BACK TO THE UPSIDE DOWN

TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE AS WE CELEBRATE SEASON THREE OF STRANGER THINGS

- WORDS: ADAM TANSWELL

ON 4 JULY 2019, SEASON THREE of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix – bringing eight episodes of supernatural scares and Mind Flayer madness to audiences across the globe. For the first time, the story is set in the summer and school's out for the cool kids of Hawkins – but before the show arrives in Indiana, a sinister new location is revealed in the first episode's opening scenes. The date is 28 June 1984 and the camera pans around a scientific laboratory, complete with intricately masked workers operating a rather elaborate piece of machinery. When the massive machine whirs into action, its powerful laser pierces a hole in a wall - and soon enough, strangely familiar tentacles start to creep out of the cavity...

But not for long. A cacophonous malfunction brings the entire process to a halt, brutally slaughtering the personnel in the process. As the camera pans away, it's revealed that the facility is actually a Russian military base - but then the opening credits begin to roll and the action shoots forward a year.

Finally, we are back in Hawkins, where we find Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) kissing in a typical teenage bedroom. The kids are growing up. Season three of Stranger Things has been described as a lot, hot – and horrifying – summer for the bike-riding youngsters we've all come to know and love. When SFX is invited back to Atlanta, Georgia, for a snoop around the third season set, we prepare to take copious notes and keep our eyes peeled for the most minute of details. What will we uncover as we wander around EUE/Screen Gems Studios (now known as Cinespace Studios Atlanta) alongside the cast and crew? Bring it on...

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