It has been over one year since we last saw Eleven and the gang battle Demogorgons and a Mind Flayer in season two of Stranger Things. Thanks to a newly released teaser trailer and poster, we now have an official date for when we can finally return to Hawkins for season three: July 4, 2019.
Unfortunately, the release date was about as black and white as the Duffer brothers made it for us, as the teaser trailer was heavy on the tease and light on the trailer. Clocking (remember that word for later) in at just over one minute long, and providing no actual footage from the season, left us with more questions than answers; but the directing duo probably prefers it that way at this point. However, the ambiguous nature of the trailer gives us the temptation to break down every pixel of it, creating some really interesting theories as to what it all means.
Some of the theories that have been floating around are thought-provoking, while some are, well, not so much. So here are the 10 coolest fan theories for season three of Stranger Things.
10. Russian Text Translated To ‘Eleven’
At multiple times throughout the trailer, we briefly see various encrypted and coded messages on what appears to be a computer screen. At one point, blurred green text appears to spell out “Oдиннадцать.” If typed into Google Translate, this is apparently the Russian word for “eleven.” Of course, decoding “eleven” within a Stranger Things teaser could come off as little more than a meaningless Easter egg since she is one of the most important driving forces of the entire show. But it is not so much what it says, but how it says it.
The utilization of the Russian language has a lot of fans speculating that this could mean that Russian spies are looking into the Hawkins lab projects, and Eleven could be a target of theirs. Considering spying on the Russians was one of Eleven’s tests during her time at the lab, this could mean some sort of revenge plot or just an interest in capitalizing on her abilities.
9. ‘The Silver Cat Feeds’
Another message appearing in the trailer is a line of computer code reading “SilverCatFeeds.” In the Stranger Things book that was released a few months ago, a similar phrase was decoded from Morse that reads “The Silver Cat Feeds.”
8. ‘When Blue And Yellow Meet In The West’
Yet another hidden phrase that appears as highlighted words within a jumble of letters is “WHEN BLUE AND YELLOW MEET IN THE WEST.” This cryptic message is also in the book Worlds Turned Upside Down, and was promoted by Finn Wolfhard in a post on the actor’s Instagram page.
On the surface, this message is much more difficult to break down than the others. Some fans have theorized that “blue” and “yellow” could be Mike and Eleven since they are often seen dressed in those colors, including in the season three poster. However, we do not think that these purposefully chosen words would be wasted on shirt colors. They must mean more than just that.
In the previously released Starcourt Mall teaser, the Duffer brothers gave us a realistically crafted “commercial” for Starcourt Mall, Hawkins’ newest “big thing.” In that trailer, a clock briefly appears on frame, in which the hour hand is blue and the minute hand is yellow. Now, that could just be a coincidence, but we are detectives now, we are not allowed to believe in those. Given that, fans have been quick to presume that something of importance must occur when the two hands line up with one another, possibly on the “west,” or left side, of the clock.
7. Save The Children
During the countdown throwback portion of the trailer, a very distinct logo can be made out in the 1985 footage. In fact, when the footage begins to rotate towards upside down position, the entire phrase for the organization—for which the logo belongs—can be very clearly made out: Save the Children.
Save the Children is an organization which aims to help support kids in poverty-stricken situations and has done so since 1932. As important as their cause is, their namesake holds a different resonance when applied to our favorite gang from Hawkins. This tagline could have existed for each of the prior two seasons, as these Stranger Things kids have a really hard time staying out of trouble. But this season, it could have a much more significant meaning, given its inclusion in the teaser.
Could the kids get stuck in the Upside Down and need the adults to save them? Could it be more wide-reaching, and include all of the children of Hawkins who the new monster may be preying on?
6. Monsters Legs Made Out Of Rat Corpses
In the poster for season three, there are what look like spider-like appendages in the bottom half of the print, which presumably would belong to this season’s monster. Before diving into what the monster may be, we must first address the make-up of what we see.
