Who says that board games don’t have an impact on popular culture anymore? Certainly not Netflix, as the beleaguered streaming giant finds itself in the midst of yet another crisis following news that a Stranger Things Monopoly game has made details of the show’s upcoming fourth season public. Per The Hollywood Reporter, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, had a “total meltdown” when they were informed about what happened.
According to Twitter users, the game could be found at some Target stores, which are stocking a considerable amount of show merch in advance of the fourth season. An April Reddit thread included a user claiming that they had bought the game “fair and square” at a large retailer. “Nobody stole it; nobody leaked a sample.” Another thread reacting to the news indicates something similar, claiming that some stores had the game stocked on shelves but would not let people purchase them yet.
There is a pretty lengthy history of movie tie-in toys spoiling plot details, with details like the ending of Toy Story 3, the presence of aliens in the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and the gruesome kills of Michael Myers in 2018’s Halloween all being compromised. In 2021, a toy spoiled major plot points for the eagerly anticipated Star Wars: The Bad Batch TV series. According to THR, the product universe surrounding Stranger Things is considerably larger than any other Netflix title, making oversight a unique challenge.
The new season is set to boast some of the series’ longest episodes to date, with two around the 90-minute mark and a finale that’s longer than The Dark Knight. So for anyone who’s not gassed on sitting still for pre-teen hijinks that long and would rather have the exact details spoiled, this Vulture piece contains a few of them.
In a February press release, the Duffer Brothers called season four “the most challenging season yet” highlighting that it took “almost two years of filming” It’s also the series endgame, with the fifth being announced as the final, so it’s understandable why they’re so pissed about the Monopoly leak.
Stranger Things’ fourth season will be released in two parts. Seven episodes will premiere on May 27, and the final two will be released on July 1. T