In the horrifying full trailer for Netflix's 'Stranger Things 4,' normal is impossible

It's been almost three years since a new episode of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix, but the wait is almost over. The acclaimed horror/sci-fi series returns this Memorial Day, and after months of teases and little hints, we've finally got an official trailer to help tide us over until we can return to Hawkins at last. 

While it's been quite some time since we last saw the kids from Hawkins, only six months have passed in the world of the show since the Battle of Starcourt Mall changed everything for our young heroes. Jane "Eleven" Hopper (Millie Bobby Brown) still doesn't have her powers back after draining them while fighting the Mind Flayer, Hopper (David Harbour) is still in a Russian gulag far from civilization, and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and her family are still trying to settle down in a new home outside of Hawkins after moving away at the end of last season.

Despite the omnipresent strangeness of their lives, everyone is doing their best to move on. But as Max (Sadie Sink) says early in the new trailer, while reading a letter to her brother Billy at his grave in Hawkins, normal is impossible for these people. 

Why? Well, the Upside Down isn't done with them, of course. A mysterious, dark voice seems to be calling out from the depths of the local haunted house, summoning a new monster to do battle with humanity. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) has returned to warn Jane that a "war is coming," and that they don't stand a chance if she can't find a way to restore her gifts. And of course, even as all of this is happening, Hopper is sending signals that he's not just going to sit out the fight.

Check it all out in the trailer below:

A lot of things stand out in this footage, including our first look at Robert Englund's Stranger Things debut, a creepy clock sticking out of a wall, Max apparently getting some version of powers of her own, and of course, the most human-looking version of a Stranger Things monster we've seen yet. But perhaps what's most affecting in all this imagery is our reminder of what the characters are going through, particularly the kids of Hawkins, who are doing their best to live their lives and do normal kid things even as this madness goes on around them. There's still Dungeons & Dragons to play, and basketball games, and romance, and young adulthood to embrace, particularly for older characters like Nancy (Natalie Dyer) and Steve (Joe Keery).

At its core, Stranger Things has always embraced the idea of monsters as a metaphor for growing up, of the Upside Down as some kind of rite of passage to allow these kids to emerge stronger, smarter, and ready for anything. But the thing about monsters is that they don't always go away when you vanquish one or two. Sometimes monsters multiply, and as Stranger Things prepares for its terrifying endgame, the Upside Down seems set to throw all manner of new threats at these kids, to prove to them that normal really is impossible. 

Stranger Things 4 arrives with its first part on May 27, followed by Part 2 on July 2. That still leaves us with about six weeks left to wait, but if you're looking for more horror stories about gifted kids in the meantime, there's a new Firestarter movie out May 13 in theaters and on Peacock.