Stranger Things 4 Volume One is finally here and it delivers all the drama we could dream of. The ever-popular Netflix show warned fans that season four would lean heavily into horror with its new villain Vecna. And that is certainly true with the gruesome deaths we have seen so far. The wild thing is, this feels like only the beginning of the bloodbath we will witness this season. Death truly abounds in Hawkins… and beyond. So, who dies in Stranger Things 4? Let’s talk about it.
Chrissy Cunningham
Poor Chrissy Cunningham, the queen of Hawkins High, gets the redshirt treatment in episode one. She seems to have it all as a bubbly cheerleader who is dating Jason, the captain of the basketball team. But we quickly discover that there’s something sinister going on with Chrissy. Her mother is verbally abusive, a trauma that Vecna capitalizes on to haunt her.
Those scary visions make her seek out Eddie Munson, the leader of the Hellfire Club, to score drugs that will presumably help quell her issues. Their linkup ends when Chrissy is at Eddie’s house. Vecna comes for her, putting her into a trance, lifting her off the ground, and gruesomely snapping her bones and sucking her eyes into her skull in front of Eddie. Yikes. Chrissy’s death in Stranger Things 4 sparks a chain of events, forcing Eddie to go on the run and taking the Hawkins crew on a wild investigation.
Despite her limited screen time, Chrissy made a huge impact on fans. Many shipped her with Eddie after their fun and frankly adorable scene together in the woods. And, in a recent TV Line interview, the Duffer Brothers themselves now admit that maybe—just maybe—they were a little too hasty with killing her off. Hindsight is usually 20/20, right?
“We always have those moments [of ‘What have we done?’],” said Matt Duffer. “We shot the quote-unquote drug-deal scene in the woods pretty late, actually, into shooting.” Ross Duffer adds, “we had already killed Chrissy when we shot that.”
It’s completely not unusual to shoot a show out of order, so we get it. But we will always wonder what could have been with Chrissy and Eddie.
Fred Benson
The next person who dies in Stranger Things 4 is Nancy’s high school paper colleague Fred. The nerdy guy who clearly harbors an unrequited crush on Nance goes with her to investigate Chrissy’s death. And, well, he walks right into his own demise. Like Chrissy, Fred has a darkness in his life that Vecna uses against him. He was responsible for a fatal car accident and begins to see and hear visions that drive him into guilt. When Nancy goes traversing off to do her thing, Fred is lured to a nearby road. He dies the same horrible way, bones cracking and flesh squelching under the dark wizard’s powerful spell. Another teen bites the dust.
Agent Harmon
Harmon is one of two officers assigned to protect Will, Mike, and Jonathan while El goes off to trauma superhero camp. And he holds up his end of the bargain well, laying down cover fire to give them enough time to escape in Argyle’s pizza delivery van. The crew get Harmon in the van but he unfortunately bleeds out and dies. However, he does clue them in with information that sets up their own investigative story and quest to get El back. Someone must take one for the team and Harmon showed up to die.
Patrick McKinney
Lucas’ new basketball buddy is yet another teenager who dies in Stranger Things 4. But, we don’t get to dig into his final imaginings as he levitates prior to death. Patrick’s death in front of Jason sends the latter over the edge. And now the whole town of Hawkins thinks the Hellfire Club is a satanic cult harboring a serial killer Eddie. The ‘80s may have a ton of glory but Satanic Panic was not a part of that.
A Bunch of Russian Prisoners
Ahhh episode seven truly gave us so much in its movie length run time. We finally got the Joyce and Hopper reunion that we’ve been waiting for. But it didn’t come without hella people dying first. Joyce and Murray’s infiltration plan works like a charm but they soon realize that Hopper is in real danger. Like the type of danger where a Demogorgon is about to eat him and a group of other men. Most of those poor guys become Upside Down monster food but Hopper and Enzo make it out alive. Sorry to those men.
The Shocking Murders at Hawkins Lab
We knew that there would be some murdery things going down at Hawkins Lab because, well, episode seven is titled “The Hawkins Lab Massacre.” Stranger Things 4 Volume One goes back to 1979 in the season opener, showing us who dies in what we think is Eleven’s killing rampage. Dr. Ellis, lab workers, and pretty much all the numbered children die. Dr. Brenner makes it out alive (sigh) and confronts Eleven, who is sporting bloody eyes. But, episode seven reveals the truth about what really went down. Turns out that weird orderly wearing all white was the fabled One. And he’s Victor Creel’s very evil son. And yeah… El “kills” One only to open up a gate to the Upside Down, where he becomes who we know as Vecna. But we won’t count that here because he’s obviously not truly dead. It looks like Volume Two will include a powerful battle between Eleven and One/Vecna.
Nancy Wheeler?!
Episode seven leaves Nancy in the most perilous place. Thankfully, we only have to wait about a month to see if Nancy dies in Stranger Things 4. While Eleven gets the revelation that she’s indeed a hero and not a monster, Nancy gets trapped under Vecna’s spell. He reveals his identity and motivations to her for some reason. And usually a villain does that right before they attempt to kill a person. Somebody get Nancy some music and headphones stat.
Honestly, it’s pretty unrealistic for none of the main crew to have died yet. And Stranger Things can’t keep dangling potential deaths in front of us only to pull back from it almost immediately. We got that with Eleven in season one, Hopper in season three, and Max and Steve this season. I love these people but it’s time to take someone out…and Nancy isn’t a bad choice. She’s had quite the redemptive arc from being a somewhat self-absorbed high school kid reeling over her Barb guilt to a badass hero. It would break our hearts but that’s how it goes down in these horror streets.
Will anyone else (like Max perhaps) die in Stranger Things 4? We will have to wait for the conclusion episodes on July 1 and see.
Originally published on May 27, 2022.
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