Although Netflix has still yet to announce when Stranger Things will come back for Season 4, actor Finn Wolfhard (It, The Addams Family) said in a recent video call with a fan that it "should be out sometime next year, hopefully." While 2022 is obviously quite a ways away, that's at least a more solid date than we last heard in March, when actor Gaten Matarazzo (The Blacklist, Drop the Mic) said in an interview that he couldn't even guess when the next season would be done.

　　"There's very few dates that are reliable," Matarazzo said. "[Due to the pandemic] we still don't know day-to-day if we're gonna be filming next week." Matarazzo further explained that because of how staggered and unpredictable shoots have become, "there's really no way to figure out when we're gonna be wrapping."

　　pic.twitter.com/oV1p6Rg8FN

　　— StrangerThingsSpoilers (@SThingsSpoilers) April 18, 2021

　　To date, the gap between Season 3 and the upcoming Season 4 is the longest in the show's run. Season 1 was released in 2016, with Season 2 following the next year in 2017. While COVID-19 and the resulting quarantine was obviously a factor in the delay, which both only further warps everyone's sense of time, it might shock readers to learn Season 3 came out in 2019.

　　Fortunately, the Netflix series has benefited from all these delays by being able to cook more fully. Director Shawn Levy recently confirmed that "the quality of these screenplays are exceptional, maybe better than ever." Matarazzo notes that the Duffer Brothers's directing has also been thrilling: "They've been able to relish in directing in their day-to-day… it takes up their entire minds when they're making this." With the writing apparently now out of the way, when the cameras are rolling, Matarazzo says the Duffer Brothers can "focus on how they're going to deliver. And I think it shows."

　　In the meantime, Netflix has plenty of exciting new content dropping next month in May, including the much-awaited return of the Aziz Ansari dramedy Master of None.

　　David Wolinsky on Google+