*Contains spoilers for Stranger Things seasons one & two*
Season one landed like the mothership in Close Encounters: to gasps of wonder, yelps of fear and maybe even a few bassoon solos. Stranger Things was an amazing blend of '80s pop-culture references, eerie storytelling and startling performances from a young cast.
Season two may have lacked the element of surprise, but it kept the ball rolling despite vocal complaints from critics about certain plot decisions. (Specifically episode seven: the one with the "outcast" street gang who were about as threatening - and plausible -as a baddies from The A-Team.)
Co-creators the Duffer brothers have confirmed that a third season (and fourth) are in the pipeline, while producer Shawn Levy has teased a possible fifth.
Speaking to EW, Levy said: "Hearts were heard breaking in Netflix headquarters when the brothers made four seasons sound like an official end, and I was suddenly getting phone calls from our actors' agents. The truth is we're definitely going four seasons [sic] and there's very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely."
Ross Duffer confirmed: "If we're able to, there will be at least four, there could be more. I think there's going to come a point where why aren't these people leaving Hawkins? Like we're going to stretch credibility. It wasn't intended to be a seven-season thing."
First things first, though: what can we expect from season three?
Stranger Things 3 air date: When can we expect it?
The first season dropped in July 2016, but Netflix had commissioned the second before it even landed. Season two was timed to coincide with Halloween, and came out in late October 2017. Given how long it takes to write, film and edit nine episodes of TV, we'd be surprised if season three arrived any time before October 2018.
Stranger Things 3 cast: Who's in it?
The stars are becoming more and more popular with casting agents by the week – David Harbour (Hopper) is signed up to play Hellboy in the upcoming reboot, Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) will star in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Finn Wolfhard is likely to return to Derry (in flashback) for IT: Chapter 2.
But barring an inter-dimensional cross-rip, we'd expect all the main surviving cast to return for season 3. (Sorry, no Barb. She be dead.)
One lesser character from season two will definitely be getting more screen time: Lucas' sister Erica (Priah Ferguson). Matt Duffer told Yahoo!: "I love Erica. [Priah] was just a local hire we made in Atlanta. Erica wasn't even supposed to be in [season two] as much as she was. We fell in love with this girl. I thought she's very GIF-able, if that's a word."
We know that Dr Brenner (Matthew Modine) is apparently still alive, so it would seem likely that we'll see more of him in seasons to come, provided Modine is up for it.
Stranger Things 3 plot: Any theories?
The Duffers have confirmed that, as with season two, there will be a time jump of one year between seasons two and three. Matt Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter: "Even if we wanted to hop into the action faster, we couldn't. Our kids are ageing.
"We can only write and produce the show so fast. They're going to be almost a year older by the time we start shooting season three. It provides certain challenges. You can't start right after season two ended.
"It forces you to do a time jump. But what I like is that it makes you evolve the show."
We can be fairly sure that after that final shot of season two, we'll definitely see the Mind Flayer again. Season three will further explore the mythology of the Upside Down, but don't expect clear answers.
Ross Duffer says: "There's no way [the kids] can ever truly fully understand this place. We have our Upside Down document which describes its rules and its mythology in quite a bit of detail, but I think we're just going to slowly parse that out, and maybe not even fully use all of it.
"Our favourite thing to do on this show is that these characters, especially the kids, are able to make these leaps about the Mind Flayer and how it operates and what it wants, but they're just basing this off of games that they've played. They don't really know for sure."
Talking to IndieWire, creators Ross and Matt Duffer gave some teasers for the season, although admitted that at the moment they're currently "just working with some writers and figuring out where it's going to go".
They were able to say that the plan for season three is to be "something almost weirdly more intimate" and "a lot of fun".
Ross said: "I love the early days of seasons, because you are filled with all of these possibilities. We are having a lot of fun just bouncing around cool ideas."
Matt hinted that the next season will focus more on character development than scale: "It's not necessarily going to be bigger in scale. What I am really excited about is giving these characters an interesting journey to go on."
Among the plot threads still dangling: the burgeoning relationship between Mike and Eleven; the no less burgeoning friendship (and more?) between Hopper and Joyce; Max's subdued but not beaten douchebag brother Billy; Dustin's jealousy of Lucas...
And some gubbins or other about trans-dimensional beasts.
Stranger Things 3 trailer: When is it coming?
Give the guys a break, they won't have filmed anything yet to cut a trailer from. The first teaser of season two came out during the Superbowl in February 2017, so don't be surprised to see your first glimpse then in 2018.
