Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Netflix teases ‘Stranger Things 3’ with incredible ‘80s mall ad

Published Jul 16th, 2018 2:48PM EDT
BGR

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

There are more stories to tell in the Stranger Things universe, and Netflix’s ‘80s-like horror series is coming back for a third season later this year.

While you wait, you can check out the brand new teaser for the series, which is totally not what you expect. Rather than showing what Eleven and the gang are going to be up to in season 3, we’re treated to a retro mall commercial taken right from the ‘80s.

Because if it’s the ‘80s, malls are it, aren’t they? That’s what this nearly 86-second promo is all about, the mall and all its wonders.

If you’ve never seen a Stranger Things episode, you’d think Netflix made this teaser for a different show. The title of the series is nowhere to be found. “Coming Soon: The Starcourt Mall! | Hawkings, Indiana,” reads the title of the teaser on YouTube.

Here’s what Netflix has to say about it:

Coming to Hawkins in the Summer of 1985…the Starcourt Mall! Starcourt Mall will be one of the finest shopping facilities in America and beyond with options for the entire family. Including The Gap, Waldenbooks, Sam Goody, Claire’s and more! Don’t forget to cool off at Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream shop. Starcourt Mall has it all!

Ahoy indeed. Speaking of ice cream, we hardly get to see any of our favorite heroes in it, but Steve does make an appearance, and he sure seems happy to serve that ice cream.

Stranger Things fans realize what’s happening from the get-go. This is a teaser for season 3, and that mall may be of some significance. Who knows, maybe you can find monsters inside it, breaking through the barrier between our world and theirs. This is just speculation from yours truly. However, what we do know about the upcoming season is that Jim Hopper will be tougher than last season.

“We had a little softer season with Jim in Season 2, where he was really working off these fatherly instincts and understanding a responsibility that was larger than himself, and I think one of the things that we missed from Season 1 was this guy who goes into government facilities and punches people in the face,” David Harbour said about his character, according to Deadline. “He’s not a doofus, but he’s a bit of a Columbo character.”

“There was a sort of swashbuckling guy that we put on the back burner,” the actor added, “so I think we’ll see a little more of the swashbuckling Hopper you may have liked from Season 1. It’s almost like [Season] 1 plus two, equals three. It’s like you have this third character now, who goes back to the swashbuckling guy of Season 1, but also has behind him this adopted daughter who he loves very much, so it’s really cool.”

Harbour also teases that the third season will be inspired by some “epic” movies of 1985, but he couldn’t say which ones or else he’d get in trouble.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.