‘Stranger Things’ tried to be all cryptic with its Season 2 trailer, but we know the secret meanings

‘Madmax’

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior was released in 1981 and featured a character called Warrior Woman. Skilled with a crossbow, she was clearly a precursor to Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. 

The show’s producers have just announced three new characters joining Season 2. One of them is a 13-year-old girl named Max who rides a skateboard and has a strained relationship with her stepbrother, Billy, another new character. We’re guessing this Max could be inspired by the Warrior Woman, so don’t be surprised if she takes up archery or hunting.

There is a another Mad Max connection to Stranger Things. Millie Bobby Brown was reluctant to shave her head for the show, but the Duffer Brothers showed her how powerful Charlize Theron’s character Furiosa was and how beautiful she looked with a shaved head. After seeing Theron, Brown agreed to shave her locks.

‘The Boy Who Came Back to Life’

Of course, the easy explanation is this newspaper clipping from the show, but we think there’s more to the name of the episode than meets the eye.

If you remember the music from the ’80s, it’s likely you remember Marc Almond, lead singer for the new wave band Soft Cell (“Tainted Love” or the banned, NSFW video for “Sex Dwarf,” anyone?). In 1984, Almond released a single called “The Boy Who Came Back,” about a teen who leaves his town in the Old West and comes back a man, having seen a great many sad things. 

This song connects to Stranger Things by implying that Will’s return to the small town of Hawkins will be bittersweet, and he’ll no longer be the innocent he was before he was taken away. 

Not buying the show’s connection to singer Marc Almond? What if we told you he released an album in 2001 called — wait for it — Stranger Things? We can’t make this stuff up.

‘The Pumpkin Patch’

In the Peanuts cartoon It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Linus waits in the pumpkin patch for the mythical figure, The Great Pumpkin, to show. By 4 a.m., Lucy retrieves her brother and takes him home, leaving Linus to vow that next year The Great Pumpkin will most definitely show up. This connection suggests that someone on Stranger Things — perhaps Will — may not show up as hoped, despite the others believing he will. 

Pumpkins have long been associated with the supernatural because they can be carved into jack-o’-lanterns and look like human heads.

‘The Palace’

This Dungeons & Dragons adventure pamphlet was published in 1981, but we think “The Palace” probably refers to something more sinister, like the lab where Eleven had been experimented on or maybe even the room where she was put into solitary confinement. It seems to make sense that to survive such torment, El would have to create some sort of fantasy world, like the one in this D&D adventure module. So it could even be a hybrid of the two. 

‘The Pollywog’

We know that Mike and his friends play Dungeons & Dragons and that many elements of Stranger Things have been influenced by the cartoon Dungeons & Dragons, which aired from 1983 to 1985. The two creatures in this image — pollywogs — are from the cartoon, suggesting that green reptilian creatures will make an appearance in the second season. 

The Brain

Neurologist Dr. Richard Restak published his best-selling book The Brain in 1984, which was then developed into a TV series for PBS. He is an expert on “experiential illusions” and the vast complexity of the human brain, saying, “Since the brain is unlike any other structure in the known universe, it seems reasonable to expect that our understanding of its functioning — if it can ever be achieved — will require approaches that are drastically different from the way we understand other physical systems.” This a clue to what’s happening in Season 2. 

‘The Storm’

So many elements in Stranger Things pay homage to Stephen King, and though this King story is from 1999, we think it fits into the stormy storyline brewing for Season 2. The story is about a menacing stranger, André Linoge, who shows up in a small town and appears to know the town members’ darkest secrets. But worse than that, he enchants eight children into unconsciousness and forces their mother to draw one of eight “weirding stones” to decide their child’s fate.

We think this plotline applies to the history of how the children of Hawkins came to be test subjects, and all their mothers played a role. 

‘The Secret Cabin’

We don’t think Eleven is the only star-child with special powers. Simple math gives us reason to believe 10 others came before her. It’s likely they all have been hiding out in a secret cabin far away from Hawkins and away from government authorities.

‘The Lost Brother’

It’s likely that one of the new characters — we’re guessing Max’s stepbrother, Billy — will actually be Eleven’s long-lost brother. We don’t know much about him yet, just that he’s 17, sexy but cocky and may have killed someone at his previous high school. We’re also guessing he has some supernatural powers of his own.

Season 2 of Stranger Things will air sometime in 2017.