You had to know that theories were going to start flying the moment that it appeared that Hopper was seen to have disappeared since no one wanted to see the slightly problematic yet still heroic police officer make such a hasty exit from the series. Well, considering that people have been keeping their eyes glued to the internet in such a way as to catch each and every tidbit that comes along, it seems as though another theory has been picked up by Adrienne Tyler of ScreenRant that pulls from another movie, Interstellar. To make a long story short the theory has a lot to do with wormholes, string theory, and time travel, which is a huge idea among theorists when it comes to explaining why and how things are the way they are. Essentially Hopper will become the time traveler in this instance, affecting the past and the present as he becomes able to manipulate both as he’s been apparently thrust in between dimensions. There’s a very big mind-numbing explanation behind all of it, but the gist is that Hopper isn’t dead and he’s become an even more integral part of the story, which means we’ll likely see him again whenever the show happens to need him.
There are a lot of theories about Stranger Things at this point but one that could almost unravel this theory, or perhaps help it if one could find a way to make them integrate, is that Will Byers is responsible for the Upside Down. Remember that one? It was mentioned in these pages a short while back, but it’s just one of many theories that seemed to capture the attention of the people since it was something that seemed insanely interesting and was able to gain a bit of ground. If Will Byers created the Upside Down it seems that Hopper’s fate could be bound up with the youngest Byers brother and might send things into an even bigger spin than anyone could imagine. What is known about Stranger Things 4 at this point is that the director seems to think that the fourth season might be the end of the show, while the thought that’s being given by the producer is that it could keep going as Abby Robinson and Sam Ashurst of DigitalSpy have reported. One has to wonder though just how many seasons the producer is willing to go with until they think that enough is enough. Erring on the side of caution with this series doesn’t seem to be what’s desired, but there is still the thought that eventually it will begin to wear thin since even if there is an unending stream of nasties to come from the Upside Down to threaten the world, it’s likely that the story would become an unending series of back and forth wins and losses that might begin to wear on people.
Keeping the story unpredictable and hard to walk away from is a good idea since thus far it’s kept a lot of people in the dark and guessing what’s going to come next. After all, Eleven’s disappearance when she took down the Demogorgon, her fight with the Mind Flayer with Hopper providing cover, and then the Battle of Starcourt in which she seems to have lost her powers, are all hooks that were great enough to keep the audience entertained. Billy’s sacrifice and Hopper’s apparent demise were also very big events that had people nearly in tears since both characters were given a good deal of attention throughout the last two seasons. As Greg Brian of the CheatSheet might agree with, Stranger Things does have what it takes to last and be a truly eventful show, but it would need to introduce more characters, continue to increase the dynamic between the established characters, and not spend too much time bringing back certain characters. It already has enough drama, it doesn’t need to turn into a full-blown soap opera by bringing people back from the dead when they should by all rights be dead and gone. Just think of it this way, what if ‘the American’ that was mentioned at the end of the third season was Bob, instead of Hopper like so many wanted to believe? We all saw Bob go down and get munched on by the demi-dogs, but if we’ve learned anything about movies and TV shows throughout the years is that pretty much anyone can be brought back in ways that we might find hard to swallow, but will still be implemented in an effort to keep people happy.
The Interstellar theory isn’t the wildest among the bunch if you can believe that, but it does have some interest since it would mean that Hopper is still out there somewhere, perhaps trying to get back and maybe even trying to alter things just enough that the outcome of the story could be a little different. It’s a thought, that’s all.
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