First, there are multiple rats just in front of these legs, which look they are moving towards the presumed beast, rather than away from it. We assume their direction is intentional, which makes us think that we may be in for a Harry Potter nod, a “follow the spiders” moment if you will. Either it is a “what does that cloud look like to you” conundrum or maybe we are just crazy, but it looks like those legs are made out of dead rat bodies. Reddit user u/tsacharias posted a self-edited photo that isolates all the rats and possible rat parts, and that has us even more convinced. Faint of heart be warned, there are more rat discussions to come.
5. Monster Theory: Drider
In the game Dungeons and Dragons, a Drider is a being that is half dark elf and half spider. Since the Russo brothers have taken creative references from the board game with both the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, it is safe to assume that the monster of season three is likely to be from Dungeons and Dragons as well.
Seeing as the aforementioned appendages in the poster do resemble those of spiders, and the top half of this creature is not visible, a Drider being the evil of this season is a very plausible theory.
4. Monster Theory: Beholder
Following suit with the Dungeons and Dragons reference, some fan theories are built around the hope that season three will feature a creature called a Beholder.
These nasty beasts are a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, one central eye, and smaller cilia-like eyestalks on top of its head. It is definitely a monster that would keep many viewers up at night. This theory has the obvious reasonable logic of a D&D reference like with the Drider, and if the rat corpse theory is true, the Stranger Things version could end up being a floating ball of rat flesh, a super-organism of sorts. Sounds crazy, but just wait, it will all make sense eventually.
3. Mutated Rats
Welcome to my rat talk.
Okay, so we have the establishment of the rats in the poster and the potential for rat corpses making up body parts. Well, now that we have episode titles, we can behave as if there is no such thing as too much talk about rats. In the upcoming season, there are eight confirmed episodes, one of which is entitled “The Mall Rats.”
Hot take: this season is going to deal with rats.
For this theory, let’s take just a couple steps back. Last season, the Mind Flayer dug a series of connecting tunnels under Hawkins prior to the monster’s ultimate demise. Presumably, these tunnels still exist and would be littered with Demodog corpses. What if rats became occupants of these tunnels (as rats do), and began feeding on these corpses? After eating biological material from the Upside Down, the rats may have become mutated. The Mind Flayer had the Demodogs, and this season’s monster may have demorats.
Oh, and another episode title is “The Bite,” which might mean that whatever mutation these rats have developed may be a detriment to humans.
2. Starcourt Mall
This popular theory posits that the lair of this season’s monster will be at, or under, the newly built Starcourt Mall. This would make a lot of sense, making the confusing Starcourt teaser a right-in-front-of-our-nose truth that we have been blind to for half a year. A revelation such as this would make sense on multiple levels. Not only would it explain the prevalence of Starcourt Mall verbiage in season promotion, but as we mentioned before, one of the episodes is titled “The Mall Rats,” and the final episode of the season is entitled “The Battle of Starcourt.” On top of that, what better place for a monster to throw down in a small town than a new mall which is sure to see plenty of foot traffic.
1. When the Clock Strikes Twelve
The significance of the time of year is theorized to play a major factor in season three. In the teaser trailer,, the show runners announce the date of release in a very creative and symbolic way. The date July 4, 1985 is displayed at the end of the trailer, which then quickly ticks up right before our eyes to July 4, 2019; letting us know that the release date and setting coincide with one another.
This is no random date. As creative controllers, the Duffer brothers could select a time setting to whatever they so choose. Electing to go with Independence Day is not accidental. In an amalgamation of multiple fan theories, we combine the time of year with “when blue and yellow meet in the west,” “SilverCatFeeds,” and the clock hands colors.
Reddit user u/Charlie780561 proposes that the “SilverCatFeeds.exe will be launched when the clock in the food court hits 12am…On 12am on 4th of July, there is going to be a huge fireworks show that is going to distract everyone from the whatever SilverCatFeeds.exe software will try to accomplish, potentially creating tons of noise.” This would make a lot of sense, and this distraction could even be referenced in the poster, in which we see most of the Stranger Things gang’s excitement to witness a show of fireworks. However, what’s lurking behind them?
