Nothing will ever be the same in Hawkins again. Even after beating the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer, our favorite gang of D&D-playing teens faces a new monstrous foe that shakes up their lives in ways they are just beginning to comprehend at the end of Stranger Things 4 Volume 1. Spoilers ahead.
After watching over nine hours of Eleven and her friends unraveling the secrets of the Upside Down, Stranger Things 4 leaves us with a groundbreaking revelation. Vecna, the newest evil entity terrorizing Hawkins, is actually 001 aka Victor Creel aka Peter Ballard, the orderly Eleven sent into the lifeless alternate dimension when she was younger. While that twist answers several questions, it also leaves viewers with many new ones, including how the next part of Season 4 will address Vecna’s past and Eleven’s role in it.
With so much left on the line (just look at Inverse’s comprehensive ending explainer), one crucial question emerges: How long will the final two episodes of Stranger Things Season 4 be? Luckily, we have the answer!
How long are Stranger Things Season 4 Episodes 8 and 9?
Of the many things that set Season 4 apart from previous installments of Stranger Things, the one fans noticed first was each episode’s length. Ranging between 75 and 98 minutes, Season 4’s chapters were longer than before. Because of that, Volume 1 was much more ambitious in scope by telling a story that spanned multiple locations and decades.
You can expect the same (or more) with Volume 2. While Volume 1 was seven episodes in length, the upcoming second part of the season contains only two super long episodes:
- Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 8 is 1 hour, 25 minutes.
- Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 9 is 2 hours, 30 minutes.
Combining the runtimes of both episodes, Volume 2 will be almost four hours long (or three hours and 55 minutes, to be exact). While that’s less than half the length of the first part of Season 4, it’s still long enough to deliver many new twists and turns for the Hawkins gang.
What are Stranger Things Season 4 Episodes 8 and 9 titles?
Details are sparse about what will happen in Volume 2, but we know that it will continue from where Episode 7 left off. And we also have the chapter titles as clues for what may occur in Episodes 8 and 9:
- Episode 8: “Chapter Eight: Papa”
- Episode 9: “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback”
“Chapter Eight: Papa” seems pretty self-explanatory. After Eleven learns the truth about the Hawkins Lab massacre, she will likely confront her “Papa,” Dr. Martin Brenner, about it. However, “Papa” could also hint at a reunion fans have been waiting for all season. Now that Joyce and Murray finally freed Jim Hopper from prison, we may see them quickly return to the U.S. to reunite Hopper with his adopted daughter, Eleven.
Episode 9’s title, “The Piggyback,” is harder to parse. If we can take away anything from this Chapter 9 hint, it’s that the characters will have to work together — “piggybacking” each other’s plans — in order to defeat Vecna for good. How exactly that will play out remains to be seen, but it will surely be a thrilling finale if Volume 1 is anything to go by.
Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 arrives July 1, 2022 on Netflix.
