A detail in one of Stranger Things' season 4 teasers may hold the key to the show's future spinoffs, which could end up helping or hurting it.


One of the teasers for Stranger Things season 4 has hinted at a setup for potential spinoffs of the hit show. Though the exact release date has yet to be announced, Stranger Things season 4 will hit Netflix sometime in 2022, six years after the series first took the streaming world by storm. The Netflix original still seems to be going strong with its original cast and storyline, but the possibilities for exploring Hawkins' history and the Upside Down in future projects could be endless, thanks to what season 4 alludes to.

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In addition to various early sneak peeks, Stranger Things has released four more substantial teasers about what season 4's plot could include: the Byers and Eleven's new life in California, flashbacks to Dr. Brenner's other test subjects, Hopper's return in Russia, and a mysterious old house in Hawkins that may be linked to the Upside Down. Stranger Things season 4's episode titles even hint at fixing Billy's story, too. As well as giving some insight into season 4's main plot points, details in these teasers also reveal possible season 4 character arcs, particularly breakups between Nancy and Jonathan and Mike and Eleven. But when it comes to potential Stranger Things spinoff projects, it all comes down to one specific idea from the third teaser.

The "Creel House" teaser shows a happy family moving into a new home in the 50s, only for things to take a horror movie-esque turn. Then, in the show's 80s present, a grandfather clock standing in the now-abandoned house suddenly appears in the Upside Down and shatters. This moment has spawned Stranger Things season 4 clock theories, but it also teases the possibility for spinoff projects. If a clock from the 50s has a connection to the Upside Down, it means Hawkins has been experiencing supernatural phenomena long before Eleven's actions in the 80s. This, in turn, means a Stranger Things story can happen in virtually any time period.

Stranger Things season 4 Creel House clock

In some ways, this window for spinoffs can be a huge boon to Stranger Things. One of the show's greatest strengths is its perfectly-rendered 80s nostalgia, and the possibility of spinoffs being set in other time periods offers the opportunity to do something similar for the 50s and any other iconic decade the creators choose. At the same time, a big Stranger Things problem threatening season 4 is the show's worn-out story model, which has developed very little from season to season. Spinoffs can thus inject much-needed new blood into the show's structure.

However, the Duffer brothers will need to be careful, given that they've also revealed plans for a Stranger Things season 5 continuing the original cast's story. While spinoffs can reinvigorate audience enthusiasm and develop a show in interesting ways, they can also diminish or confuse their original source material. If the Duffer brothers plan to forge ahead with a fifth season of the main show while also working on side projects, they'll need to make sure Stranger Things spinoffs avoid a Game of Thrones-style mistake. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what the Creel House and its mysterious clock really mean in the greater context of Stranger Things season 4, whether or not its spinoff tease comes to fruition