes, one of which has Brenner's stuff from Hawkins Lab, one of which says 'Dad,' and one of which says 'Vietnam,' and one says 'New York,'" Harbour said during a May appearance at Liverpool Comic Con. "So there are these three things that we've established in the season that if we don't pay off, it means that they're bad writers. And the Duffer brothers are very good writers."

"So I know specifically that in Season 4 we will give you a big, huge reveal about Hopper's backstory," he added.

Harbour returns alongside Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, and Winona Ryder. Stranger Things 4 currently has no announced release date.