Stranger Things 4: Did the Hopper survive the explosion?

Nearly three years have passed since “Stranger Things” season three graced our television in July 2019, and after such a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, expectations for the fourth installment could not be higher. Season sixty action-packed finale left viewers on the edge of their seats as fan favorite Jim Hopper apparently died in the Russian base tucked away under the Starcourt Mall. With a scene with final credits featuring a new young Demogorgon and the unveiling of American prisoners in another Russian facility (located in Russia, this time), the finale created as many questions as it answered.

Perhaps the most considered question on the minds of fans: did Hopper die in the explosion, or was he one of the American prisoners alluded to in the final credit scene?

Season four quickly answers this question for viewers. In the very first episode, Joyce receives a ransom note tucked inside a Russian doll claiming Hopper is alive, giving fans hope that everyone’s favorite overprotective father can return. The intro to episode two quickly confirms that Hopper actually survived, but how did he manage to escape the explosion? Joyce, Hopper, and Murray all understood that if they were within range of the device when destruct failsafe was initiated, they would be evaporated immediately. Given that Hopper stood right next to the main core, then how could he have had any chance of surviving?

In retrospect to the moment Joyce turned the keys to initiate the destruction of the device, we see a short sequence of Hopper turning away from the observation deck (and Joyce) and sprinting down the scaffolding along the core toward the crack that opens our the world up and down. At first glance, it seems that he may be aiming at the crack itself. If he could slide into the Upside Down before the explosion starts, he would theoretically save himself. True enough risky because he could also find himself trapped there, but he would at least be alive.

Eventually, Hopper jumps over the end of the railing and falls into a mist of smoke as the explosion finally sets in motion. For several moments we hold our breath to see the aftermath. The camera pans down to the ground beneath the scaffolding structure, where Hopper lies between the rubble and the debris, very vividly. It appears he ran back, jumped off and hit the tire, apparently clearing enough space between him and the explosion to survive.

That said, it’s worth mentioning that it’s still possible that Hopper briefly slipped back into Upside Down, though the episode does not confirm that. But considering that the explosion was supposed to be so powerful that it would evaporate anyone caught in the crossfire, I simply seem to run away from it and survive, a slightly practical and too easy explanation. It is possible that Hopper took a short detour into the Upside Down to survive the explosion and then crawled out again before the rift could be closed completely.

Yes, The Eleven sealed the crack at the end of season three, killing Mind Flayer and all its henchmen in the process, but “Stranger Things” has never strayed from the reality that a gateway is never really closed.