Stranger Things: How is the Netflix hit series related to the Fear Street trilogy?

Stranger Things has finally returned.

Season four of the hit Netflix series arrived on the streaming giant on Friday (27 May) with seven new episodes now available to watch.

With fans digging into the new series, many viewers have been reminded of Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy.

Last year, RL Stine’s best-selling horror novels – originally published in the Nineties – were adapted into three films: Fear Street: 1994, Fear Street: 1978, and Fear Street: 1666.

The trilogy received mostly positive reviews, with many viewers comparing its nostalgic tone and supernatural subject to Stranger Things.

Is there a connection between Fear Street and Stranger Things?

The most obvious connection between the two releases is Sadie Sink, who made her debut as Maxine Mayfield in the second season of Stranger Things, which was released in 2017. The actor took on a major role in 2019’s third season.

Between the third and fourth series of Stranger Things, Sink starred as protagonist Ziggy Berman – and later Constance – in the Fear Street trilogy.

Maya Hawke – who first starred as Robin in Stranger Things season three – also had a small role in the Fear Street movies.

Beyond featuring a few of the same actors, the horror trilogy and Stranger Things share another surprising connection.

The director of Fear Street, Leigh Janiak, is married to Ross Duffer, one half of the Duffer Brothers who created Stranger Things.

Is there a Fear Street reference in Stranger Things season four?

*Stranger Things season four spoilers below!*

In episode four – titled “Chapter Four: Dear Billy” – Robin (Hawke) and Nancy (Natalie Dyer) attempt to gain access to Pennhurst Asylum under false pretences.

The pair disguise themselves as psychology college students. Trying to lie her way into the institution, Robin tells a fake story about how she was first inspired to study the subject.

The lie she tells involves a fabricated childhood memory of the time she went to summer camp in 1978. Fear Street fans will note that this is the same year as the setting of the second film in the trilogy, titled Fear Street: 1978.

Viewers will remember that the second film takes place at a summer camp, with Sink playing one of the many campers who are terrorised by a murderer on the loose.

While it’s not certain whether or not Robin’s lie is a subtle nod to the film, fans of the movie will appreciate the small detail.

With fans delving into the fourth season of Stranger Things, a new antagonist has piqued interests. But who exactly is Vecna? And what is his dark backstory?