Netflix recently confirmed that Stranger Things 4 is coming. When it does make a return, it’s going to have plenty of questions that need to be answered. One question surrounding the series that fans have wanted to know for quite a while now is “just what is the ‘Upside Down’?”
Over the course of the first three seasons of Stranger Things, fans have caught glimpses of the mirror-type world that appears just like ours, only rotted out and desolate. Viewers have also been treated to a look at the creatures that dwell in that realm.
For most of the series, the creators of the Netflix original show have led people to believe the Upside Down is an alternate dimension. That explains why it appears so similar to our own, but also why there aren’t any people to be found. Now, a new fan theory given voice by Screen Rant claims that the land could be the distant future, rather than an earth parallel to our own.
As the site points out, everything that exists in the Upside Down appears to be covered with spore-like substances, or vines and other plants that bear a resemblance to earthly plants. The laws of physics seem to exist in the same way they exist in the “real” world of Stranger Things as well.
The creatures that have managed to travel from that realm to Hawkins, Indiana do so, as the show explains, by ripping holes in both space and time. While fans assumed this was shorthand for ripping a hole into another reality, even the characters that have done the most research on the area know for sure just how things work and where the place they’ve opened a hole to really is.
The theory points out it might make some sense that the Demogorgon and the Demodogs might not be some other-dimensional creatures after all. It’s possible instead that these are extraterrestrial monsters who either invaded earth in the future or arrived shortly after some apocalyptic event occurred.
If this theory is to be believed, it can be set too far in the future, since the buildings do look exactly the same as they do in Hawkins. There is also the possibility the place is a combination of other-dimensional and other-time. That might be the earth of Stranger Things but also invaded by other dimensional beings in the near future.
Other fan theories have posited fans will find out more about just what the Upside Down is in Season 4. That’s just one of the questions that need to be answered, such as just how did Hopper survive and get to Russia?