Stranger Things stars explain why season 4 is the show's "scariest, darkest" chapter yet

Stranger Things season 4 will be the Netflix show's "scariest and darkest" one yet, stars Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown have claimed.

In a new interview with Collider, the pair – who play Mike Wheeler and Eleven, respectively – talked about the upcoming installment turning up the fright factor, and joked about how they really mean it, too, despite saying the same thing with every passing season.

"Four is the scariest and the darkest, easily. This season, I have the more comedic side of the storyline, the more playful side. But reading the scripts and being like, "Oh da, da, da, our stuff, fun, fun stuff," and then I just look, and I'm like, "This is the craziest thing that..." I mean, it is the craziest thing that the Duffers have like..." Wolfhard recalled. 

"I feel like if they could have gone darker the first season, they would've. I think season 1 is incredible, it's so amazing, but the Duffers love dark. They love horror stuff. They love Evil Dead stuff, and I think they had to prove themselves and have all audiences be able to watch it."

The actor went on to assure less horror-hungry fans that while the scares in season 4 aren't so spine-tingling they'll put them off, it definitely "twists things up a notch" – which is something, he argues, the Duffers did with seasons 2 and 3, as well.

"It always is constantly moving and breathing," Wolfhard noted. "That's what's so weird and awesome about our show is that it just constantly is breathing and changing. Like its own monster."

While Mike is off having a good time with his new bestie Argyle, "you get to see Eleven in the darkest state she's ever been", says Brown. 

"This has definitely been the hardest season I've ever filmed, and there have been some of the scariest things that I've ever seen as a human, which you guys will get to see for sure. I'll get to tell more stories and touch on my experiences as a person filming on the set with these legitimate scary things."

Set six months after the end of season 3, which saw Eleven leave Hawkins with Will (Noah Schnapp) and his family, Stranger Things season 4 follows the gang as they're brought back together by "a new and horrifying supernatural threat." 

Before long, the group stumble across "a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down."

Those reprising their roles alongside Brown, Wolfhard and Schnapp include Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), and Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers).

Stranger Things season 4 is set to feature a ton of new faces, too, as Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, Amybeth McNulty, Myles Truitt, Sherman Augustus, Mason Dye, Nikola Đuričko, Regina Ting Chen, Grace Van Dien, and Robert Englund all join the cast.

Last month, co-creator Ross Duffer opened up about the next chapter's darker turn, and how he and his brother Matt Duffer were heavily influenced by movies such as Jaws, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween this time around.

"When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are…The Goonies in E.T. That’s their storyline," he recalled in an interview with Netflix Tudum. "This year, we don't have the kids. We can't do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we’re leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change."

The first half of Stranger Things season 4 is set to arrive on Netflix on May 27, before the second half is released on July 1. While we wait for the new episodes, why not check out our list of the best Netflix shows and bulk out your to-watch list.