Wild New Fan Theory Predicts Connection Between Stranger Things and Chernobyl

HBO's Chernobyl has been a major post-Game of Thrones triumph for the network (enough to make the miniseries the highest-rated TV show on IMDb). While it takes a few creative liberties with the real-life incident—a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986—some fans seem to be watching the miniseries through pop culture-colored glasses and wondering if the events of Chernobyl could be impacting the storylines of other series set in the same decade. Case in point: the Redditor who is already predicting that the infamous disaster will be a key plot point in Stranger Things season 4.

Though the third season of Stranger Things won't even debut until next month, producer Shawn Levy has already confirmed that they're planning to make at least four seasons of the Netflix hit. Naturally, this has fans thinking ahead.

As Decider reports, Redditor Singular94 wrote that after watching Chernobyl and discovering that the third season of Stranger Things will take place in 1985, they believe the events of Chernobyl could line up well with the Netflix's series presumed fourth season, and might be written into the show: 

"Chernobyl could actually have a secret Russian lab just like Hawkins’ one, someone with powers connects to the [Upside Down] just like Eleven, and the opened gate would make the nuclear plant explode. Or maybe they would try to open a gate intentionally to the [Upside Down], but it doesn[’]t go as expected."

While the idea sounds pretty silly at first, the comments on the post are kind of convincing. Plus, fans had already noticed that on the Stranger Things IMDb page, characters were listed for season 3, but have since been altered, with titles such as “Russian soldier” and “Russian guard." Despite the possible connection between the two shows, we still have a whole season to get through to know anything for sure.

Stranger Things returns to Netflix on July 4.