‘Stranger Things’ gets a fourth season; Duffer brothers get a big Netflix deal

It’s happening: “Stranger Things” is getting a fourth season to chronicle the sci-fi exploits of Eleven and her crew — and further heighten your sense of 1980s nostalgia.

Netflix on Monday announced its flagship series’ renewal with a teaser clip showcasing a spooky “Stranger Things 4” logo and the ominous declaration that “We’re not in Hawkins anymore.” The development also came with word that the streaming giant had signed the series’ creators and showrunners, Matt and Ross Duffer, to a multiyear film and series overall deal, all but ensuring the creation of new worlds outside of Indiana and its all-consuming Upside Down.

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“The Duffer Brothers have captivated viewers around the world with ‘Stranger Things’ and we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with them to bring their vivid imaginations to other film and series projects our members will love,” the streamer’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to see what the Duffer Brothers have in store when they step outside the world of the Upside Down.”

The Duffers thanked Sarandos and the Netflix team for taking a chance on them and their show and forever changing their lives.

“From our first pitch meeting to the release of “Stranger Things 3,” the entire team at Netflix has been nothing short of sensational, providing us with the kind of support, guidance and creative freedom we always dreamed about,” they said in a statement. “We can’t wait to tell many more stories together — beginning, of course, with a return trip to Hawkins!”

Even with highly meme-able moments going viral ahead of the July 4 debut, the hormone-heavy third season further resonated because of the show’s painstaking re-creation of a 1980s shopping mall and its new breakout star, Maya Hawke. The daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman brought a new spin to the will-they-or-won’t-they vibe between her character, Robin Buckley, and Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington.

The streaming service, which incessantly plays peekaboo with user data and its ratings, previously said that Season 3 was streamed by a record-breaking 40.7 million household accounts in its first four days, with 18.2 million finishing the entire series in that time.

Despite that, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company has come off a cruel summer that marked the loss of marquee titles, including “Friends,” “The Office” and all the CW series, to new and competing services as the streaming wars ramp up. However, that was somewhat offset by its acquisition of the global streaming rights to “Seinfeld” earlier this month.