Stranger Things has a lot of mysteries to solve, not only those related to the Upside Down and its monsters but also to specific characters, mostly Eleven (who is now powerless) and Hopper.
Each season of Stranger Things has dealt with different threats, mostly monsters from the Upside Down, but season 3 saw the characters coming face to face with a completely new enemy, aside from the improved Upside Down. Having failed to successfully open a gate in Russia, they moved to Hawkins as they learned a gate had been opened there. The Russians then established a lab underneath the new Starcourt Mall, which the group managed to infiltrate on two different occasions, and the second one had terrible consequences, with Hopper seemingly dying on the spot.
Hopper, Joyce, and Murray entered the Russian base with the purpose of turning the Key off and thus avoid the opening of yet another gate to the Upside Down, which could unleash a series of dangerous events. Sadly, Hopper got trapped between the gate and the beam from the Key, blocking his way back to Joyce and thus not allowing him to get to a safe place on time. Joyce proceeded to turn the Key off, and everything around the machine was dissolved, and that would have included Hopper. However, his remains were never found, which immediately raised questions about his possible survival. The team behind Stranger Things put an end to all speculation when they revealed in a teaser for season 4 that Hopper is alive and imprisoned in Russia, and is therefore the famous American prisoner – but that doesn’t mean he’s the one from season 3’s post-credits scene.
Hopper Is In Russia In Stranger Things’ Season 4
The biggest question Stranger Things fans are waiting for season 4 to answer is post-credits scenes in Stranger Things season 3.
Why Hopper May Not Be “The American”
In of the season’s timeline, it could be possible that Hopper is the American from the post-credits scene, as the final part of the episode is set three months after the Battle of Starcourt. However, and given the events that happened just moments prior to that, the immediate assumption was that Hopper was the American, and while viewers were hoping he was alive, making him the American would be a very predictable move from the writers of Stranger Things, and that hasn’t been their style so far. Revealing so soon that Hopper is alive could be a way to mislead the audience into thinking that the mystery of the identity of the American prisoner has been solved, only to surprise them by revealing that there’s another one, and he’s also a familiar face.
Theory: Dr. Brenner Is The Actual American
Before the big reveal about Hopper’s fate, many fans speculated the American prisoner could be Stranger Things season 4 by being the American prisoner the guards are keeping safe (for now, at least). Given Brenner’s background and his knowledge about the Upside Down and more, he could be key in the Russians’ experiments, which would explain why they are keeping him alive, as they could have easily sent him to his death as soon as he was captured.
Unlike Hopper, who was expected to be the American, Brenner’s whereabouts haven’t been teased at all, so making him the American prisoner would be a much better and exciting reveal than Hopper being the only one from Hawkins in that Russian prison. In addition to that, Brenner being the American would have much bigger implications than Hopper, who is expected to find a way to escape and expose the Russians, while Brenner could bring a lot more to the series if he has been living in a cell in Kamchatka all this time.
What Brenner In Russia Means For Season 4
Brenner being the American prisoner in Stranger Things season 4 could mean that he has been working for them for a while now, which would in turn answer another big question left by season 3: how the Russians learned about the Upside Down. While Brenner and company had Eleven to spy on the Russians prior to the events of season 1, it’s unknown if they also had ways to infiltrate Hawkins Lab, so a believable way in which they could have learned about the Upside Down is through Brenner. Of course, this also raises the question of how he ended up there, which could have been through the Upside Down itself, as the Demogorgon most likely took him there before going after Eleven at the end of season 1. Once a prisoner in Russia, he could have spilled all the secrets about the other dimension in exchange for not being killed, and as his information turned out to be correct (and useful), the Russians have been keeping him alive.
With both men being imprisoned in Russia, Brenner and Hopper could be crossing paths at some point, which would be a very interesting confrontation given everything that Brenner triggered with his experiments, including all the damage done to Eleven. It’s also possible that Brenner could be the one to restore Eleven’s powers, as he’s the only one who truly knows them and all the experimentation she went through to develop such abilities. This doesn’t necessarily mean he will be redeemed, but it could give the characters a good reason to rescue him along with Hopper – but he might turn his back to the group once he gets his freedom. Having another known (and seemingly forgotten) character as the American prisoner from the post-credits scene in Stranger Things season 3 would open a lot more doors than Hopper being the only one imprisoned in Russia, and if it’s Brenner, that would make way for connections with the past seasons, bringing them all together.