Entertainment

How Often Is Eleven In 'Stranger Things' Season 2?

by Courtney Lindley

As if there weren't enough reasons to get amped for Stranger Things Season 2, here are 11 more. Your favorite Eggo-obsessed telekinetic is coming back. As TVLine reports, Stranger Things's Millie Bobby Brown, will be returning as the beloved heroine with the numeral moniker. Even though, according to TVLine, "all signs point to her once again being a series regular," it's not clear how many of the sophomore season's nine episodes will include the buzz-cut badass, and Netflix has yet to confirm the news. But here's to wishing and dreaming a series regular is exactly what Eleven will be.

Over the summer, Brown's attachment to show's second season was called into question, when the Duffer brothers claimed Eleven's return was still "up in the air." This was followed by the show's cast announcement of a similar character named Max, described as a “tough and confident” young girl whose “appearance, behavior and pursuits seem more typical of boys than of girls in this era.” Not that there can only be one tough and confident female, but it seemed possible Max could fill the hole that Eleven's absence would leave behind. Regardless, most fans seemed to be believe — or at least have faith — that Eleven wasn't gone.

And they weren't wrong. Season 2 will premiere sometime in 2017 and will pick up in the fall of 1984 with its breakout star now reportedly attached. In the second season, the Duffer brothers will take us into the “bigger mythology” behind Will Byers’s disappearance. As reported earlier in October, Will (played by Noah Schnapp) and Steve (played by Joe Keery) have both been bumped up to series regulars. Plus the new girl Max, and her step-brother Billy, will also be series regulars. But, wait. Where do all these cast adjustments leave Eleven?

At the end of Stranger Things Season 1, the fate of Eleven remained uncertain. Best case scenario, she was trapped in the Upside Down. Worst case scenario, she'd given up her life to save Mike and the gang from the Demogorgon. In the series finale, when Hopper (David Harbour) left some Eggos in a box near the entrance to the Upside Down, we were given hope that it was the former.

In August, Matt Duffer talked (vague) plot lines for Season 2. He told IGN, "Season 1 actually takes place over the course of six or seven days. It's a really short period of time. So part of what we want to do with hypothetical Season 2 is to explore the repercussions of everything that happened." Which means most of that has to include Eleven. She's a huge part of this story. It's not like they're starting over from scratch or getting new characters involved in something else. By the sound this, they are reopening old doors. Doors that have Eleven standing behind them.

Producer Shawn Levy confirmed this idea. “The plan is to continue with this set of characters while introducing a few critical key new ones next season,” he told SlashFilm, adding, "So I’ll just say that a lot of the big mysteries get answered at the end of Season 1, but we are very much kind of unearthing new problems and questions that merit future stories and future investigation in the most enjoyable way. We are in love with our cast and our characters."

It sounds like Eleven will be a series regular status ("continuing with this set of characters" sounds legit enough to prove that). Hopefully, Eleven makes an appearance in all nine episodes.

Images: Netflix; Giphy (2)