50 Fun Facts About Stranger Things Season 3

In Stranger Things 3, which 1984 film theme must Dustin sing before Suzie shares a vital number?

The NeverEnding Story became an earworm for the cast on the day the duet was filmed, and streams of Limahl's 1984 original jumped by about 800 percent after the finale.

In Stranger Things 3, what does Erica demand in return for crawling through Starcourt Mall's vents?

Free ice cream wins over the only member of the team small enough for the vents, and Erica ends the season with Will's old Dungeons & Dragons manuals.

In Stranger Things 3, what do Russian captors inject into Steve in the lab beneath Starcourt Mall?

Truth serum leaves Steve babbling rather than helpful, and it is still wearing off when he admits his feelings to his co-worker, who then comes out to him.

In Stranger Things 3, how do Eleven and friends test whether Billy is possessed by the Mind Flayer?

Trapping him in a sauna works because heat is what drove the Mind Flayer out of Will a season earlier. Billy smashes through the door before Eleven can stop him.

In Stranger Things 3, which weapon proposed by Lucas do the teens hurl at the Mind Flayer?

Fireworks taken from a supermarket keep the monster reeling while Hopper and Joyce race to shut the gate below. An early pitch had it rampaging through the town parade instead.

In Stranger Things 3, which odd household failure first convinces Joyce that Hawkins is in danger?

Magnets losing their grip on her fridge and at the store where she works point Joyce to a power-hungry machine hidden somewhere in town.

Which unpopular 1985 soft drink did Coca-Cola briefly bring back to promote Stranger Things 3?

New Coke returned in a run of about 500,000 cans, and demand was strong enough to crash Coca-Cola's online store.

Maya Hawke of Stranger Things 3 is the daughter of Ethan Hawke and which of his Gattaca co-stars?

Uma Thurman met Ethan Hawke on the Gattaca set, and their daughter made her screen debut as Jo March in a BBC Little Women two years before her Hawkins breakout.

Which animals swarm an abandoned mill and burst into the Mind Flayer's new body in Stranger Things 3?

Rats lured to the mill explode into a fleshy mass that grows as possessed townspeople later melt into it. A teaser of rats in an industrial ruin hinted at the plot months earlier.

In the Stranger Things 3 mid-credits scene, Russian guards feed a prisoner to which captive creature?

A Demogorgon devours the unlucky inmate while the guards spare a mystery American, the first hint that Hopper is still alive after the blast under the mall.

In Stranger Things 3, who finally cracks the coded Russian message that Dustin picks up on his radio?

Robin Buckley was first written as a love interest for Steve, a plan dropped midway through filming; in the plot she translates the message and spots that it is a code.

In Stranger Things 3, which summer job does Billy hold when the Mind Flayer takes control of him?

Lifeguard duty at the town pool became the theme of a real H&M clothing campaign, with Billy actor Dacre Montgomery as its model.

In Stranger Things 3, who takes Eleven on a shopping spree at Starcourt Mall after Mike lies to her?

Max Mayfield suggests the trip to take Eleven's mind off Mike, and the outing ends with Eleven dumping him on the spot when she catches him in another lie.

Stranger Things 3 was released on which American holiday, the one its plot builds toward?

Independence Day 2019 was the release date, matching a plot that comes to a head on the same holiday in 1985. The first poster showed a creature closing in on the cast mid-celebration.

In Stranger Things 3, what do Nancy and Jonathan catch elderly Mrs. Driscoll eating in her home?

Fertilizer is exactly what her basement pests had been devouring, and Nancy later recognises the dark veins on Mrs. Driscoll's face from Will's possession.

In Stranger Things 3, where do Nancy and Jonathan spend the summer working as interns?

A newspaper, The Hawkins Post, takes them both on: Jonathan in photography, and Nancy stuck fetching coffee for a newsroom that mocks her pitches.

After a fight with Mike and Lucas in Stranger Things 3, what does Will tear down in the rain?

His childhood fort, Castle Byers, falls to a baseball bat. Noah Schnapp enjoyed swinging it but said he cried all night once the scene was finished.

Which star of The Princess Bride plays Hawkins's corrupt mayor, Larry Kline, in Stranger Things 3?

Cary Elwes plays a mayor blackmailed into helping the Russians buy up Hawkins. The casting notice called him a classic '80s politician who cares more about his image than his town.

In Stranger Things 3, how does Eleven stop the Russian guards hunting Dustin's group in the food court?

Throwing a display car, a Chrysler LeBaron parked in the food court, flattens the guards, and the wreck later supplies the part needed to restart Nancy's sabotaged station wagon.

In the Stranger Things 3 finale, which memory does Eleven describe to free Billy from the Mind Flayer?

His mother at the seaside is the happy memory Eleven found while searching his mind for the monster. Recalling it lets Billy break free and step between the creature and her.

In the Stranger Things 3 finale, what must Joyce do to destroy the Russians' gate-opening machine?

To turn two keys at once takes two people, so with Hopper trapped beside the machine, Joyce ties his gun strap to one key and stretches to reach the other.

In Stranger Things 3, what does Eleven lose after pulling a piece of the Mind Flayer from her leg?

Her powers are still missing three months later, when she cannot even pull a teddy bear down from a high shelf while packing to leave Hawkins.

In Stranger Things 3, where did Dustin meet Suzie, the girlfriend his friends doubt is real?

At science camp, Camp Know Where, Dustin found a girlfriend nobody believes in until the finale, when the whole group hears her over the radio.

In Stranger Things 3, which sweet drink does the kidnapped Russian scientist come to love?

Cherry Slurpee in hand, the scientist also falls for Looney Tunes cartoons, and hopes that helping Hopper will earn him American citizenship.

