TheStranger Thingswriters revealed more behind-the-scenes secrets about what could have happened on the hit Netflix series. The writers have revealed that there were plans to bring in Alexei’s (Alec Utgoff) father into season 4.Alexei captured audience’s hearts back inStranger Thingsseason 3. A Russian scientist, he was kidnapped by Winona Ryder’s Joyce andDavid Harbour’s Jim Hopperduring the course of their investigations into the strange things happening around Hawkins. Over the course of the season, Alexei began to fall in love with American society - growing fond of cherry slurpee and Woody Woodpecker in particular - and struck up a friendship with anti-government conspiracy theorist Murray (Brett Gelman). By the latter half of the season, he provided Murray with information on how to destroy the Soviet’s own Upside Down portal and was planning to defect to America. It was not to be, as he was assassinated by Grigori, the Russian Terminator played by Andrey Ivchenko.RELATED:10 Best Sites To Watch Anime Online (& What you may Watch)According to the Stranger Writers Twitter account, Alexei’s legacy was originally going to play a role inStranger Thingsseason 4. The account tweeted out, “Crazy s*** that almost happened #3: In season 4, Hopper was going to team up with Alexei’s dad.” It seems that, during the course of his time in a Russian gulag, Hopper was going to encounter Alexei’s father, who would help him in his daring escape.
While the idea was not to be, it looks like theStranger Thingsplot may have been repurposed into Hopper’s plot with Dmitri (Tom Wlaschiha). Dmitri was a prison guardsympathetic to Hopper’s vulnerable situation(though he also had hoped to make a few thousand American dollars in the process), who also had a son in his backstory who served as his motivation. The similarities between this proposed Alexei’s father character and Dmitri make it likely that the character instead morphed into Dmitri.
Why theStranger Thingswriters changed gears is anyone’s guess, but it’s possible that they felt the character’s connection with a past character would have clutteredan already-packedStranger Thingsseason. The character may have been sent to the gulag for the actions of his son, which may have made him a fellow prisoner alongside Hopper. That might have made Hopper’s escape difficult to justify, but by instead having Dmitri as a sympathetic guard, the writers were able to give Hopper access to a wider array of outside help (and it would explain how Joyce and Murray come to know of Hopper’s continued survival). Of course, Alexei’s father could have been a prison guard as well, but the sheer coincidence of him being part of the same prison Hopper gets sent to might have broken the suspension of disbelief.
Ultimately, the character’s presence was probably too distracting. Still, the possibility is intriguing. TheStranger Thingswriters' account has been teasingmany possible plot lines that the writers had considered before discarding them. It’s almost enough to create aWhat If?show based on the abandoned scenarios.
