Fans are still wondering.
As always, if you haven’t ventured into the Upside Down to watch Season 2 then consider this to be your spoiler alert warning.
At the end of the new episodes, there’s only one thing that’s certain, Steve Harrington is a goddamn hero!
Yes, the most beloved man in Hawkins has gone from being hated to adored but aside from Steve’s glorious hair, what else can we expect in Season 3?
Are we going to be seeing more of Eleven’s fellow lab inmates with psychic abilities? Will the Mind Flayer strike back on Hawkins? Is Will Byers back to ‘normal’? Is the Hawkins lab closed forever? Will Hopper and Joyce get together? Can Steve’s hair remain as perfect as it is’?
Well, one of the biggest mysteries surrounds the fate of the sinister Dr. Brenner – Eleven’s “Papa” that oversaw the series of experiments that were performed on her in Season 1.
Cast your mind back to the end of Season 1.
The last time we saw Matthew Modine’s character, he was being attacked by the Demogorgon in the season one finale, which isn’t promising. A month later in the same episode, we see a news clipping where he categorically denies Joyce’s claims that her son was experimented on.
Granted, Paul Reiser’s new scientist did give us a few nostalgic goosebumps especially since the actor played Burke in Aliens, but Brenner was always going to be the main villain of the piece.
Eleven’s adoptive father made a brief cameo in Season 2 via Kali’s vision, but his actual fate is still debated by fans of the show.
Well, Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy has confirmed that Dr Brenner is still alive while also addressing the controversial seventh episode, The Lost Sister.
In an interview with Collider, he said: “Whether or not people feel [episode seven] was entirely successful, the Duffers want to take some swings, and they know that they’re not gonna please everybody. But that feeling of the world getting a bit bigger especially coupled with the fact that it now seems clear that Brenner is alive, Brenner is out there.”
At present, the Mind Flayer seems like the most pressing villain, but we expect to see Eleven face down her arch-nemesis in Season 3.
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