The Starcourt Mall of Stranger Things 3 was filmed in a real, half-empty mall in which U.S. state?

Georgia's Gwinnett Place Mall, near Duluth, opened in 1984, so its bones already matched the period. The crew redressed a vacant section and fully stocked it with 1980s brands.

Dacre Montgomery, who plays the swaggering Billy in Stranger Things 3, comes from which country?

Australia is home: Dacre Montgomery was born in Perth to a New Zealander and a Canadian, and played the Red Ranger in Power Rangers the year he joined the series.

The Stranger Things 3 mid-credits scene is set at a secret Russian prison in which remote region?

Kamchatka is where the guards pass over the cell of an unnamed American, the season's parting clue that Hopper is not dead after all.

At the end of Stranger Things 3, Mike and Eleven plan to see each other again at which holiday?

Thanksgiving is the date they set after Eleven finally tells Mike she loves him, just before she leaves Hawkins with Joyce and her sons.

In Stranger Things 3, which Russian scientist do Hopper and Joyce kidnap from a hidden lab?

Alexei speaks no English, so his captors need an interpreter, and he takes to American fast food and cartoons before he is shot dead at the town fair.

In Stranger Things 3, who translates for the Russian scientist whom Hopper and Joyce take captive?

Murray Bauman is the only Russian speaker they know, and he ends up joining Hopper and Joyce in the raid on the base beneath the mall.

After Starcourt Mall is destroyed in Stranger Things 3, where does Steve land a new job?

Family Video takes on Steve and his Scoops Ahoy co-worker together. It was a real rental chain, run from Illinois, that grew out of a 1978 rental club.

In Stranger Things 3, which physics value do the adults need from Suzie to open a Russian safe?

Planck's constant opens the safe, but only after the adults' own figure proves wrong and Suzie makes Dustin serenade her over a channel the whole group can hear.

In Stranger Things 3, who is the first person the possessed Billy delivers to the Mind Flayer?

Heather Holloway works alongside Billy, and once taken she helps him deliver her own parents to the monster.

In Stranger Things 3, Dustin builds a radio tower to reach his girlfriend Suzie in which state?

Utah is home for Suzie, who lives in Salt Lake City with her large Mormon household, which is why Dustin needs such a tall antenna to reach her from Indiana.

In Stranger Things 3, what name does Dustin give the huge radio antenna he sets up above Hawkins?

Cerebro shares its name with Professor X's mutant-tracking machine in the X-Men comics, and in the finale Dustin and Erica use it to guide the adults through the Russian base.

In Stranger Things 3, at which Hawkins restaurant does Joyce stand Hopper up for dinner?

Enzo's becomes a running thread: in the finale Hopper accepts that they will never make their date there, moments before Joyce shuts down the machine.

In Stranger Things 3, Steve knows the tune on Dustin's Russian recording from which mall ride?

A mechanical horse in the mall plays the same jingle heard behind the voices, proof that the transmission came from Starcourt rather than from Russia.

Which Latin phrase is the title of Chapter Six of Stranger Things 3?

E Pluribus Unum means out of many, one, a grim fit for the chapter in which the possessed townspeople gather and melt into a single giant monster.

At a sleepover in Stranger Things 3, Eleven picks whom to spy on using a twist on which party game?

Spin the bottle decides the target, and when it lands on Billy, Eleven sees him behaving so strangely that the girls go looking for him and learn that a co-worker of his has vanished.

At the end of Stranger Things 3, which official explanation is given for Starcourt Mall's destruction?

A fire is the official line, and it makes national news, with headlines asking whether Satanism has cursed the small Indiana town.

Which John Carpenter horror film inspired the look of the fleshy Mind Flayer in Stranger Things 3?

The Thing set the brief: the designers gave the monster real weight and a wet, glistening surface, a break from the shadowy creature of the season before.

Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo, who share a Stranger Things 3 duet, had both performed where?

On Broadway, Matarazzo had played Gavroche in Les Misérables, and the Duffers wrote the duet partly to show off his voice. The pair sang on neighbouring sets and still harmonised.

The Dustin and Suzie duet in Stranger Things 3 was first planned as a song from which fantasy saga?

The Lord of the Rings was dropped because Amazon was developing its own Middle-earth series, and writer Curtis Gwinn came up with the replacement.

Which dessert chain redressed some of its stores as Scoops Ahoy for the launch of Stranger Things 3?

Baskin-Robbins turned stores across the United States and Canada into the fictional parlor for about two weeks, after months of selling themed menu items.

David Harbour has said Stranger Things 3 draws heavily on which Chevy Chase comedy film?

Fletch stars Chevy Chase as an undercover reporter who bluffs his way through an investigation in a string of disguises, a tone borrowed for Hopper's summer of sleuthing.

On the Stranger Things 3 set, what stood in for the giant Mind Flayer so the actors had an eyeline?

A beach ball was the effects supervisor's fix after a hundred-pound model proved impractical: he bought the largest object he could think of and taped it to a boom pole.

Stranger Things 3 earned eight Emmy nominations and won in which craft category?

Sound editing brought the season its Emmy at the 72nd Primetime ceremony, where it was also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.

Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, who scored Stranger Things 3, belong to which electronic band?

Survive formed in Austin, Texas, in 2009, and the pair's theme for the series won them an Emmy in 2017.

The Stranger Things 3 release-date teaser was built around archive footage of which annual TV broadcast?

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve footage slowly flipped upside down as the countdown ran, and the teaser itself went out at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Which Night at the Museum director also directed two episodes of Stranger Things 3?

Shawn Levy directed Chapters Three and Four, keeping up a habit: he took the third and fourth episodes of each of the first four seasons.