The highly anticipated (and very late) The fourth season of Netflix’s hit “Stranger Things” finally premiered last Friday, much to the delight of its legions of fans around the world. Set in 1986 and told across nine tall episodes (the final two of which don’t drop until July 1), the ambitious storyline takes place in three separate locations, dividing the beloved residents of Hawkins, Indiana at the center of the show. (Please be warned, spoilers abound throughout this post.)
Much of the action remains in Hawkins, where Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and his fellow high school heroes battle a dark new entity from the Upside Down known as Vecna. Meanwhile, about 5,000 miles away, former police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is alive, but not well, as he is imprisoned in a remote prison on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. And with the help of Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser), the Byers family has been relocated to Lenora Hills, a fictional California town of wide open streets and majestic mountains that look like they were ripped from the screen of “ET”. the extra-terrestrial.
The resemblance is, of course, by design. As series co-creator Matt Duffer explained during Deadline’s recent Contenders TV panel, “We’ve always wanted to have an ‘ET’ style suburban aesthetic, which we finally got to do this year.” Instead of shooting in the foothills of Tujunga, where Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic was filmed, the ‘Stranger Things’ production team moved to New Mexico, using Albuquerque and surrounding areas to impersonate for the Sunshine State. The Land of Enchantment proved a natural base for the show given that Netflix purchased Albuquerque Studios in 2018 and, by deadlinepledged to “spend more than $1 billion on local production over the next decade” in the southwestern city.
Some locations used include El Dorado High School in 11300 Montgomery Blvd. NOT, which comes in as Lenora Hills High, where Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are now taking classes. (Fun fact: the locale also appeared in “Breaking Bad.”) In the second episode, El’s longtime boyfriend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) lands in Albuquerque International Sunport for a visit during spring break. Roller King, where the couple’s disastrous skating date takes place, is on 400 Paisano Street NE, still wearing the hot pink and blue bandage brought for filming “Stranger Things.” And the Lenora Hills Police Station, where El is taken after her arrest, is the Valencia County Administrative Office in 444 Luna Avenue SE in Los Lunas, a dusty desert town about 25 miles south of Albuquerque.
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